Updated Nov 23, 2025 • ~8 min read
Beatrice showed up unannounced three days after Marissa’s disastrous visit.
I was in the gardens with Lily, letting her experience grass for the first time, when I heard Beatrice’s voice carrying from the terrace.
“Keira Sterling, you get up here this instant!”
I scooped up Lily and headed toward the house, my heart sinking. Beatrice only used that tone when she was furious.
She stood on the terrace in full dramatic glory—black dress, oversized sunglasses, a silk scarf that fluttered in the breeze. She looked like she was attending a funeral. Or planning one.
“Beatrice,” I said carefully. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” She pushed her sunglasses up, revealing eyes blazing with indignation. “What are you doing here? Living in sin with your dead sister’s husband, playing house like some kind of—”
“We’re not living in sin,” I interrupted, very aware of Tess hovering nearby. “We’re co-parenting. Raising Lily together. Like Ophelia wanted.”
“Oh, is that what you’re calling it?” Beatrice descended the terrace steps, her heels clicking ominously. “Because that’s not what the society pages are calling it.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
She pulled out her phone and thrust it at me. On the screen was a gossip blog, complete with a photo of me and Damon from three days ago—coming back from Lily’s pediatrician appointment, walking side by side, his hand on my lower back as he guided me toward the car.
The headline read: “BILLIONAIRE DAMON VALE MOVES SISTER-IN-LAW INTO HOME WHILE PATERNITY QUESTIONS SWIRL”
“Oh God,” I breathed.
“Oh God indeed.” Beatrice snatched the phone back. “Do you have any idea what people are saying? That you and Damon were having an affair before Ophelia died. That Lily might be yours. That Ophelia found out and that’s why she—”
“That’s insane!” I handed Lily to Tess. “Can you take her to Macy? Please?”
Tess nodded and disappeared inside with the baby.
“Is it insane?” Beatrice demanded once we were alone. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks remarkably suspicious. You, living here, raising your sister’s child with her husband, two weeks before a DNA test that will determine everything.”
“I’m doing what Ophelia asked—”
“Ophelia is dead!” Beatrice’s voice cracked. “And you’re using her baby as an excuse to play house with the man you’ve been in love with since before she married him!”
The words hung in the air, brutal and true.
“You knew?” I whispered.
“Of course I knew. I raised you both, Keira. I saw the way you looked at Damon when Ophelia first brought him home. The way you lit up around him. The way you ran the second they announced their engagement.” Beatrice’s expression softened slightly. “I also saw the way Ophelia noticed. And married him anyway.”
I sank onto the stone bench, all the fight draining out of me. “She knew how I felt?”
“She knew.” Beatrice sat beside me, her anger giving way to something sadder. “I think that’s why she did it. Ophelia always needed to win, even when there was no competition. Especially with you.”
The revelation hit like a physical blow. All these years, I’d thought maybe Ophelia hadn’t known, hadn’t realized I’d had feelings for Damon first. But she’d known. And she’d taken him anyway.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because you need to wake up, Keira. You need to see this situation clearly.” Beatrice gripped my hand. “Damon is grieving and confused. His wife betrayed him, his daughter might not be his, his entire life has imploded. You’re convenient. You’re familiar. You remind him of Ophelia but without the baggage of her infidelity.”
“That’s not—”
“And when the DNA results come back,” Beatrice continued relentlessly, “one of two things will happen. Either Lily is his, and he won’t need you anymore because the custody issue becomes complicated. Or she’s not his, and he’ll associate you with the biggest betrayal of his life.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Don’t I?” She studied my face. “Has he made any promises to you? Said anything about a future beyond these two weeks?”
He hadn’t. Everything was contingent on the test results. Everything was temporary.
“I didn’t think so,” Beatrice said gently. “Sweetheart, I love you. But you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak. Again. And this time, Ophelia isn’t here to hide behind. This time, when Damon breaks your heart, you’ll have to face it head-on.”
“Miss Sterling?”
We both turned to find Tyler Dawson, the lawyer, approaching from the house.
“Mr. Dawson,” I said, standing. “What are you doing here?”
“I apologize for dropping by unannounced. I tried calling, but—” He glanced at Beatrice. “Is this a bad time?”
