Chapter 976
“You can cry all you want,” Skye whispered. “But I’m going to tear your life apart brick by brick. And when I find out who you really are, you’ll wish you’d stayed lost.”
She turned on her heel and walked out. She didn’t wait for Liam. She felt his hesitation, and that was enough to burn a bridge.
The morning headlines were brutal.
EVIL SISTER DENIES HEIR HER BIRTHRIGHT. ORACLE CEO MELTDOWN AT GALA. THE TEARS OF A LOST DAUGHTER.
Skye threw the tablet onto her desk. The glass screen cracked, a spiderweb fracture that mirrored her patience.
She sat in her office at Oracle, the city skyline gray and oppressive behind her. She hadn’t slept. The image of Gemma — that perfect, tearful face — was burned into her retinas.
The door opened. Alistair walked in without knocking. He placed a file folder on her desk.
“You were right,” he said.
Skye opened the folder. Inside were photographs — not of Gemma, but of a woman named Vanessa Kincaid. She had brown hair, a slightly crooked nose, and a sharper chin.
“She was a struggling actress in Los Angeles,” Alistair said. “Commercials, background work. She disappeared three months ago. Dropped off the grid completely.”
“And reappeared as Gemma Sterling,” Skye said, comparing the photos. “The resemblance…”
𝘗oр𝘶l𝘢r 𝘴𝘁о𝘳𝗂𝗲s оn 𝗴a𝗅𝘯ov𝖾lѕ.𝗰𝗼𝗆
“Rhinoplasty, jaw contouring, brow lift,” Alistair listed. “High-end work. Probably done in Brazil or Switzerland. They carved her face to match your mother’s old photographs.”
Skye felt sick. It wasn’t just fraud — it was mutilation. They had skinned a woman and worn her like a suit.
“But the DNA?” Skye asked. “Arthur showed a match.”
“That’s the tricky part,” Alistair said, settling on the edge of her desk. “The report Arthur showed was certified by a legitimate lab. However, Parker dug into the lab’s server and found a twenty-minute window where the security feed looped right before the test was processed. Someone swapped the sample — they used your own DNA against you, or a sample from your father’s exhumed remains.”
“So we prove the swap,” Skye mused.
The intercom buzzed. “Mr. Kensington is here,” Harper’s voice said. “He says it’s urgent.”
“Send him in.”
Liam burst into the room. He looked disheveled — tie loosened, eyes wild. He paced the length of the office before stopping in front of her desk.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“I know.” Skye tapped the folder. “I have proof she’s an actress named Vanessa.”
Liam paused, glancing at the folder. “That helps. But it’s not enough. Arthur is moving fast. He called me this morning.”
“And?”
“He made a proposition,” Liam said, turning away to stare at the rain-streaked window. “He wants to merge the Kensington and Sterling interests. To solidify the alliance.”
Skye went still. “Merge how?”
“He wants me to marry Gemma,” Liam said.
The silence in the room was absolute. Even the hum of the air conditioning seemed to die. Skye rose slowly from her chair.
“Excuse me?”
.