Chapter 5: The truth between us

The abandoned newsroom smelled like dust and forgotten ambition.

Broken blinds hung unevenly over tall windows. Old desks sat abandoned like ghosts of deadlines long passed.

Elena stood in the center of the room, arms folded, heart steady but racing beneath the surface.

At exactly 2:14 p.m., the door opened.

Lucian stepped in alone.

No security.

No driver.

Just him.

He closed the door behind him without breaking eye contact.

“You said no security,” he said. “You didn’t say no surveillance.”

Her jaw tightened. “You bugged me?”

“No,” he replied calmly. “I bugged the car that’s been following you.”

That made her blink.

“You noticed?”

“I notice everything around you.”

The air shifted.

Not accusation.

Not anger.

Awareness.

He stepped closer, stopping a few feet away.

“You said my father is watching you.”

“He is.”

“Why?”

Because he’s stealing from you. Because he framed me. Because your empire is rotting from the inside.

Instead of answering, she opened her laptop and turned it toward him.

“Look.”

Lucian moved closer.

The screen displayed offshore transfers, layered transactions, shell corporations masked under different board signatures.

He leaned forward slightly.

His face didn’t change.

But his eyes did.

“These are internal routing codes,” he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“They’re executive-level.”

“Yes.”

“And the authorization signature…”

He stopped.

His breathing changed.

“Elena.”

“I didn’t steal your money,” she said steadily. “I followed it.”

Lucian stared at the name on the digital authorization line.

Vittorio Moretti.

He didn’t speak for a long moment.

The silence wasn’t doubt.

It was calculation.

“You’re accusing my father of embezzlement,” he said finally.

“I’m showing you proof.”

He looked at her then.

Really looked at her.

“You could have shown me this before.”

She swallowed.

“You wouldn’t have believed me.”

The honesty of that hit harder than any accusation.

He didn’t deny it.

Because she was right.

The evidence planted against her had come at the same time she began digging into the shell companies.

Too convenient.

Too clean.

Lucian stepped back slowly.

“When did you find this?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“And instead of telling me—”

“I tried.”

That silenced him.

She had walked into his office that night to tell him.

Instead, she walked into divorce papers.

His jaw flexed.

“The hotel,” he said.

“I met an accountant who agreed to testify.”

“And the footage?”

“Edited.”

“And the anonymous email?”

“Likely sent from inside your own board.”

Lucian’s chest rose slowly.

This wasn’t betrayal.

This was strategy.

Against him.

Against his trust.

And he had signed the papers without asking the right questions.

He ran a hand through his hair — a rare crack in composure.

“Elena… why didn’t you at least tell me you were pregnant?”

There it was.

The softer fracture.

Her eyes flickered.

“I didn’t know until after,” she said quietly.

He searched her face.

No hesitation.

No performance.

Just truth.

The air between them shifted again.

Not healed.

But no longer hostile.

Then his phone buzzed.

Both of them froze.

He glanced at the screen.

Unknown lab notification.

The DNA results were in.

Too fast.

His eyes darkened slightly.

“That’s impossible,” he murmured.

“The test wasn’t supposed to be processed until tomorrow.”

Elena’s stomach dropped.

Vittorio.

Lucian opened the file.

He scanned it once.

His expression didn’t change.

Which scared her more than anger would have.

“Well?” she asked softly.

He didn’t answer immediately.

Then he turned the screen toward her.

Probability of Paternity: 0%.

The room went silent.

Her ears rang.

“That’s not possible,” she whispered.

Lucian’s jaw hardened.

“I gave my sample this morning.”

She shook her head slowly.

“No. No, this is wrong.”

He stared at her.

Not furious.

Not yet.

Just… closing off.

“You said you never lied to me.”

Her heart shattered.

“I didn’t.”

The air thickened.

His eyes weren’t cold now.

They were wounded.

And that was worse.

“Elena,” he said quietly, “if there’s even a chance—”

“There isn’t.”

The certainty in her voice echoed through the empty newsroom.

Lucian looked torn between logic and something deeper.

Instinct.

Memory.

Love.

But then—

He noticed something at the bottom of the digital report.

Processing ID number.

He frowned.

“That’s not my lab code.”

“What?”

He looked again.

“The sample identification number doesn’t match the collection form I signed.”

Their eyes met.

Understanding dawned at the same time.

“It was switched,” she breathed.

Lucian’s entire posture changed.

Not confused.

Not hurt.

Dangerous.

Someone had manipulated the result.

Someone with power.

Someone who needed him to believe the baby wasn’t his.

Vittorio.

Lucian closed the file slowly.

“They think I won’t double-check.”

His voice had gone ice cold.

Elena felt it.

The shift.

This wasn’t about doubt anymore.

This was about betrayal.

And not hers.

Lucian stepped closer to her.

Close enough that she could feel his breath.

“If this child is mine,” he said quietly, “then someone just declared war on me.”

Her heart pounded.

“And if it’s not?” she whispered.

He held her gaze.

“If it’s not… then I lost you for nothing.”

The words hung between them.

Heavy.

Real.

His phone buzzed again.

This time from Marco.

Lucian glanced at it.

His expression darkened.

“What?” Elena asked.

He looked up slowly.

“The accountant you met at the hotel?”

Her blood ran cold.

“What about him?”

“He was found unconscious this morning.”

Silence.

“He’s in critical condition.”

The room felt like it tilted.

This wasn’t corporate sabotage anymore.

This was escalation.

Lucian’s eyes hardened fully now.

“They’re cleaning up loose ends.”

Elena’s hand instinctively moved to her stomach.

Lucian noticed.

And something primal flickered in his expression.

“Stay where I can see you,” he said quietly.

Not as a command.

As protection.

But protection from who?

His father?

Or the empire itself?

Outside, sirens wailed faintly in the distance.

And neither of them knew yet—

Vittorio had just received confirmation that the DNA result had been delivered.

And he was smiling.

Cliffhanger:

• The DNA test was tampered with. • The witness is nearly dead. • Lucian is starting to suspect his father. • And someone just escalated from financial manipulation to physical violence.