Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Confusion 

The flashing lights of the cameras had finally faded away into the night, leaving behind a heavy silence that didn’t bring any comfort at all; instead, it felt like the beginning of something much darker and more complicated than anyone could have imagined.

Nathan Reed slipped quietly into the backseat of his black car without saying a single word to anyone, and when the door closed behind him with that soft but final thud, it was as if he had sealed himself off from the entire world, the shouting reporters, the blinding flashes, the endless questions that had been thrown at him like stones all day long.

“Drive,” he ordered in a low voice that carried no room for argument.

The car pulled away smoothly, gliding through the streets while the voices of the press grew smaller and more distant outside the tinted windows.

“Mr. Reed, is the boy truly your son?”

“Are the rumors about an illegitimate child real?”

“Mr. Reed, please just one comment!”

Nathan’s jaw clenched so hard he could feel the muscle jumping under his skin; they had no idea what they were digging into, no understanding of the storm they were trying to stir up with their careless words and greedy lenses.

He leaned back against the leather seat, fingers moving almost automatically to loosen his tie, though the action did nothing to release the knot in his chest . His other hand rested on his knee, tapping once, then twice, before going completely still as his gaze dropped to the phone in his lap, the screen lighting up again and again with notifications pouring in from every direction, every social platform, every news outlet, all screaming his name because of the single statement he had made.

The headlines were already everywhere, spreading like wildfire even after he had issued his cold, clear warning to back off; they never listened, not really.

A quiet, bitter breath escaped him, almost a laugh but without any warmth in it. “They never learn,” he murmured to the empty air around him.

Across from him, his assistant sat with perfect posture, her tablet glowing softly in the dim interior as she scrolled through updates coming in real time.

“Sir,” He began carefully, choosing each word with precision, “your legal statement has been distributed to all major outlets, and most of them are already pulling back or retracting the more reckless claims after seeing the warning.”

“Most?” Nathan echoed, his voice dangerously soft.

She hesitated for only a heartbeat. “A few are still trying… but they’re being cautious now, nothing too direct, nothing that crosses the line into defamation.”

The corner of his mouth lifted in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Let them try,” he said, the words carrying a quiet promise of consequences.

But even as he spoke, his thoughts had already left the media circus far behind; they had returned to the moment on stage, to the chaos his own son had unleashed without warning, and something about the entire scene refused to settle right in his mind.

His fingers went still on his knee.

“Sir?” his assistant tried again, his voice low this time.

Nathan didn’t respond immediately; instead his mind drifted back to the hospital room, to the sight of Alex, small, pale, fragile clinging so tightly to that woman named Sarah, calling her “mummy” with a certainty that made no sense at all.

It wasn’t pretend. It wasn’t a child’s game or a wild guess.

It was real, like the boy had always known her.

Nathan’s eyes darkened as the memory played over and over in his head.

Alex had never attached himself to anyone like that before, not nannies, not family friends, not even… He stopped the thought, refusing to let it finish.

“No,” he muttered under his breath, barely audible.

None of it made any sense, and the more he turned it over, the less sense it made.

“Sir?” His assistant’s voice pulled him back again.

He blinked, forcing himself to focus. “What is it?”

He studied him for a second before speaking. 

“Do you still wish to proceed with the DNA test?”

“Yes,” he answered almost instantly, irritation flaring hot in his chest. “And I want it done privately, no external labs, no digital records that anyone outside my control can touch. Nothing gets traced back unless I give the order myself.”

“Understood, sir.”

Nathan’s gaze shifted to Alex, who sat quietly beside him looking every bit the picture of innocence, as though he hadn’t just turned his father’s carefully controlled world upside down in a single afternoon.

“Alex,” Nathan said, keeping his voice level but firm. “Why did you say that today?”

The boy didn’t answer right away; he only stared back at his father with those too-serious eyes, tiny fingers twisting together in his lap.

“I asked you a question,” Nathan pressed, his tone hardening, teeth almost grinding together. “You will answer me.”

“I only told the truth,” Alex replied in a small, steady voice. “Can I go see them again?”

The words hit Nathan like a slap.

“You barely know them,” he snapped, anger rising fast and sharp, “and now you’re calling them your brother and sister? Just because one boy happens to look a little like you doesn’t make them your family. You are not permitted to see them again, and you will never mention them, never you understand me?”

Alex dropped his gaze to his hands and said nothing more.

Across the city, in a different kind of darkness, Emma paced near her window, fury simmering beneath her calm surface as she tried again and again to uncover something, anything at all about the boy named Adin.

Nothing. Not a birth record, not a school mention, not a single trace.

It infuriated her because things had always gone her way before; she had schemed, manipulated, endured, all to carve out her place beside Nathan, and she refused to let some mystery woman and a couple of look-alike children destroy everything she had built.

Even if Nathan barely acknowledged her existence most days, she was still called Mrs. Reed, and as long as that name belonged to her, she would fight with everything she had.

Her phone buzzed.

“Ma’am,” the voice on the other end said cautiously, “we still can’t find any trace of the child. It’s like he never existed at all. Maybe…just maybe the whole thing is fabricated, AI, an artist’s rendering, something like that.”

Emma’s lips pressed into a thin line.

Adin had covered every track perfectly, as though he had known from the beginning that someone like her would come searching.

“Forget the boy for now,” she whispered, voice cold and deliberate. “I want you to start digging into someone else. She paused for a moment before calling the name.

“Sarah Ray. My step-sister.”

She ended the call without waiting for a reply, and a slow, dangerous smirk curved her mouth.

It was only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Sarah still hadn’t shaken off the shock from Nathan’s public announcement about ordering a DNA test to “clear the air.”

She knew there was no possible connection between them, none at all so why would he even entertain the rumors? Simply because his son resembled hers? Was that really enough to drag her and her children into his world?

Aria came running suddenly, eyes wide with innocent excitement.

“Mummy, Alex said we’re his brother and sister. Is that true?”

Sarah managed a gentle smile despite the knot in her stomach. “Sweetheart, he doesn’t have any other siblings, so when he visits, you can treat him like a brother, alright? That would make him happy.”

“Mummy, will he come back soon?” Aria asked, pouting adorably. “I want to show him my new drawing.”

“I don’t know yet, baby. That’s enough questions for tonight go get ready for bed. You have school in the morning.”

Adin sat quietly in his own little corner of the house, mind already racing ahead.

He was smart too smart sometimes, and he had seen the way his mother’s face changed when Nathan mentioned the DNA test.

He knew what was coming next.

So he would play along carefully, stay one step ahead, and make sure no one ever caught him in the truth.

That night, Nathan couldn’t find sleep no matter how long he lay in the dark.

The house was silent, every light turned off, every door locked, as though the day had never happened at all, but he remained in his study, sitting alone in the shadows while the events of the afternoon circled slowly and relentlessly through his mind, refusing to let him rest.

Across the city, Emma stood motionless by her window, the cool night air brushing against her skin. Her phone rested in her hand like a weapon, and she waited with the calm certainty of someone who always got what she wanted in the end.

When it finally rang, she answered without hesitation.

“Talk to me.”

“Ma’am,” the voice came through, lower and more careful than before, “we still have nothing on the child… but we found something else.”

Emma’s eyes narrowed, sharp and focused.

“What is it?”