Chapter 3 - Four Empty Seats.
Adrian was through the restroom door before Malcolm finished speaking.
The polished corridor outside led toward the ballroom in one direction and the service elevators in the other.
Victoria Vale was supposed to be onstage accepting congratulations from half the city's business elite.
There was no reason for her to know that four children had appeared in a private restroom.
There was even less reason for her car to need four child seats.
"Stay with them," Adrian told Malcolm.
Mara seized his sleeve.
"Where are you going?"
"To ask my mother a question she should be terrified to answer."
Mara released him only because Noah had started crying.
Celeste followed Adrian into the corridor.
Her heels struck the marble with sharp, fast clicks.
"My father could have signed that agreement without telling me."
Adrian did not slow down.
"Your father doesn't forge my signature by accident."
"You don't know that he forged it."
Adrian stopped.
"I know I didn't sign it."
Celeste swallowed.
For the first time that night, the confident socialite he knew looked genuinely frightened.
"Then something is very wrong."
They reached the private elevator just as the doors opened.
Victoria stepped out in a black silk gown, flanked by her assistant, Graham Cole, and two security men who did not belong to the hotel.
She looked annoyed rather than surprised to see Adrian.
"There you are."
Her gaze slid to Celeste.
"The board is waiting."
Adrian held up the copied agreement.
Victoria's face did not change.
That lack of reaction was an answer by itself.
"Why does your driver need four child seats?"
Victoria's assistant looked down.
Victoria smiled faintly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Four boys just walked into the restroom."
A tiny muscle moved beside her left eye.
Adrian had seen that same twitch when he was sixteen and caught her lying about his father's affair.
"They're five years old," he continued.
"They look like me."
Celeste watched Victoria carefully.
"Their mother is Mara Bennett."
Victoria's smile vanished.
"Get those children out of this hotel."
Adrian's pulse slammed in his ears.
"You know them."
"I know a problem when I see one."
"They're not a problem."
Victoria moved closer and lowered her voice.
"You are about to become chief executive of a company worth billions."
"This is not the moment to let some former employee stage a paternity circus."
Celeste stared at her.
"She hasn't asked for anything."
Victoria's eyes cut toward Celeste.
"Stay out of family business."
"I'm supposed to become family in three weeks."
"Then learn when to be silent."
Adrian almost laughed because the cruelty was so familiar.
He had spent his entire life mistaking it for discipline.
"Did you know Mara was pregnant?"
Victoria folded her hands.
"You knew she was pregnant."
"You told me she ended it."
"And you accepted that because you wanted to."
The accusation hit hard because part of it was true.
He had been twenty-four, angry, frightened, and desperate to escape the family machine.
But he had still loved Mara.
He had still tried to call her until her number disappeared.
"Did you pay her?"
Victoria exhaled impatiently.
"I protected you."
Adrian stepped closer.
"From my own children?"
For the first time, Victoria looked toward the service corridor.
That glance was enough.
Adrian took out his phone.
"Malcolm, move Mara and the boys to the presidential residence upstairs."
Victoria's composure broke.
"Absolutely not."
Adrian kept speaking into the phone.
"Use my private elevator."
Victoria grabbed his wrist.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
He looked down at her hand until she released him.
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
"If those boys are yours, there are consequences you cannot undo."
Adrian's voice turned quiet.
"Then tell me what they are."
Victoria stared at him for a long moment.
May you like
Then she said the sentence that made Celeste go completely still.
"If a DNA test confirms they are yours, you lose control of the company tomorrow morning."
