Chapter 3: The Reunion at the Terminal

The air in the VIP terminal turned bone-chillingly cold.

Ethan stared at Victoria, his mind reeling in absolute disbelief. The woman standing before him was not the quiet, timid wife who used to cook his meals in silence and flinch whenever he raised his voice.

She wore a sharp crimson designer suit, her shoulders back, her gaze burning with an undeniable, royal arrogance. Her eyes—once filled with soft devotion whenever she looked at him—were now completely hollow of emotion.

"Victoria..." Ethan took a step forward, his voice tight, almost breathless. "Where have you been for five years? I searched everywhere for you."

"Searched for me?" Victoria let out a light, mocking laugh that sounded like delicate glass shattering. "Why, President Vance? To make sure I was still alive and not tarnishing the grand Vance family name? Or did you miss having a free servant at home?"

Ethan’s jaw tightened. "That’s not why—"

Before he could finish, little Chloe stepped up beside Victoria, wrapping her arms around her mother’s leg and looking up at Ethan with big, innocent eyes.

"Mommy," Chloe asked loudly, her voice carrying across the quiet terminal. "Is this the mean uncle who dumped you for a fake princess?"

A sharp gasp echoed from Ethan’s secretary, Director Chen, who immediately lowered his head in terror. The six bodyguards behind Ethan stood frozen, not daring to make a sound.

Ethan’s eyes snapped down to the little girl, then back to the boy, Leo, who was still standing calmly beside Victoria with his hands tucked into his tiny suit pockets.

Two children. Both roughly four years old.

Ethan’s heart slammed against his ribs with the force of a sledgehammer. He did the math instantly in his head. Five years ago... six weeks after the divorce...

"Victoria..." Ethan’s voice trembled, a sudden, wild desperation breaking through his icy composure. "Who are these children?"

"They are mine," Victoria answered calmly, reaching down to gently rest her hands on her children's shoulders.

"Are they..." Ethan swallowed hard, his throat painfully dry. "Are they my children?"

Leo looked at Ethan with an expression of pure, unadulterated disgust. "Don't flatter yourself, mister. Our father is an astronaut who lives on Mars. He's way cooler than a guy who wears cheap wristwatches."

Director Chen nearly choked on his own breath. *Cheap wristwatches? That Patek Philippe cost two hundred thousand dollars!*

Victoria didn't correct her son. Instead, she offered Ethan a cold, razor-sharp smile. "You heard him, President Vance. My children have nothing to do with you. Five years ago, I signed your agreement and walked away with nothing, just as you demanded. You lost any right to ask about my life the moment you threw me out into the storm."

"Victoria, listen to me!" Ethan stepped closer, his hand reaching out to grab her wrist, driven by a sudden, overwhelming panic that if he let her walk away now, he would lose her forever.

*Snap!*

Before Ethan’s fingers could touch her, Victoria’s chief bodyguard, Mark, stepped smoothly into his path. Mark grabbed Ethan’s wrist in a vise-like grip, blocking him completely.

"Step back, President Vance," Mark said, his voice flat and threatening. "You are approaching the Global CEO of the Sterling Group. Attempting physical contact will be treated as an act of hostility."

Ethan glared at Mark, his eyes flashing with lethal danger. "Get your hands off me if you want to keep your job in this city."

"His job is safe, Ethan," Victoria interjected, her voice dripping with ice. "Because you don't own North City anymore. And you certainly don't own me."

Ethan forced his eyes away from Mark and locked onto Victoria's face. "The Sterling Group...? You're the mysterious investor behind the Sterling conglomerate?"

"Surprised?" Victoria tilted her head slightly, her red lipstick curling into a victorious smirk. "Five years ago, you thought five hundred thousand dollars was a massive fortune to offer me. Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, I hold fifty-one percent of the voting rights for your company's survival. If I sign the merger, Vance Enterprise lives. If I walk away, your board of directors will throw you off the throne by noon."

Ethan stood paralyzed. The woman he had discarded like trash five years ago had returned as his absolute executioner.

"We will talk tomorrow in the boardroom, President Vance," Victoria said coldly. She adjusted her sunglasses, covering her eyes once more. "Come along, my loves."

"Goodbye, cheap-watch uncle!" Chloe waved sweetly with her teddy bear as she walked away.

Leo didn't wave. He simply tapped his tablet screen one last time, sending a subtle, encrypted ping directly to Ethan’s private smartphone before following his mother down the VIP exit corridor.

Ethan stood in the center of the terminal, surrounded by his silent security team. His chest rose and fell heavily as he watched Victoria’s majestic figure disappear through the glass doors.

*Buzz. Buzz.*

Ethan’s phone vibrated violently in his pocket. He pulled it out with shaking hands.

It was a text message from an untraceable, encrypted satellite burner number.

The message contained a single attached image file: a high-resolution DNA comparative analysis report generated three minutes ago using a hair strand collected from the airport floor.

The result at the bottom was highlighted in bright red:

**PATERNITY CONFIRMED: 99.99% MATCH (ETHAN VANCE & LEO STERLING / CHLOE STERLING).**

Below the image was a tiny line of text written by Leo:

*[Try not to go bankrupt before tomorrow morning, Dad. - L]*

Ethan’s phone nearly slipped from his grasp as a wave of intense shock, grief, and roaring fury crashed over him.

They were his twins. Victoria had carried his children, born them alone, and raised them without him.

He whipped around toward Director Chen, his eyes bloodshot with terrifying intensity.

"Cancel all my appointments for tonight!" Ethan roared, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings of the terminal. "Find out where Victoria is staying! And bring me Melanie Vance right now!"