CHAPTER 4: THE PRICE OF TRUTH
1165 Words
Alex POV
Audrey stood three feet away, but she might as well have been on another planet.
She looked nothing like the woman I had married. That woman had been soft, gentle, with eyes that forgave too easily. This woman was steel wrapped in Chanel, ice in her green eyes that once looked at me with love.
Five years of regret condensed into this moment. Five years of knowing I had destroyed the best thing in my life.
"You look different," I said.
The words sounded pathetic even to my own ears.
Her jaw tightened. "I am different. Cut to the chase. What DNA test, Alex?"
The hallway felt too small. Nurses rushed past us into Lucy's room, their voices urgent but controlled. I had rehearsed this conversation a thousand times. In my head, I had the right words. The explanation that would make her understand.
But standing here, looking at the stranger she had become, I had nothing.
"Six months after you left," I started. My voice cracked. "I found out the truth. About Lucy and that night."
Audrey's face remained stone. "You found out you were wrong about me? That I was telling the truth? And you did nothing?"
"I could not." The excuse tasted bitter. "She has leverage. Legal agreements. Things that would destroy—"
"Destroy what, Alex?" Her voice rose slightly, the first crack in her composure. "Your company? Your reputation?" She took a step closer. "I lost our baby. ALONE. Because you chose not to believe me."
"I know." The words barely made it out. "God, I know. I have lived with it every day."
She laughed. It was wicked. "You lived with it? You moved on. Married her. Built a life while I was in a hospital bed signing divorce papers with our baby's blood still on my hands."
I flinched. Every word was like a knife through my chest, and I deserved each one.
The memory hit me like it always did. I had married Lucy six months after Audrey left. My family pushed for it. Lucy was perfect on paper. Connected, beautiful, and useful for the business.
But the moment the ring was on her finger, everything changed.
She became cold. Calculating. Started making business decisions that actively hurt the company. Deals that made no sense. Partnerships with our competitors.
When I questioned her, she smiled. "Trust me, darling. I know what I am doing."
But I did not trust her. So I hired a private investigator.
What I found had left me dumbfounded.
Lucy Michaels was Lucia Vandenberg. Daughter of the family that had been trying to destroy the Whitmores for three generations. She had targeted me deliberately. Seduced me. Manipulated me into doubting Audrey.
When I confronted her, she laughed.
"You think you are so smart?" She poured herself a drink, completely calm. "You have no idea what you have done."
"This was all a setup. To destroy my family."
"Your grandfather destroyed my family's legacy." She took a sip. "I am just returning the favor."
"I will expose you. Tell everyone who you really are."
Her smile widened. "Go ahead. But first, let me tell you about the baby Audrey lost. I made sure you did not believe her. But there is something you should know—"
The door to our apartment opened. A man in an expensive suit walked in. Lucy's father's lawyer.
"Mr. Whitmore." He set a briefcase on the table. "I think we need to have a conversation about what happens if you try to leave this marriage."
They had everything. Photos, documents.. Countless evidence of deals my father had made that skirted legality. Information that would destroy not just me, but my entire family.
I was trapped.
"Sorry, I blanked out," I said to Audrey. Her expression had not changed.
"Why am I really here?"
"Lucy says she is dying. She had terminal cancer." I ran a hand through my hair. "But I don't believe her. Nothing about this feels real."
"Then how does that concern me?” Her voice had risen slightly now.
"Because she has information. About some princess investigation." I hesitated. "About whether our baby really died."
Audrey went white. "What did you say?"
"I know how it sounds. But two years ago, Lucy got drunk and said something about the medical records. That the hospital made a mistake. That maybe—" I could not finish.
"That is impossible." Audrey's voice shook. "I was there. The doctors told me. I held the ultrasound where there was no heartbeat."
"I know. But Lucy keeps hinting at something. Some secret about that night."
The door to Lucy's room opened. A doctor emerged, looking tired.
"She is stable. She wants to see you both. Together."
Audrey looked at me. For a moment, I saw fear in her eyes. Then it vanished, replaced by steel.
"Let us get this over with."
We walked in together.
Lucy sat up in bed, looking far healthier than she had any right to. Her eyes were bright, alert. The monitors beeped steadily.
"Stop the act," Audrey said coldly. "You are not dying, are you?"
Lucy smiled. "No. But I needed you here. Both of you."
She reached for a remote on the bedside table and pressed a button. A screen descended from the ceiling, displaying a DNA comparison chart.
"This," Lucy said, "is why I have done everything."
She pointed to two columns.
"Audrey, you and I share twenty-three percent DNA."
The room tilted. I grabbed the back of a chair.
"We are half-sisters." Lucy's voice was direct. "Same father but different mothers. Your mother had an affair with Richard Vandenberg thirty years ago. You are his eldest daughter."
Audrey could not speak. The color drained from her face.
"The Vandenberg fortune does not go to the legitimate heir." Lucy's smile turned sharp. "It goes to the eldest daughter. Which is you. You are the princess, Audrey. You always were."
"That is impossible," Audrey whispered. "My parents—"
"Adoptive parents," Lucy corrected. "Your real mother gave you up to protect you. To hide you from the family that would have destroyed you to protect the inheritance."
I stared between them, my mind refusing to process what I was hearing.
Lucy pulled out a folder and opened it. Inside was a photo.
"And about that night in the hospital." She held up the image. "The baby did not survive. But this did."
The photo showed a vial. A medical label.
"Cord blood," Lucy said. "Stem cells which are DNA. I paid a nurse to take it before they disposed of the remains. I have been holding onto it for five years."
Audrey's hands shook. "Why?"
Lucy's smile turned cruel. "Because with your DNA and the baby's DNA, I can prove your connection to the Vandenberg family. I can prove you
are the rightful heir. And I can use that to destroy everything." She leaned forward. "Unless you do exactly what I say."
- Writer
