Vanessa's face twisted.
“You're going to give her my inheritance?”
Richard didn't answer.
Vanessa stood.
“No.”
Richard's voice hardened.
“Sit down.”
“She is a servant.”
“She may be the rightful owner of half this company.”
Vanessa froze.
Richard continued.
“If the DNA confirms her identity, the original trust activates.”
“How much?”
Richard looked at her.
“Everything.”
The room went silent.
The Laurent family fortune was estimated at more than six billion dollars.
But the money wasn't the real problem.
Aurelia would also inherit control of the Laurent Foundation.
The board.
The family estate.
And the company shares Camille had placed in a protected trust.
Vanessa would lose everything.
Her lifestyle.
Her position.
Her future.
She stared at her father.
“You knew.”
Richard looked away.
“You knew all these years.”
“I protected you.”
“No.”
Vanessa's voice cracked.
“You protected yourself.”
Richard stood.
“Don't be dramatic.”
“You killed her.”
His face changed.
Vanessa stepped backward.
“I heard you.”
Richard said nothing.
“You said you would make sure she never came back.”
He walked toward her.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I know enough.”
Vanessa grabbed her purse.
“I won't help you.”
Richard's voice became cold.
“Then you'll go down with me.”
Vanessa stopped.
For the first time, she understood.
Her father hadn't just buried a secret.
He had buried the truth.
And now the truth was alive.
The DNA result arrived at 9:17 in the morning.
Adrian opened the envelope.
Elena stood beside him.
Daniel sat across the room.
Nobody spoke.
Adrian read the first page.
Then the second.
He looked up.
“It's a match.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Adrian continued.
“Probability of maternity between you and Camille Laurent: 99.9998 percent.”
Elena began crying.
Not because she was rich.
Not because she had won.
Because for the first time in her life, she knew her mother had been real.
And she had been loved.
Adrian handed her the final page.
“There's more.”
“What?”
“The test was compared against another Laurent relative.”
“Who?”
“Marguerite.”
Elena stared at the paper.
The result confirmed their relationship.
Adrian placed a second document on the table.
A copy of the original trust.
It contained one sentence that changed everything.