"And you," she continued, her tone breaking between anger and heartbreak, "when you started at that prep school, you got mixed up with the wrong crowd. Those kids weren't your friends. They were dangerous. Sons and daughters of people who would have loved nothing more than to hurt a Valente. That night, they drugged your drink. You didn't even know what was happening to you." Her voice rose, trembling with the memory. "If your mom hadn't burst in at just the right moment, with help, God knows what they would've done to you."
She paused, her breath uneven, her hands shaking.
"She fought them off," my mother said hoarsely. "She protected you. She took ten knife wounds for you. Ten. Do you understand that? If it weren't for her, your life would've been ruined that night."
The room was completely silent now. Every single person listening. The bodyguards along the walls had gone still, eyes fixed straight ahead, trained not to react but unable not to hear. Somewhere in the back of the room, a glass had been set down and not picked up again.
"And when you became a young woman," she added softly, almost pleading now, "who was the one who sat with you? Who explained everything, who stayed by your side so you wouldn't be scared or confused? Who made sure you felt safe?"
No one spoke.
The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.
Because deep down, they all knew the answer.
I had taken care of them. I had been there for everything. Every moment that mattered.
A long moment passed before Tessa let out a scoff, flipping her hair over her right shoulder with open disdain.
"Do you think I care?" she said coldly, her voice dripping with indifference. "Whatever she did doesn't count. She's not my real mom."
Adrian let out a harsh, mocking laugh, his expression twisted with contempt. His left hand curled on the tablecloth, and his knuckles cracked one at a time, pinky to thumb, slow and deliberate.
"Exactly," he sneered. "Just look at her. You really think this broke, pathetic woman deserved to be our mother? Not in a million years. She's nothing in this Family."
His words cut through the room like a blade.
Then, without warning, he slammed a folder down onto the table in front of everyone.
The sharp sound echoed through the silent room like a gunshot.
A blood verification test.