CHAPTER 9 THE HEIRESS IN A MAID’S UNIFORM
THE HEIRESS IN A MAID’S UNIFORM
By noon, the mansion was surrounded by reporters.
Someone had leaked news that the Hart family’s heir might not be Nathaniel’s biological son.
Television vans blocked the road.
Helicopters hovered above the estate.
Hart Global’s stock began falling before the market had been open for an hour.
Vivienne’s attorney arrived with a court order demanding her release.
Nathaniel allowed her to leave under police escort.
She paused beside Elena in the foyer.
“You think you won.”
Elena said nothing.
Vivienne leaned close.
“This family will never let a maid own their empire.”
Then she walked outside to the cameras.
She claimed she had been imprisoned by a mentally unstable husband.
She described Elena as an obsessed former surrogate.
She denied every accusation.
Within minutes, the story spread across the country.
Elena became either a courageous mother or a calculating gold digger.
Nathaniel watched the coverage from his office.
Every channel displayed the photograph of Elena in her maid’s uniform.
Marcus entered carrying another sealed envelope.
“The final DNA analysis confirmed the preliminary findings.”
Nathaniel did not look away from the television.
“Lucas is Jonathan and Elena’s biological child.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena is Jonathan’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
No legal document could change what Lucas meant to him.
He had held the boy through nightmares.
He had taught him to ride a bicycle.
He had attended every school performance.
Blood did not erase fatherhood.
But the truth could destroy Elena.
Marcus placed a second file on the desk.
“We located Malcolm Reed.”
Nathaniel turned.
“Where?”
“In a federal protection program.”
Malcolm had contacted prosecutors three years earlier.
He had admitted participating in illegal fertility procedures at Saint Catherine’s Hospital.
He claimed he acted under threats from a private network that specialized in manufacturing heirs for wealthy families.
The investigation had stalled because key witnesses vanished.
Malcolm believed someone inside Hart Global was funding the network.
Nathaniel looked at the black ledger.
“Can he testify?”
“He will if Elena agrees to meet him.”
That afternoon, Malcolm arrived through an underground garage.
He was thinner than Marcus.
His hair had turned completely white.
When he saw Elena, shame filled his face.
“I am sorry.”
Elena did not offer forgiveness.
“Tell me why my son was poisoned.”
Malcolm sat across from her.
“Lucas was not poisoned to kill him.”
Nathaniel’s expression hardened.
“Digoxin nearly stopped his heart.”
“It was used to create a medical crisis.”
“Why?”
“To collect blood samples without your suspicion.”
“Vivienne needed doctors to certify him as a Hart heir.”
“The first laboratory refused.”
“The cardiac emergency gave her access to a different hospital and a different testing chain.”
Elena stared at him.
“Who placed the drug in his bottle?”
Malcolm looked toward Eleanor.
“She did.”
Nathaniel turned slowly.
Eleanor stood in the doorway.
She did not deny it.
“I calculated the dose carefully,” she said.
“He was never supposed to die.”
Elena crossed the room and slapped her.
The sound echoed through the same foyer where Vivienne had struck Elena.
Eleanor touched her cheek.
Elena trembled with fury.
“You risked my child’s life for a company.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
“I risked his life to keep someone far more dangerous from discovering who he was.”
A gunshot exploded outside.
The library window shattered.
Malcolm fell to the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
May you like
Before losing consciousness, he pointed toward the rooftop across the lake.
“Vivienne knows he is alive.”
