Chapter 175: Birth Parents
Valerie stood rooted to the spot, hearing the whispers from the media around her. She gripped the roses so tight that the thorns pierced her palm. Blood seeped out.
Her entire life, she had never suffered such humiliation.
Sophia again.
Every single time. Whenever that bitch was around, Valerie became a laughingstock.
Half an hour later, at the airport parking garage exit.
Ryan's car had just cleared the gate when a red Ferrari shot out from the side and cut them off.
The sudden stop threw Evelyn forward. Ryan's arm caught her, holding her steady.
The window rolled down. Valerie sat in the driver's seat, her makeup distorted with rage.
"Evelyn Bell!"
Valerie screamed through the glass, her voice shrill. "Don't think that having Hayes's backing means you'll win! Half the judges for the 'Starlight Award' are business partners of the Aster family! The trophy will be mine!"
She fixed Evelyn with a stare laced with chilling madness.
"And that bastard child of yours... You and your kid with his sketchy background will be thrown out of New York fashion! Like trash swept out the door! I'll have you on your knees begging me!"
Ryan's expression turned thunderous. He reached for his seatbelt to get out, but Evelyn stopped him.
She lowered her window and fixed her cold gaze on the raving woman. "Valerie, do you know what you look like right now?"
Her voice was calm. "A sore loser playing the clown. If you had any real skill, you'd beat me in the competition, not stand here screaming like a shrew."
Then she turned to Ryan. "Drive. Run her over if you have to."
Ryan arched an eyebrow, a flicker of appreciation in his eyes.
Without hesitation, he floored the accelerator and charged straight at the Ferrari's front end.
"Lunatics!" Valerie shrieked and instinctively yanked the wheel to swerve out of the way.
The black Maybach roared past, grazing the Ferrari's side, leaving nothing but exhaust fumes behind.
Evelyn watched Valerie's furious figure in the rearview mirror, but felt no satisfaction.
Valerie might be foolish, but the Aster family's influence was nothing to dismiss. And then there was Marcus, lurking in the shadows...
"What are you thinking about?" Ryan freed one hand to take her cold fingers.
"That a new war is about to begin."
Evelyn gripped his hand back, her gaze sharpening. "Ryan, I have to win this competition. Not just to prove myself, but to show everyone who wants to hurt me and my son that Sophia Bell isn't the helpless housewife she was four years ago."
Ryan watched the road ahead. His thumb traced circles on the back of her hand, feeling her slight tremor and her resolve.
"Then win." He said quietly. "As for whoever gets in your way, I'll take care of them. One by one."
...
The next morning, Evelyn held Elias's hand as they hurried into the office building that housed her studio.
After the threatening texts from days before, she didn't dare let her child out of her sight. Even when revising designs, Elias had to be by her side.
Ryan had gone to the underground garage to park. Vincent followed with two bodyguards, keeping a five-meter distance.
"Mommy, I want that donut." Elias pointed to the coffee shop in the corner of the lobby.
"When we're done with our work, we'll get one." Evelyn bent to straighten his collar and was about to swipe through the turnstile.
Suddenly, a piercing wail exploded through the lobby.
"My baby! Oh God, I've finally found you!"
A middle-aged woman in a cheap floral dress with disheveled hair charged out of nowhere. She roughly shoved past the turnstile and lunged straight at Elias.
Evelyn instinctively pulled her son behind her and shouted, "What do you think you're doing!"
The bodyguards reacted instantly, blocking the woman.
"Don't stop me! That's my son!" The woman collapsed on the floor, pointing at Elias, sobbing hysterically. "Everyone, look! This designer stole my child! She's a thief! A kidnapper!"
The lobby was full of office workers waiting to start their day. Hearing the commotion, they stopped and pulled out their phones to record.
A burly, stubble-faced man followed close behind, waving a stack of papers at the gathering crowd.
"We've been searching for three whole years! Three years ago in a Queens park, we turned our backs to buy water, and our child vanished! Turns out he was stolen by rich people!"
"That's a lie!" Elias was terrified. He hid behind Evelyn's legs, trembling. "Mommy, I don't know them!"
Evelyn's face was ashen. She shielded her child. "Vincent, call the police. Get these lunatics out of here."
"Hold on!"
The man slapped his papers in the security guard's face, displaying them for everyone to see.
"This is a birth certificate! This is a DNA paternity test that just came back yesterday! Clear as day, the hair sample taken from this child matches my wife's genes with 99.99% accuracy!"
Murmurs rippled through the onlookers.
Evelyn stared at the report. It clearly bore "Elias" alongside the names of two strangers.
Before she could respond, the building's revolving door spun again.
A swarm of reporters flooded the lobby, flashbulbs blazing, surrounding Evelyn and her son.
Leading the pack was Valerie Aster.
Today she wore a simple white dress, light makeup, with a hint of tears at the corner of her eye. She looked like a saint filled with compassion.
"Everyone, please calm down."
Valerie held a microphone that had appeared from somewhere, her voice choked with emotion. "I just received a plea for help from this poor couple. They saw yesterday's news and recognized the child beside Miss Sophia as their long-lost flesh and blood."
She walked over to the weeping woman and offered her a tissue. Then she turned to face the cameras, a cruel smile hidden behind her eyes.
"I never imagined Miss Sophia would go this far to build her image. Child trafficking is a serious crime."
"Shut up!" Evelyn felt the blood draining from her body. "This is fabricated!"
"Really?" Valerie raised an eyebrow, pressing closer. "Then who is the child's father? Where's the birth certificate?"
Evelyn's breath caught.
This was a trap with no escape.
If she admitted she was the birth mother and produced proof, it would inevitably drag out the biological father: Damian Green.
The moment Damian learned Elias was his own flesh and blood, given his obsessive nature and current state of madness, he would stop at nothing to seize custody. He might even use their son to force her back into marriage.
But if she denied it, if she refused the DNA test, faced with the mountain of fabricated "evidence" Valerie had assembled, she would be branded a child trafficker.
Public opinion would destroy her. Police would take Elias away. Hand him over to these strangers claiming to be his "real parents."