PART 2
The entire lobby stood frozen.
Doctors stopped mid-step.
Nurses forgot the charts in their hands.
Patients waiting for their appointments began openly staring.
No one wanted to miss what would happen next.
Gabriel fixed his gaze on Adrian.
“Would you like to tell her,” he asked evenly, “or should I?”
“Don’t,” Adrian whispered.
His voice broke.
For the first time since I had known him, the man who had spent years humiliating me looked afraid.
Eleanor looked between us, confused.
“Tell me what?”
Gabriel crossed his arms.
“The truth.”
Adrian slowly pushed himself up from his knees.
“Mother, let’s go.”
“No.”
The word cracked through the air like a whip.
“Explain to me why the chief reproductive specialist is standing here saying you lied.”
Adrian parted his lips.
But no words came.
Gabriel finally spoke for him.
“Two years ago, Adrian came to my office for fertility testing.”
The silence in the lobby was absolute.
“He requested total confidentiality.”
Eleanor frowned.
“And?”
Gabriel’s expression turned cold.
“The results showed severe infertility.”
All the color drained from Eleanor’s face.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You’re lying.”
“I have no reason to.”
Adrian shut his eyes.
Because he knew it was true.
“The problem was never Natalie,” Gabriel continued. “Every test we conducted on her came back normal.”
My ex-mother-in-law staggered back.
“You told us she couldn’t give you children.”
Adrian looked away.
“You said she was broken.”
Still no answer.
“You let me torture her for years.”
Her voice began to shake.
“You let me call her worthless.”
I watched the realization settle over her.
Every insult.
Every cruel dinner.
Every accusation.
All built on a lie.
And Adrian had allowed it.
Not because he believed it.
But because it protected him.
Then Gabriel delivered the second blow.
“And there’s something else.”
Adrian visibly flinched.
That reaction alone told everyone there was more.
Gabriel gestured toward the stroller.
“The twins are not Adrian’s children.”
The lobby erupted.
Gasps spread through the room.
One woman covered her mouth in shock.
Eleanor gripped the stroller so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“What?”
Gabriel remained composed.
“A DNA test was done three months ago.”
“You tested my grandchildren?”
“No.”
His voice stayed steady.
“Adrian tested them.”
All eyes turned to Adrian.
His silence said everything.
“He found out the truth shortly after they were born.”
Eleanor looked like she might collapse.
“You knew?”
Adrian didn’t respond.
“YOU KNEW?”
“Yes!” he finally shouted.
The word echoed through the entire lobby.
The twins stirred and began crying.
But no one moved.
No one reacted.
Because the Sterling empire was falling apart in real time.
