Elira stood frozen in the corridor backstage, the hum of the monitors behind her drowning beneath the loud thud of her own heartbeat.
Damian gripped the tablet tighter. The document was crystal clear. Loretta hadn’t just leaked another headline. She’d detonated a bomb.
PATERNITY RESULTS: DAMIAN BLACKWOOD — 0% BIOLOGICAL MATCH.
The silence was suffocating.
“I—” Elira started, her voice breaking. “That’s not possible. That’s a lie.”
Damian stared at the screen like it was his execution order. “This… this can’t be real.”
Elira shook her head furiously, her lips trembling. “I was only ever with you. Only ever.”
“I know,” he said quickly. “I know what kind of games they play. This is forged.”
But the doubt, once seeded, didn’t vanish easily.
And Loretta knew that.
Across the city, Lor
