There it was.
Not a denial.
A justification.
“What obligations?”
Victor looked at the twins.
“Richard Vexley did not build your company alone.”
I almost smiled.
“Neither did you.”
“He survived because my father financed him when every bank refused.
In return, Richard signed agreements concerning patents, equity, and succession rights.
Then he buried those agreements when Vexley Pharmaceuticals became valuable.”
I stared at him.
“So you switched reproductive samples to settle a business dispute?”
“I did no such thing.”
“Then why are you here?”
He hesitated.
Sylvie answered for him.
“Because he thought the babies would give him leverage over you.”
Victor’s gaze hardened.
She continued.
“He contacted me four months ago.
He said the children might not be yours.
He offered to make the problem disappear if I signed over any claims they could ever have against the Vexley estate.”
My stomach turned.
“And you refused.”
“I recorded him.”
Victor lunged one step toward the bed.
I moved before I thought.
I turned my body so the twins were behind my shoulder and put myself between him and Sylvie.
The door opened.
Hospital security entered with two administrators.
Victor stopped.
The doctor nodded toward Sylvie’s phone on the table.
“The recording has already been copied.”
Victor looked at him with naked hatred.
I understood then why he had arrived with attorneys instead of doctors.
He was not protecting children.
He was trying to contain evidence.
The recording was worse than I expected.
Sylvie’s voice was quiet, frightened.
Victor’s was unmistakable.
He never explicitly admitted switching the samples.
Men like Victor rarely confessed cleanly.
Instead, he told Sylvie that Damon Vexley would abandon her once he learned the children were genetically connected to Richard.
He said a public paternity scandal would destroy the Vexley family’s credibility, trigger litigation over Richard’s estate, and weaken my company enough for Harlan to acquire it.
Then he offered her money.
When she refused, his tone changed.
He told her she had no idea how many documents already carried her signature.
I listened to that line twice.
The forged divorce petition.
The false clinic consent.
The no-contact orders.
This had never been one crime.
It was a system.
Victor still tried to fight.
He claimed the recording was edited.
