Chapter 265 I Was So Naive
Chapter 265 I Was So Naive
His face flushed red first, then gradually lost all color, until finally his whole face turned ashen gray. His fingers were trembling, and even the paper in his hand was shaking non-stop.
He kept staring at that line of text. Time dragged on until people in the conference room started whispering to each other, until Evelyn's brows knitted together tightly, and until Jessica realized something was wrong.
"Impossible... this can't be..." His voice was so soft it was almost like talking to himself. "How could this happen? How..."
Evelyn stood up, walked over, and pulled the report from his hands.
She looked down, her smile mixed with anger.
The conclusion was crystal clear—Jeremy and Jessica, probability of biological relationship 99.99%. Biological father and daughter.
Some people stood up wanting to see the report, others pulled out their phones and started taking photos.
Someone quietly asked the person next to them "What's going on?", while others laughed out loud. The laughter wasn't loud, but in the quiet conference room it was especially jarring.
"Jeremy, have you made enough of a scene?" Evelyn's voice was shaking.
She had thought he would cause trouble at the shareholders' meeting, thought he would make an issue of the shares, thought he would use all kinds of tactics to force Jessica to back down.
She hadn't expected he would use a paternity test as a weapon; even less had she expected this move would be like shooting himself in the foot.
"I... I didn't..." Jeremy stepped back, bumped into a chair, and nearly fell. "The report is fake! It must be fake! Someone switched the reports!"
His gaze swept across the conference room, finally landing on Jessica's face.
Her eyes were very calm, with a hint of cold mockery.
This calmness scared him more than any expression could, because it meant—she had known all along.
She had known all along that he would make a scene with the paternity test, she had known what the results would be, she had arranged everything, waiting for him to jump in himself.
"It's you!" He pointed at Jessica, his voice shrill. "You switched the report! You're afraid people will find out you're not part of the Martinez family, so you—"
"Enough." Evelyn's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of cold water poured directly down, crushing his momentum. "Jeremy, you've made enough of a scene. From today on, you're no longer a shareholder of the Martinez Group. Your shares, I'll buy them at market price. You can go now."
Jeremy stood there, his lips trembling, his hands trembling, his whole body trembling. He looked at Evelyn, then at Jessica, then at those quietly discussing shareholders, and suddenly felt everyone had become strangers. He turned around and stumbled out. The door closed behind him with a dull thud.
The conference room was quiet for a long time. Then someone started clapping, the applause scattered, seeming both like going through the motions and like celebrating.
Jessica stood up and nodded slightly to everyone. "Thank you all. I will do my best and won't let down everyone's trust." Her voice was very steady, so steady it was as if nothing had just happened.
After the meeting ended, shareholders left the conference room in small groups. Some discussed the land development plans, some discussed Jeremy's scene, and others discussed Jessica's next steps.
She stood by the window, looking at the overcast sky outside, feeling no joy in her heart.
Those shares, that position, that money—she had never wanted any of these things.
She only wanted a family. A normal, warm family with parents who loved her.
But she didn't have one. She never had.
"Jessica." Joseph's voice came from behind her.
She turned to look at him.
He stood in the doorway, wearing a dark gray trench coat, holding a black umbrella in his hand, as if he had just come in from outside.
"Why did you come?" she asked.
"To check on you." Joseph walked over and stopped in front of her. "Did the shareholders' meeting go smoothly?"
"Pretty smoothly." She nodded. "My dad came and made a scene, but it didn't amount to much."
She sincerely thanked him, "Thanks to you. If you hadn't helped, today might not have gone so smoothly for me."
She actually wasn't afraid of not getting the shares. She just still didn't know how to face her grandmother's cold expression after learning the truth.
Guilt flashed through Jessica's eyes. She didn't want to lose even her grandmother's affection.
Joseph looked at her, looked for a long time.
His lips moved then closed again, as if hesitating whether to speak.
She had known him for so long and had never seen him like this—words on the tip of his tongue then swallowed back, as if worried about something.
"Joseph." Her voice tightened. "What do you want to say?"
He was silent for a moment. "That paternity report, I didn't switch it."
Her head suddenly felt tight. She stared into his eyes, trying to find some trace of lying.
She found none. His eyes were clear and honest, so honest it scared her.
"What did you say?" Her voice started trembling.
"I didn't switch the report." Joseph's gaze was full of heartache. "That report was the original. You and Jeremy are biological father and daughter."
Her face went white instantly.
She stepped back, leaning against the windowsill, her fingers gripping the window ledge tightly.
Biological father and daughter.
She was Jeremy's biological daughter.
Not bought back, not a substitute, not a fake.
Biological.
She thought of how Jeremy had looked at her all these years, that look filled with hatred, like staring at an intruder.
"Impossible..." Her voice was soft. "He hates me so much, how could he be my father? He bought me back from an underground fighting ring, he said I was a fake, he—"
"He said that because he thought you were a fake." Joseph's voice was steady. "Back then when he bought you from that underground fighting ring, it was because you looked like his missing daughter. He didn't know you were that daughter. He thought your biological parents were someone else, he thought you were just a look-alike substitute."
Her tears fell. She remembered what Aria had said earlier, "You're not my child. Who your biological mother is, I don't know."
She didn't know. She didn't know anything.
She thought Jessica wasn't her daughter, thought her daughter was suffering somewhere out there, thought she couldn't give her maternal love to a "substitute."
But Jessica was her daughter, always had been.
Those similarities weren't a coincidence, they were proof of blood.
The conference room door was pushed open again.
Aria stood in the doorway, her hair disheveled, face pale, eyes red and swollen, as if she had just been crying.
In her hand she clutched today's evening paper. The front page headline was about the Martinez Group's equity changes, with a gossip column beside it describing the scene the Martinez family father and daughter had caused today.