Just like that, the final piece of truth was laid bare for all to see. The twins weren't just adopted children. They were Giada's children. Hers and Nico's all along.
Illegitimate. Hidden. Carefully concealed until now.
A wave of gasps swept through the crowd, even though the rumors had already been circulating in whispers.
"I knew it," someone muttered under their breath.
"Please, it was obvious," another added. "They said they didn't want kids, and then suddenly came back with twins? Who were they trying to fool?"
"God… poor Seraphina," someone said quietly, their voice filled with pity. "She raised someone else's children for eighteen years. Gave them everything. Love, time, even a piece of the Valente territory. And in the end, they turn around and call the woman who destroyed her marriage 'Mom.'"
The murmurs grew louder again, filled with sympathy, disbelief, and a hint of cruel fascination. In the far corner of the room, two of Don Salvatore's old soldiers stood with their arms folded, watching the scene with the rigid stillness of men who had been ordered not to intervene. Their jaws were tight.
All eyes turned toward me.
Some mocking. Some pitying. Some simply curious.
To them, I was the punchline of a cruel joke. The heiress of the most feared name on the Eastern Seaboard, humiliated at her own table.
They expected me to break. To scream. To cry. To lose control in front of everyone.
But I didn't.
Instead, I reached calmly into my bag and pulled out a folder of my own. Without a word, I tossed it onto the table, the motion deliberate and steady. The sound of it hitting the polished wood carried through the silent room like a gunshot.
"Since you've made your stance clear," I said evenly, my voice calm to the point of being unsettling, "let's settle this once and for all."
A ripple of shock moved through the room.
"Let's cut our ties here."
Gasps rang out immediately. No one had expected that. Not at a sit-down in the Valente estate. Not from the woman whose name was carved into the foundation of this house.
"You're just going to give them up?" someone whispered, stunned. "After everything you've done for them?"
Tessa let out a laugh, bright and unapologetic. "That's exactly what I wanted," she said without hesitation. She flipped her hair over her right shoulder, already reaching for the documents.
Neither of them showed even the slightest bit of doubt.