Chapter 449
“What?!” Lucas gasped.
“Your sister was just—” Lacey tried to intervene, her voice raspy from crying.
“She’s a mistress, not our mother,” Ethan cut her off ruthlessly, locking eyes with Lucas. “Don’t listen to a single word she says p>
“A mistress? Ethan, have you completely lost your mind?” Lucas looked from Ethan to Lacey, utterly bewildered.
“I’m not crazy. She’s the mistress who got plastic surgery to look exactly like Mom. She practically admitted it five minutes ago p>
“What?” Lucas stood frozen in the entryway.
Adrian and Norman were equally paralyzed. They had been gone for a few hours, and somehow Lacey had been demoted to a surgically altered mistress?
“I never admitted to anything! Stop listening to his deranged fantasies!” Lacey cried, leaning against the wall for support.
“He’s lost his mind,” Adrian barked, pointing a shaking finger at Ethan. “Don’t listen to him.” Adrian did have a mistress in the past, but it certainly wasn’t Lacey. He needed to shut this conversation down immediately before the word ‘mistress’ triggered any real skeletons in his closet.
“Ethan, she hasn’t had plastic surgery,” Lucas said slowly. As a medical professional, he could spot surgical alterations from across the room.
“I’m telling you, don’t listen to his lunacy!” Adrian yelled at Lucas.
“She did,” Ethan insisted stubbornly. “She just paid for a top-tier surgeon p>
A top-tier surgeon? Lucas walked over to Lacey and gently tilted her head under the chandelier light, examining her hairline, jaw, and ears with clinical precision. “Where exactly is the scarring p>
Lacey stood perfectly still, letting her second son inspect her face like a lab rat. What kind of karma was this? To be humiliated by her own children in her own home.
“Ethan, I’m telling you, there’s absolutely no signs of surgery,” Lucas concluded, stepping back.
“Even if she didn’t get surgery, she’s still not our real mother p>
“If you’re that paranoid, a DNA test will settle it,” Lucas sighed. He preferred solving emotional hysteria with hard science. Without warning, he reached out and plucked two strands of hair from Lacey’s head.
“Lucas, grab some of Mara’s and Dad’s hair too,” Ethan ordered. “Let’s run the whole board p>
“Fine p>
“Get out!” Adrian roared, his face turning a dangerous shade of purple. “All of you, get out! I have no sons p>
“Get out?” Ethan laughed coldly. “No, Father. If Lucas and I leave, we’d be handing you exactly what you want. You and your mistress would have total control of the Mercer Group p>
“Get the hell out, you disgraceful brat! Cough… cough!” Adrian collapsed against Norman, gasping for air.
“Adrian!” Lacey screamed, rushing forward to rub his chest. His health had barely stabilized, and now his own son was pushing him back toward a heart attack.
Ethan didn’t spare them a second glance. He turned on his heel and walked out the door.
Lacey stared at his retreating back, tears blurring her vision. He used to be her most obedient, brilliant song
He used to be Adrian’s greatest et
pride and the heir apparent to their empire. How had he turned into this cold, ruthless stranger?
Shortly after Ethan left, Lucas quietly slipped out the door as well. The grand foyer descended into a dead silence, broken only by Adrian ragged breathing. But Lacey felt it in her bones-this was just the@alm before the hurricane. The family was fracturing beyond repair.
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Ethan took the two packets of Oblivion Drops with him. It was incredibly rare contraband. He didn’t care about turning Mara in; the resulting scandal would tank the Mercer Group’s stock prices As for Mara, he didn’t take her seriously. Instead, he planned to save the drug for the mastermind pulling the strings.
Meanwhile, Lucas drove straight to his lab to run the DNA tests. While he knew Lacey hadn’t had surgery, Ethan’s absolute conviction had planted a seed of doubt.
Late that night, while the estate slept, Norman slipped out into the gardens. Ensuring he was completely alone, he dialed Allen’s number.
“Tell the Boss that Mara failed to drug Ethan p>
Across the city, Shane Porter relayed the news to Roxanne.
“That absolute idiot!” Roxanne slammed her hand on her desk. “Do you know how
hard it was to source that drug? And she just wasted it p>
Now that Ethan was on high alert, getting near him again would be nearly impossible. “Dad, why do we rely on such a brainless pawn p>
Shane looked at his daughter calmly. “Failure is part of the game, Roxanne. If she
wasn’t vicious, she wouldn’t have tried to poison her own brother. If she wasn’t resourceful, she wouldn’t have dodged prison this long p>
“But p>