“I was just leaving,” Beatrice said, standing as well. She kissed my cheek and whispered, “Think about what I said. Please.”
She swept off toward the front drive where her car waited.
I turned to Tyler. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, exactly.” He shifted uncomfortably. “But there’s been a development I thought you should know about. Is Mr. Vale available?”
“He’s working from home today. I can get him.”
“Please.”
I found Damon in his study, surrounded by papers and open laptops, looking every bit the billionaire CEO who ran an empire from anywhere.
“Tyler’s here,” I said from the doorway. “He says there’s a development.”
Damon’s expression immediately shuttered. “What kind of development?”
“He wouldn’t say. Wants to talk to both of us.”
We met Tyler on the terrace, and he wasted no time.
“Evan Gibbons has come forward,” he said.
The name meant nothing to me, but Damon went completely still.
“Ophelia’s…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Yes,” Tyler confirmed. “The man named in her letter. He saw the news coverage about the will and the paternity questions. He’s retained counsel and is demanding a DNA test.”
“He wants to claim Lily?” I asked, my voice rising. “He thinks he’s her father?”
“He thinks it’s possible. And if he is, he’s arguing he has parental rights.”
“Absolutely not,” Damon said, his voice ice. “That man doesn’t get anywhere near my daughter.”
“Mr. Vale, legally, if he is Lily’s biological father—”
“I don’t care.” Damon stood abruptly, pacing like a caged animal. “I’ve raised her for six months. I’m on her birth certificate. I’m her father, DNA be damned.”
“I understand. But Mr. Gibbons is within his rights to request a test. And given Mrs. Vale’s letter admitting to the affair, a judge would likely grant it.”
“So what happens now?” I asked, my mind reeling.
“We run the test. It can be done simultaneously with the one you’ve already scheduled. Results will include both Mr. Vale and Mr. Gibbons. We’ll know conclusively who Lily’s biological father is.”
“And if it’s Gibbons?” Damon’s hands were clenched into fists.
“Then we fight for custody based on your established parental relationship. It won’t be easy, but we have grounds—”
“How did he even know?” I interrupted. “About the will, about Lily?”
Tyler looked uncomfortable. “The story was leaked to the press. I’m trying to determine the source, but given the timing and the specific details that were shared…” He paused. “I suspect it came from someone close to the family.”
Damon and I exchanged looks.
“My mother,” he said flatly.
“I can’t prove that,” Tyler said carefully. “But the leak did come shortly after Mrs. Vale senior’s visit here.”
“That vindictive—” Damon cut himself off, his jaw clenching. “When can we do the test?”
“The lab can accommodate both samples tomorrow. Results in seven to ten days.”
Seven to ten days to learn if Lily was Damon’s, Evan’s, or—God, was there a third option? Had Ophelia’s affair been more extensive than the letter suggested?
“Set it up,” Damon said. “I want this resolved.”
Tyler nodded. “I’ll be in touch with the details.”
After he left, Damon and I stood on the terrace in heavy silence.
“I’m going to kill my mother,” he finally said.
“She’s trying to protect you.” I didn’t believe it, not after her attack on me, but it seemed like the right thing to say.
“She’s making everything worse.” He turned to me, and the vulnerability in his eyes nearly broke me. “What if Lily isn’t mine, Keira? What if I’ve spent half a year falling in love with a child who belongs to the man who destroyed my marriage?”
I did the only thing I could think of—I closed the distance between us and took his hands in mine.
“Then you’ll have loved her anyway,” I said softly. “And that will matter. Maybe not legally, maybe not biologically, but it will matter.”
He looked down at our joined hands, his thumb absently stroking my knuckles.
“Ophelia really did a number on us all, didn’t she?” His laugh was bitter. “Left us with this impossible situation and no good answers.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “She really did.”
We stood there as the sun began to set, holding hands like it was the most natural thing in the world, while our futures hung in the balance.
Somewhere in the house, Lily was probably having her dinner, completely unaware that a stranger was claiming to be her father.
And somewhere out there, Evan Gibbons—the man who’d destroyed a marriage—was preparing to potentially destroy everything else too.
Seven to ten days.
The wait might actually kill me.
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