"And you grew up being mocked, rejected, treated like trash by your wife's family, by everyone around you who didn't know who you really were," Jonathan countered. "I heard about that too, Alex. I heard how they treated you during those years when you were hiding your identity. So tell me: which childhood was worse? The one where you knew you had billions but couldn't access them? Or the one where you had nothing and didn't know you'd been born to have everything?"Alex wanted to argue. Wanted to say his experience was nothing compared to Adrian's suffering. But the words stuck in his throat because part of him—the part that remembered every insult, every moment of humiliation, every time Nora's family had looked at him with contempt—understood what his father meant."This isn't about us," Alex said finally. "This is about Sophia. Let me see my daughter.""Our granddaughter," Jonathan corrected. "I want to see her too, Alex. I want to meet the great-grandchild I didn't know existed. A

The Swiss clinic called back at 6:47 AM.Alex watched his father pace the small consultation room adjacent to Sophia's ICU, phone pressed to his ear, speaking in rapid German. Jonathan's expression shifted as he listened, relief, then concern, then something that looked like resignation.He ended the call and turned to face Alex and Adrian."They'll take her. But we need to move within twelve hours. After that, the window closes, her immune system will be too compromised for the treatment to work.""Twelve hours," Jennifer said from the doorway. She'd been listening. "That's not enough time to get all the legal documentation sorted. The courts aren't even open yet.""We're not waiting for the courts." Jonathan pulled out his laptop and opened it on the table. "I've been preparing for this possibility for years. I have everything we need, birth certificates, medical records, DNA evidence. My lawyers are already filing emergency motions in three different jurisdictions. By noon, I'll le

The helicopter's rotors sent ripples across puddles on the adjacent building's helipad. Adrian watched the medical team secure Sophia's gurney, Jennifer climbing in beside her daughter, refusing to let go of her hand even as they strapped her in."I'm coming with you," Alex said, moving toward the helicopter."No." Jennifer's voice cut through the rotor noise. "You're staying here. You're fixing this mess. All of it.""Jennifer…""I mean it, Alex. I'm taking our daughter to Switzerland. You're staying here and dealing with your father, your brother, your psychotic grand-uncle, and whatever other family nightmares are about to crawl out of the woodwork." Her eyes were hard. "When I come back, if I come back, I want answers. Real ones. Not the sanitized version you've been feeding me for twelve years."The helicopter lifted before Alex could respond. He stood watching it disappear into the morning sky, his wife and daughter flying away from him toward a country he'd spent years hiding i

"No," Diane said sharply. "Marcus started this years before Alex and Adrian were born. He's been planning this revenge for three decades. He found Katerina. He learned about Irina's death. He discovered the pattern of exploitation in the Castellano family. And then he decided to use that pattern against you.""But why involve his own daughters?" Alex demanded. "Why subject them to the same separation he claims to hate?""Because Marcus doesn't want to break the curse. He wants to perfect it." Diane's voice was cold. "He wants to prove that the Castellano method of separating twins, exploiting women, and maintaining power through deception can work for anyone. He wants to show that the problem isn't the tradition, it's who's been controlling it.""That's insane.""That's revenge. Marcus spent his childhood suffering because of a choice Jonathan's father made. So now he's making his own daughters suffer to prove a point. He's using David's wife to destroy Alex's business. He's using Sar

Anna Chen stared at her phone screen, watching the recording of Sarah's world collapsing for the third time. Each viewing revealed new details, the way Sarah's hands trembled when she read the DNA results, the precise moment her face shifted from disbelief to devastation, the tears that started exactly forty-seven seconds into Alex's explanation.Perfect.Marcus would be pleased.She forwarded the video to his encrypted number and waited. The response came within thirty seconds: Phase three activated. Proceed as discussed.Anna smiled and started her car. Time to play the shocked, innocent twin sister.The drive to Elena's house took twelve minutes. Anna used the time to rehearse her expressions in the rearview mirror—surprise, confusion, hurt, betrayal. She'd been practicing these faces since she was eight years old, learning to manipulate emotions the way other children learned to ride bicycles.By the time she pulled into Elena's driveway, Anna Chen had disappeared. In her place sa