Chapter 5 - The Unraveling of a Lie
The silence in the emergency room was deafening after the police arrived and cleared Marco Moretti and his men away. Sebastian refused to leave Grace’s side. When the hospital’s head of obstetrics examined Grace and confirmed that she and the baby were completely unharmed, Sebastian stood in the corner of the room, looking like a man whose entire worldview had been shattered into dust.
After Grace was discharged at 3:00 AM, Sebastian walked her out to his armored sedan. He opened the door for her with a quiet, solemn gentleness that was entirely foreign to him.
“You don't have to come with me,” Grace said, stopping at the door of the vehicle. “I can go back to my studio.”
“No,” Sebastian said, his voice rough and strained. “You are not safe in that apartment anymore. The Morettis know who you are now. Until I deal with them, you stay at my estate in Lake Forest. It’s a fortress. No one can touch you there.”
Grace looked at him closely. “Are you doing this to protect your pride, or because you finally believe me?”
Sebastian looked away, his jaw working as he fought against a wall of buried pain. “I don't know what to believe, Grace. But I know I almost watched you die tonight. Please. Just come to the estate. For safety.”
Grace was too physically and emotionally exhausted to fight. She nodded and slid into the leather seat.
The Rourke estate in Lake Forest was a sprawling, gated mansion surrounded by dense woods and high security walls. Sebastian led Grace to a luxurious master suite on the second floor, complete with a fireplace, soft lighting, and a plush king-sized bed.
“Sleep,” Sebastian told her, standing in the doorway. “My personal doctor will be here in the morning to check on you again. No one enters this room without your permission.”
“Sebastian,” Grace called out as he turned to leave.
He paused, his back to her.
“Why are you so afraid of this child being yours?” she asked softly.
Sebastian didn't answer for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible. “Because if this child is mine, it means I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me for a lie. And I don't know how a man survives that kind of guilt.”
He closed the door quietly behind him.
The next morning at 8:00 AM, Sebastian sat in his private study on the ground floor. Sitting across from him was Dr. Edward Vance, the prestigious Harley Street specialist from London whom Sebastian had flown in on a private jet overnight.
Dr. Vance placed a thick, leather-bound medical file on Sebastian’s mahogany desk.
“Sebastian,” Dr. Vance began, wiping his spectacles with a cloth. “You asked me to re-examine the medical records from your treatment seven years ago in London after your pelvic trauma.”
“Tell me,” Sebastian said, his voice icy and tight. “Did the infection leave me completely sterile?”
Dr. Vance sighed, looking deeply sympathetic. “Sebastian… seven years ago, your uncle, Arthur Rourke, was handling your medical logistics while you were recovering from that gunshot wound, correct?”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed dangerously. His uncle Arthur had been his chief rival for control of the family syndicate until Arthur died of a heart attack four years ago.
“Yes,” Sebastian said slowly. “Arthur managed my care.”
“I suspected as much,” Dr. Vance said, pulling a yellowed document from the folder. “I went back into the original hospital lab server archives last night—files that were locked behind administrative clearance. The lab report given to you seven years ago was forged.”
Sebastian felt the air leave his lungs. “What did you say?”
“The original test results show that while your sperm count was temporarily lowered due to inflammation and trauma, you were never sterile,” Dr. Vance explained clearly. “Your uncle paid the chief pathologist twenty thousand pounds to falsify the report given to you. Arthur wanted you to believe you could never produce an heir, ensuring that his own branch of the family would inherit the Rourke enterprise upon your death.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath Sebastian’s feet.
Seven years. For seven years, he had lived under the dark, tragic belief that he was incapable of fatherhood. He had built a fortress around his heart, convincing himself that he was meant to be alone, that his bloodline ended with him, and that any woman who claimed otherwise was a gold-digging fraud.
And because of that forged piece of paper, he had looked at the woman he loved, torn her baby’s ultrasound into pieces, and cast her out into the rain.
“Sebastian?” Dr. Vance asked gently. “Are you alright?”
Sebastian didn't answer. He couldn't.
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He stood up slowly, his face drained of all color. He looked down at his desk, where the torn pieces of Grace’s ultrasound—which he had secretly taped back together six months ago and hidden in his top drawer—lay resting beside the true medical report.
The truth had come out. And it froze him to his very core.
