Chapter 2 - The Shattered Silence of the Estate
The thunderous slamming of the grand oak doors echoed like a gunshot through the cavernous foyer of the Connecticut estate.
Grand chandeliers trembled overhead as Ethan stood on the polished marble, his knuckles white around the crumpled papers.
"Say something, Victoria!" Ethan bellowed, his voice laced with a terrifying mix of raw grief and explosive rage.
Victoria stood petrified under the warm recessed lighting, her royal purple silk blouse suddenly feeling like a suffocating cage.
Her pristine, manicured mask fractured entirely as she watched the love of her life stare at her like she was a monster.
"Ethan, please, you don't understand the full story," Victoria gasped, her voice trembling as she took a hesitant step backward.
"I don't understand?!" Ethan laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and devoid of any real humor.
"I hold an official lab report from Johns Hopkins right here in my hand!"
He waved the wrinkled document violently in the air, the stamped seals flashing under the ambient lights.
"It states ninety-nine point nine percent probability that I am the biological father of this infant!"
The nanny, Clara, pressed her back against the mahogany wall, weeping silently as she rocked the terrified baby in her arms.
The tiny infant's cries filled the tense space, cutting directly through Ethan's heart like a sharpened blade.
Ethan turned his fiery gaze toward Clara, his eyes softening for a mere fraction of a second as he saw his own features in the child.
"You," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper as he looked at the nanny.
"Were you helping her keep my own flesh and blood away from me?"
"No, Mr. Vance, I swear on my life!" Clara sobbed, clutching the baby closer to her chest.
"Mrs. Vance told me the child was an orphan from an unauthorized adoption agency in Chicago!"
Victoria snapped her head toward Clara, her blue eyes flashing with desperate, venomous anger.
"Shut your mouth, Clara, or I will see to it that you never work in this country again!" Victoria screeched.
"Enough!" Ethan roared, stepping directly between Victoria and the nanny, his massive frame towering over his wife.
"You will not threaten anyone in my house ever again, Victoria."
May you like
He reached out with a steady, trembling hand toward Clara, his eyes fixed entirely on the infant's face.
"Give me my son," Ethan whispered softly.
