Chapter 3 - The Alliance of Vultures
The revelation felt like a physical blow to the chest. My own mother. The woman who had spent years weeping over the lack of grandchildren, who had constantly dropped subtle, painful hints at family dinners, had been the one who engineered the destruction of my first marriage.
"Why?" I whispered, my voice hollow, staring at the floor.
"Because Natalie wasn't from money, Lucas," Marcus said quietly. "Your mother wanted an alliance with the Brooks family. She wanted Evelyn. She and Julian Vance coordinated the whole thing. Julian wanted Natalie for himself—he’s been obsessed with her since college—and your mother wanted the Brooks merger. They systematically manufactured your divorce."
I looked up, my vision blurring with an unadulterated, blinding rage. I didn't care about corporate mergers. I didn't care about the billions. Five years of my life, five years of grief, and the first four years of my children's lives had been stolen from me by the people I trusted most.
I marched past Marcus, straight toward Julian. He saw the change in my eyes, his smug demeanor faltering for the first time as he backed up against the wall.
"Lucas, don't be a fool," Julian warned, his voice losing its playful edge. "This is a hospital. There are cameras—"
I grabbed him by the lapels of his expensive charcoal suit, slamming him against the wall with enough force to rattle the framed medical prints hanging beside him. "You stole my family, Julian," I hissed, my face inches from his. "You paid off the doctors. You and my mother."
Natalie gasped, covering her mouth. "What? Lucas, what are you saying?"
"He lied to us, Natalie!" I shouted, keeping my grip tight on Julian, who was struggling to breathe. "The clinic reports five years ago were faked. Julian and my mother altered the records to make me think I was sterile, to push us into a corner until I broke. The twins... they're mine. You were pregnant when I walked away, weren't you?"
Natalie stared at me, her face a mask of utter shock and sudden comprehension. She looked at Julian, her green eyes wide with horror. "Julian... you told me Lucas found out about the pregnancy and paid the agency to handle the adoption privately because he didn't want a scandal. You told me he hated me!"
Julian choked out a harsh, desperate laugh. "It doesn't matter what she knows now, Lucas! The adoption papers are signed! I am their legal father! If you touch me, if you try to interfere, I will take these kids out of the country by midnight. You have no rights!"
"He's right, Lucas," a cold, familiar voice echoed from the elevators.
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My mother, Victoria Carter, stepped into the hallway, dressed in a flawless mink coat, her diamonds catching the harsh fluorescent lights. Behind her stood Evelyn, my second wife, her face pale, holding a file folder to her chest.
"Let him go, Lucas," Victoria commanded, her voice steady and remorseless. "You're making a scene. What’s done is done. You have a position to maintain."
