POV: Vivian Chen
I stare at Leo's birth certificate on my phone screen, my hands shaking so hard I almost drop it.
James Park. The father's name says James Park.
But that's impossible. I've never even met James Park except in passing at business events. I certainly didn't—couldn't have—
My phone rings. Ethan.
I answer before the first ring finishes. "Did you get the text too?"
"Linda sent you the birth certificate?" His voice is raw. "Vivian, I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth."
"I've never lied to you!"
"Have you ever been with James? Ever? Even once?"
The accusation hits me like a slap. "No! God, no! Ethan, I barely know the man! The only time I've ever spoken to him was at your office six years ago when I came to tell you about the pregnancy!"
"Then how is his name on Leo's birth certificate?"
"I don't know!" I'm practically screaming now. "The birth certificate I have—the one in my safe—it's blank under father's name! I never filled it in because you wanted nothing to do with us!"
Silence on the other end of the line.
"Someone changed it," Ethan finally says. "Someone had access to government records and forged a new certificate."
"Linda," we say at the same time.
"But why James?" I ask. "Why put his name specifically?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out." Ethan's voice goes cold. "Linda wants to meet tonight. Midnight at the old Chen Fashion House warehouse."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"No. She said come alone or—"
"Or she tells Leo the truth? Let her." My fear transforms into fury. "I'm done playing Linda's games. I'm done letting her control my life. If she wants to talk, she talks to both of us. Together."
"Vivian—"
"Together, Ethan. Or I go alone."
He's quiet for a moment. Then: "Fine. But we bring backup. Sofia, security, someone."
"Agreed." I check the time. Six hours until midnight. "I need to arrange care for Leo. And I need to do something else first."
"What?"
"I need to confront someone who's been lying to my face for three years."
Chen Fashion House stands exactly where my mother built it thirty years ago. Same glass doors. Same marble lobby with her portrait hanging on the wall.
Same lies hiding behind expensive suits and fake smiles.
Claire's office is on the top floor. I don't bother with the elevator—I take the stairs two at a time, fury giving me energy I didn't know I had.
Her assistant tries to stop me. "Ms. Chen is in a meeting—"
"I don't care if she's meeting the President." I push past her. "We're going to have a chat. Now."
I throw open Claire's office door without knocking.
She's alone, sitting at her desk, going through design portfolios. My mother's portfolios. The ones she thinks she has a right to.
"Vivian!" Claire's surprise is almost convincing. Almost. "What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting—"
"Cut it." I slam the door behind me. "I know everything, Claire. The hotel. The drugs. The fake evidence. All of it."
Claire's face goes carefully blank. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Really? Because I have security footage that says otherwise." I pull out my phone, show her a screenshot from the video Ethan found. "That's you, leading me to Ethan's room. That's you, setting us both up."
For just a second, Claire's mask slips. I see panic flash in her eyes.
Then she laughs. "So? What are you going to do about it? Take me to court? Please. It's your word against mine."
"Actually, it's video evidence against your lies." I lean against her desk. "But that's not why I'm here."
"Then why are you here?" Claire stands up, trying to regain her power position. "To gloat? To threaten me?"
"To ask you one question." I look her straight in the eyes. "Why James Park? Why is his name on Leo's forged birth certificate?"
Claire's face goes white.
"You know," I breathe. "You know why Linda put James's name on that certificate."
"I don't—"
"Don't lie to me!" My voice rises. "For once in your miserable life, tell me the truth! Why James? What does he have to do with any of this?"
Claire stares at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, she starts to smile. It's the cruelest smile I've ever seen.
"You really don't know, do you?" She laughs. "Oh, this is perfect. This is absolutely perfect."
"Know what?"
"Why do you think Mom chose that specific drug for Ethan?" Claire sits back down, enjoying this. "Not just any drug. One that causes temporary sterility. Very specific. Very intentional."
My blood runs cold. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying Mom needed to make sure Ethan wasn't Leo's biological father. Because she needed to make sure someone else was."
"That doesn't make any sense! If Ethan and I were both drugged, then how—" I stop mid-sentence as realization hits. "There was someone else in that room."
"Ding ding ding!" Claire claps mockingly. "Finally figured it out, did you?"
"Who?" My voice comes out as a whisper. "Who else was in that room?"
"Someone who owed Mom a very large gambling debt. Someone who needed money desperately enough to do whatever she asked. Someone who—"
"James," I finish, feeling sick. "James was in that room."
Claire's smile widens. "Mom told him you and Ethan would both be unconscious. That all he had to do was... well, let's just say biology did the rest. And in exchange, Mom would forgive his debt and give him enough money to pay off all the other debts he'd racked up."
