Chapter 2 - THE RESULT
Nobody moved.
Even the servers had stopped walking.
Victoria held the laboratory report in both hands.
For the first time that evening, she looked uncertain.
Liam stepped toward the stage.
“Read it.”
Victoria lowered the paper.
“Liam, this isn't the place.”
Avery almost smiled.
“You chose the place.”
Victoria's jaw tightened.
Richard Sterling moved toward them.
“Perhaps we should continue this privately.”
“No.”
Liam's answer was immediate.
He looked at his mother.
“You brought my wife and my child into this in front of everyone.”
His voice dropped.
“So finish it.”
Victoria looked around.
She had expected humiliation.
She had expected Avery to cry.
Maybe run.
Instead, the entire room was waiting for Victoria to explain herself.
She looked down at the report.
“The test states that there are inconsistencies.”
“What inconsistencies?” Liam asked.
Victoria hesitated.
Avery answered for her.
“The test says Leo and Liam share enough genetic markers to establish a direct biological relationship.”
Liam stared at her.
“But?”
Avery looked toward Victoria.
“But the laboratory couldn't classify Liam as Leo's biological father.”
Whispers exploded again.
Liam looked stunned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“No,” Avery said.
“It doesn't.”
Victoria recovered quickly.
“It makes perfect sense.”
She faced the guests.
“Leo is related to the Sterling family.”
Her eyes settled on Avery.
“But Liam isn't his father.”
A woman near the front gasped.
Liam's expression hardened.
“Stop.”
Victoria continued.
“Someone else in this family is.”
Avery closed her eyes for a moment.
There it was.
Exactly where Victoria wanted it.
The ugliest possible implication.
Richard Sterling stepped backward.
Several guests looked at him.
Then at Avery.
Avery noticed.
So did Richard.
“Don't even think it,” he snapped.
Victoria lifted the report.
“I am simply stating what the science indicates.”
“No,” Avery said.
“You're stating what you paid someone to make it indicate.”
Victoria's face changed.
“That is a serious accusation.”
“So is accusing me of sleeping with another Sterling.”
Avery handed Leo to Liam.
“Hold him.”
Liam took their son automatically.
Avery reached into her evening bag.
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
“What are you doing?”
Avery pulled out her phone.
“Something I should've done three years ago.”
She tapped the screen.
A photograph appeared.
Then another.
Then a scanned document.
Avery turned toward Liam.
“Your mother is right about one thing.”
Liam looked at her.
“There is a problem with Leo's DNA.”
His face drained.
Avery continued.
“But it has nothing to do with me being unfaithful.”
Victoria moved toward her.
“Avery.”
Avery ignored her.
“The problem is you, Liam.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
Avery looked toward the enormous screens mounted behind the stage.
“Can you connect my phone?”
The event technician looked toward Liam.
Liam nodded.
“Do it.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“No.”
That single word changed the atmosphere.
Liam looked at his mother.
“Why not?”
Victoria didn't answer.
The screen came alive.
A medical document appeared.
At the top were three words.
STERLING FAMILY MEDICAL ARCHIVE.
Liam stared.
“What is that?”
Avery looked at him.
“Something your mother never wanted you to see.”
Victoria's face went white.
“Avery, turn that off.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what you're doing.”
“For once, I understand exactly what I'm doing.”
Avery enlarged the document.
A name appeared.
DANIEL STERLING.
Liam stopped breathing.
His father.
Dead for twenty-eight years.
Liam whispered.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Avery turned toward him.
“Everything.”
Victoria lunged toward the phone.
Liam caught her wrist.
“Mother.”
She froze.
May you like
His voice was almost a whisper.
“What did you do?”
