Chapter 3 - The DNA Fallout
The aftermath of the lobby confrontation was swift and chaotic. Within forty-eight hours, the rumors had spread throughout the entire medical community and high society circles. The Sterling family, once viewed as untouchable philanthropists, became the subject of intense mockery. But for me, the focus remained on my work and the precious life growing inside me.
Gabriel and I sat in his office on a Friday evening, the city lights twinkling outside the window. He handed me a cup of decaf herbal tea, his eyes filled with a warmth that still made my heart flutter.
"You did incredibly well today in the OR, Natalie," he said, pulling his chair close to mine and gently placing his hand over my stomach. Our baby kicked, a strong, vibrant thud against his palm. Gabriel grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "A strong heartbeat. Just like their mother."
"I couldn't have faced them without you, Gabe," I admitted softly, leaning my head against his shoulder. "When Eleanor said those things, for a split second, I felt like that broken girl again."
"You were never broken," Gabriel whispered, kissing the top of my head. "You are magnificent. And tomorrow, the rest of the world is going to find out exactly how fraudulent the Sterlings really are."
He was right. The following week, the bomb dropped.
Through hospital channels, we learned that Eleanor had demanded an immediate, court-ordered DNA paternity test for the twins. She had refused to believe that her son could be cuckolded, convincing herself that Gabriel and I had fabricated the medical records to humiliate them. She had forced Vanessa and Adrian to submit to testing at an independent, high-security lab.
The results were leaked to a prominent society blog by an anonymous source within the Sterling Foundation itself—someone who was clearly tired of Eleanor's tyrannical rule.
The DNA test proved definitively that Adrian Sterling was not the biological father of the twins.
The biological father was actually Marcus Vance, a fitness trainer and former model whom Vanessa had been seeing long before she met Adrian, and whom she had continued to see throughout their entire relationship. Vanessa had known Adrian was wealthy and desperate to prove his manhood to his mother; she had used his infertility, which she had deduced from his secrets, as the perfect trap to secure a lifetime of child support and luxury.
I sat in the hospital cafeteria reading the headline: STERLING HEIRS A SHAM: COCKTAIL OF DECEIT UNRAVELS MILLION-DOLLAR DYNASTY.
"Karma has a very specific delivery system," my chief nurse, Sarah, commented as she slid a tray of food next to me. "The whole hospital is cheering for you, Dr. Carter. We all remember how that awful woman treated you."
I closed the article, feeling a strange mix of pity and relief. The truth was out, but the collateral damage was immense. Two innocent babies were now caught in the crossfire of a public war between a narcissistic mother, a cowardly son, and a manipulative mistress.
Later that afternoon, my phone rang. It was an unknown number. I answered it to hear Adrian’s voice, hollow and completely broken.
"Natalie... please don't hang up," he whispered. "I need help. My mother... she's disowning me. She's stripping me of my position at the foundation. Vanessa has vanished with the boys and a million dollars of our cash. I have nothing left."
"Adrian," I said calmly, standing by the window of my office, looking out at the courtyard where patients were walking in the sun. "You had a wife who would have stood by you through anything. A wife who kept your secrets at the expense of her own sanity. You threw that away for a lie. You chose this path."
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"I was afraid!" he cried, his voice breaking into a sob. "I couldn't let her know I wasn't the man she wanted me to be! You don't know what she's like behind closed doors!"
"I do know, Adrian. I lived it for five years," I replied. "But I chose to leave the prison. You chose to build a bigger one. Do not call me again."