I'm going to be sick. I'm actually going to throw up right here in Claire's office.
"You're lying," I say, even though I know she's not.
"Am I?" Claire pulls out her phone, shows me a photo. "This is from the security footage Mom kept as insurance. The footage she took before the hotel's cameras started rolling."
The photo shows the hotel room. Shows two people unconscious on the bed.
And shows a third person—a man I recognize as James Park—standing beside the bed, his face twisted with guilt and shame.
"He raped me." The words barely make it past my lips. "While I was unconscious. He—"
"Technically, Mom says it's not rape if you can't remember it," Claire says cheerfully. "But I suppose that's a legal gray area."
I slap her.
The sound echoes through the office like a gunshot.
Claire's head snaps to the side, her cheek already turning red. When she looks back at me, there's pure hatred in her eyes.
"You're going to regret that," she hisses.
"No." I grab my phone, already dialing. "You're going to regret everything you've ever done. Because I'm calling the police. Right now. And I'm telling them everything."
Claire lunges for my phone, but I'm faster. I dodge, running for the door.
"You can't prove anything!" she screams after me. "Mom has all the evidence! You have nothing!"
"I have enough!" I shout back.
I run down the stairs, my phone pressed to my ear as the 911 operator answers.
"I need to report a sexual assault," I say, my voice shaking. "And conspiracy. And—"
My phone beeps. Another call coming in. Sofia.
"Hold on," I tell the operator, switching lines. "Sofia, not now—"
"Vivian, you need to get to Sterling Corp immediately." Sofia sounds panicked. "It's Ethan. Someone attacked him in the parking garage. He's being rushed to the hospital."
The world tilts. "What? Who? Is he—"
"I don't know if he's okay. But Vivian?" Sofia's voice drops. "The security cameras caught the attacker's face. It was James Park."
The hospital waiting room is a nightmare.
Too bright. Too loud. Too many people who aren't Ethan.
I pace back and forth, my phone clutched in my hand. Leo is safe with Marcus. The police are looking for James. Sofia is tracking down Linda.
But Ethan is in surgery.
Ethan, who might not be Leo's biological father.
Ethan, who spent the afternoon teaching my son to skip stones.
Ethan, who was attacked by the man who—
I can't even think it. Can't process what Claire told me. What James did.
"Vivian Chen?"
I spin around. A doctor in scrubs stands there, her expression carefully neutral.
"Yes! Is he—"
"Mr. Sterling is out of surgery. He's stable, but he lost a lot of blood. The knife missed his major organs, but it was close." She pauses. "He's asking for you."
I follow her down a hallway that feels endless. Each step echoes. Each second stretches.
She stops outside a room. "Five minutes. He needs rest."
I push open the door.
Ethan lies in the hospital bed, pale and bruised, tubes and wires connecting him to machines that beep steadily.
But his eyes are open. And when he sees me, he tries to smile.
"Hey," he says, his voice rough.
"Hey." I sit in the chair beside his bed, taking his hand carefully. "You scared me."
"Sorry. Wasn't planning on getting stabbed today."
"James did this?"
Ethan's jaw tightens. "He was waiting in the parking garage. Said he needed to talk to me about Leo. About the birth certificate. When I refused to meet Linda alone, he..." He trails off. "Vivian, what he said before he attacked—"
"I know." Tears stream down my face. "Claire told me everything. About the drugs. About what James did. About why Linda wanted you to be sterile that night."
"So it's true." Ethan's voice breaks. "Leo isn't mine."
"Biologically? Maybe not. But Ethan—" I squeeze his hand. "You're the one who showed up today. You're the one Leo called Dad. You're the one who—"
"Who got stabbed by Leo's actual father?" He laughs bitterly. "Great parenting credentials."
"James is not Leo's father." The words come out fierce. "A father is someone who chooses to be there. Someone who loves their child. Someone who—"
The door bursts open.
Sofia runs in, her face white. "Vivian, we have a problem. A huge problem."
"What now?"
"The police went to arrest James at his apartment. But he's not there." Sofia's hands shake as she holds up her phone. "And he just sent this."
She shows me the screen.
A video message. James, looking disheveled and desperate, holding up something that makes my heart stop.
Leo's stuffed dinosaur. The one he sleeps with every night. The one he had with him when I left him with Marcus.
"I'm sorry," James says in the video. "But Linda has my daughter. She says if I don't bring her Leo, she'll kill Emily. I can't let her hurt my little girl. I'm sorry, Vivian. I'm so, so sorry."
The video ends.
In its place, a text: "Chen Fashion House warehouse. Midnight. Bring Ethan or I start cutting pieces off your son. —L"