Chapter 247

He settled onto the bench, as if remembering something, and pulled several crumpled documents from his pocket, casually tossing them to Gerald.

"These projects were originally assigned to our subsidiary companies. Since you have time on your hands, take them and get some practice." Augustus waved his hand wearily, his tone carrying undisguised dismissiveness. "Do a good job and don't cause me any more trouble."

Gerald accepted the documents with both hands, his lowered eyes flashing with intensely cold resentment.

A few minor community renovation projects? Was Augustus trying to humiliate him? But he didn't dare show any dissatisfaction now, only gritting his teeth and swallowing his humiliation.

"Yes, Father. I'll handle them properly." Gerald responded respectfully, but the moment he turned away, his expression darkened completely.

Gerald clutched the documents and stepped into the elevator.

The instant the elevator doors closed, his obedient facade vanished entirely.

In the corridor, Augustus watched the numbers above the elevator jump, his originally weary and defeated eyes turning cold.

After decades navigating the cutthroat business world, if he lacked even this basic ability to judge character, he would have been devoured long ago.

Sophia's warning, his mother's tragic condition, plus Gerald's probing just now—all of it made the cloud of suspicion in Augustus's heart grow thicker and thicker.

He pulled out his phone and dialed his most trusted bodyguard who had served him for decades, his voice dropped extremely low, carrying unquestionable authority: "Assign some of our best people to watch Gerald around the clock. Who he meets, what he does, even what phone calls he makes—I want every detail reported to me immediately. Remember, he must not suspect anything."

After hanging up, Augustus took a deep breath to calm his churning emotions, then dialed Sophia's number.

"Ms. Taylor," Augustus's voice regained its composure but couldn't hide his urgency. "I've made the arrangements. When would be convenient for you? I want to redo the testing as soon as possible."

"Mr. Rivera, are you available now?" Sophia's cool voice came through the receiver. "If you're free, please come to the Jenkins Estate secretly, avoiding everyone's notice. Besides the testing matter, there's someone you absolutely must meet."

Half an hour later, an unremarkable black sedan quietly entered the underground garage of the Jenkins Estate.

Augustus, wearing a hat, was escorted by Jenkins family security through all surveillance blind spots and went directly to a hidden study in the main building of the Jenkins Estate.

The study door opened to reveal David, who had been waiting for some time.

"Mr. Rivera, it's an honor to meet you." David stepped forward, extending his hand with a solemn expression.

Augustus shook his hand, his gaze lingering for a moment on David's face, which bore some resemblance to Sophia's. His heart already had an inkling of what was coming.

"Mr. Jenkins, let's skip the pleasantries." Augustus got straight to the point, his eyes turning to Sophia who stood behind David. "Ms. Taylor said there's someone I must meet. Who is it?"

Sophia nodded slightly and walked to the door of a rest room inside the study, gently pushing it open.

"Robert, come out."

Accompanied by light footsteps, a tall, handsome young man emerged from the rest room.

The moment Augustus's eyes fell on Robert's face, he froze as if struck by lightning.

Augustus stared at the young man before him, his cloudy eyes instantly filling with tears, his lips trembling violently.

The resemblance! It was uncanny!

Those sharp eyebrows, those piercing eyes, that defined jawline—he looked exactly like Augustus's deceased younger brother Francis Rivera in his youth!

"Francis..." Augustus reached out with a shaking hand, tears streaming down his face, his voice choked with emotion. "The resemblance... you look exactly like Francis..."

The bond between blood relatives is something profoundly mysterious.

Even without any test results, just from this one look, Augustus was certain in his heart that this young man absolutely carried the blood of the Rivera family!

Robert looked at the elderly man before him, who was sobbing with excitement, and his own eyes began to moisten.

He stepped forward to support Augustus's swaying body, his voice hoarse: "Mr. Rivera, my name is Robert."

The two sat down on the sofa, Augustus gripping Robert's hand tightly, as if afraid that letting go would make this long-lost child disappear again.

"Son, what is all this about? If you're Rivera family blood, why were you left to wander outside? And that Gerald... what's his story?" Augustus's voice carried suppressed anguish and urgency.

Robert laid out everything he had experienced over these days.

How Gerald had calculatedly approached him, how he had stolen Robert's keepsakes and identification, how he had hired assassins to hunt him relentlessly, and even the fire that had befallen his adoptive parents, the serial attacks at the hospital—every single incident, each word dripping with blood and tears.

The atmosphere in the study grew increasingly heavy with Robert's account.

Augustus's expression shifted from shock to heartbreak, and finally to towering rage.

"Beast! Absolute beast!" Augustus slammed the coffee table, making the tea set clatter loudly.

His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, veins bulging on his forehead.

He never could have imagined that the "Gerald" he had raised and placed such hopes in was actually a fraud who had stolen another's nest! A cold-blooded demon with multiple lives on his hands!

No wonder his mother had called Gerald a thief the moment she saw him. No wonder she had suddenly fallen down the stairs. No wonder yesterday's DNA test had been tampered with!

All of it—everything was part of that impostor's poisonous scheme to cover up the truth and seize the Rivera family fortune!

"Son, I was foolish. I brought a wolf into our home and made you all suffer so much!" Augustus wept, his eyes full of guilt and heartbreak.

He stood up abruptly, radiating the lethal aura of someone long in power. "I'll send people to bring that beast back right now! I'll give you justice!"

"Mr. Rivera, wait."

Sophia's cool voice interrupted at just the right moment.

She approached Augustus, her expression terrifyingly calm: "On what grounds would you arrest him now? If he dared to assume a false identity and tamper with evidence at the Williams family hospital, it means he's already established his own network within the Rivera family and beyond. Without ironclad proof, he could easily turn the tables and claim we're conspiring to frame him."