Sterling kept reading. “‘For the past eight years, I have hidden information that would destroy my family. And if you are listening to this, it means I am no longer alive to contain the consequences.’”
I felt a chill run up my spine. Adrian raised his head slowly. For the first time, he looked truly terrified.
The lawyer swallowed hard. “‘My son Adrian is not my biological son.’”
Mercedes let out a muffled exclamation. “What?”
Adrian sat completely still. He didn’t even blink. The lawyer kept reading in an increasingly tense voice.
“‘His true biological parentage was hidden by my first wife before she passed away. I discovered the truth nine years ago through medical testing.’”
The room seemed to shrink around us. I looked at Adrian. His face was blank. As if something had just been ripped out from inside him.
“‘My wife, Clara, maintained an affair with my business partner and best friend, Frederick Vidal. Adrian is his son.’”
Mercedes began shaking her head frantically. “No. No. That can’t be true.”
But the lawyer opened another folder. Inside were DNA results. Dates. Signatures. Notarized documents. Everything perfectly organized.
Gabriel had known the truth for years. And he had never said a word.
I understood then why he had left the entire inheritance to me. It wasn’t love. It was guilt. A monstrous, overdue guilt.
Because while he punished Adrian in silence for years, he also used me to prop up a family built on a lie.
The lawyer kept reading. “‘I could not forgive Clara’s betrayal. And I could no longer look at Adrian the same way after learning the truth. Isabel was the only loyal person in that house.’”
I felt nauseous. This wasn’t a gift. It was a bomb.
Mercedes stood up abruptly. “That old man was out of his mind!”
Adrian remained seated. Pale. Still. As if he had stopped listening.
Then he said something in a very low voice: “He knew… for nine years?”