Silence did not shatter.
It thickened.
The words hung in the air like smoke that refused to clear.
Adrian is her biological father.
Aruna did not move.
She did not blink.
She simply stared at the man standing in the doorway, as if the sentence might rearrange itself into something less monstrous.
Dante spoke first.
“Repeat that.”
The guard swallowed. “A verified DNA report was released with the hospital financing documents. It lists Adrian Vale as her biological father. Media outlets are already picking it up.”
Aruna felt her pulse in her ears.
Vale.
The surname she had carried all her life.
The surname she believed came from a man who had abandoned them before she could remember his face.
“Who verified it?” Dante asked.
“One of the top private labs in the country. It looks
