Chapter 4

"You… you're lying! I never signed that!"

Yvonne suddenly snapped, shoving me aside and jabbing a finger in my face.

"Yulia, who did you pay to make all this up?! You think a few sheets of paper are enough to fool people? Not a chance!"

She turned to the crowd and shouted: "Don't believe her! This woman is calculating as hell! She's trying to get her hands on the Johnson family's money — that's why she cooked all this fake stuff up!"

The people around them exchanged uneasy glances, unsure who to believe.

It was all happening too fast. Too many twists.

"Fake?" I looked at Yvonne — shameless and unyielding as ever — and shook my head. "Yvonne, if I was brave enough to bring it out, I'm not afraid of you checking it."

I took out my phone and opened an audio file.

"Since you won't admit to signing it, let's all listen to this."

I turned the volume all the way up.

A brief burst of static, then a woman's voice came through the phone—wailing, hysterical.

"Yulia, please! I'm begging you!"

The moment those words rang out, the room erupted.

Because that voice—it was identical to the one Yvonne had been screaming with just moments ago.

The recording kept going.

"Albert's condition—the doctors say there's no cure. The Johnson family can't die out without an heir! Yulia, please consider IVF. A sperm donor is fine too. As long as you're the one carrying the baby, I'll accept the child as my own! I'll treat you like my own daughter!"

Then came my voice—younger, weighed down with exhaustion and resignation.

"Mom, this is a huge decision. What do we tell the child when they grow up? And what if you two change your minds?"

"We won't! We absolutely won't!" Yvonne's voice was fierce with conviction. "I swear to God! Only the three of us will ever know. We take this to our graves. If I ever go back on my word, may lightning strike me dead!"

"Words aren't enough. The hospital needs a family member's signature."

"I'll sign! I'll sign right now! Just say yes, and I'll do whatever it takes!"

The scratch of pen on paper came through the recording.

Then a dull thud.

"Yulia, I'm on my knees. The future of this family rests entirely on you."

The recording cut off.

The hall went dead silent.

Every pair of eyes turned to Yvonne.

Shock. Contempt. Disgust.

Yvonne's face had gone a deep, ugly shade of red. Her whole body trembled—shaking so violently she could barely hold herself together.

"You… you recorded me!" She pointed at me, her finger quivering like a leaf caught in the wind.

"If I hadn't, how was I ever going to expose that fake face of yours today?" I stared at her, cold and steady. "Eighteen years ago, you got down on your knees and begged me to give your son an heir. Eighteen years later, you show up here with your son to ruin my son's graduation party, calling him a bastard to his face. Yvonne Johnson—do you even have a conscience?"

Albert crouched on the floor, head buried in his hands, like he was desperate to disappear through the floorboards.

Mia let out a sharp, humorless laugh. The look she gave Albert was like she was staring at a pile of trash.

"Oh, wonderful. Just wonderful." Mia began to clap slowly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What a performance you two put on. You played me like a complete fool."

She stormed over to Albert and kicked him hard.

"Albert, you are pathetic, useless for a man! Not only did you trick me into marrying you, you had me taking fertility herbal supplements for three years! Do you have any idea I ended up in the hospital twice with a bleeding stomach because of those treatments? Are you even human?!"

Albert rolled across the floor under her kicks, begging for mercy.

"Mia, please stop—I know I was wrong. I only kept it from you because I loved you so much. I couldn't bear to lose you—"

"Loved me? You loved having a baby machine!" Mia landed another kick. "Divorce. I want a divorce. I'm going to sue you for fraud. I'll make sure you lose every single thing you own!"

Watching them tear into each other, I felt nothing stir inside me.

Nothing except disgust.