Chapter 84

Chapter 84
Sloane's POV

The entire ballroom fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Every eye in the room was fixed on Nia, this woman who'd supposedly been dead for months, standing there with her little daughter clinging to her dress.

My heart was hammering against my ribs. Finally. After all these months of planning, of waiting, of watching Eloise play her games - this was it. This was the moment everything would come crashing down around her.

Nia's voice trembled, but she pushed forward. "Ladies and gentlemen, I need to tell you about a terrible conspiracy that's been hidden for ten years."

I could feel the tension radiating off every person in that ballroom. These weren't just random people - this was the cream of the capital's high society. Dukes, duchesses, wealthy merchants, influential politicians. If there was going to be a scandal, this was exactly where it needed to happen.

Eloise's face had gone completely white. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but no words came out. For the first time since I'd known her, she looked genuinely terrified.

Nia looked directly at me. "Miss Sophia, do you remember the bloodline stone test? The one that was supposed to prove your heritage?"

Of course I remember. That had been one of the scariest moments of my life, thinking I was about to be exposed as a fraud.

"I remember," I said, keeping my voice steady.

"It was Lady Eloise who told me to prepare that stone," Nia's voice grew stronger. "She gave me a special solution and told me to coat the surface with it."

The crowd started murmuring. I heard someone gasp behind me.

"She said it was just to teach you humility. That you'd gotten too prideful since coming back, and needed to be taken down a peg." Nia's eyes filled with tears. "I was so stupid. I believed her when she said it would just be a harmless lesson."

My chest tightened. Even though I'd figured out someone had tampered with that stone, hearing the actual confession still made me sick.

"But it wasn't harmless, was it?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"No." Nia shook her head. "The solution I put on that stone would make any blood fail to merge, no matter who was being tested. She wanted everyone to think you weren't really Master Juan's daughter."

The murmuring in the crowd got louder. I could see people looking back and forth between me, Nia, and Eloise, trying to figure out what they were hearing.

Juan stepped forward, his face dark with fury. "Nia, are you saying my wife ordered you to sabotage my daughter's test?"

"I'm saying exactly that, sir." Nia's voice was getting steadier. "And that's not all she made me do."

Eloise finally found her voice. "This is insane!" she shouted, her perfect composure cracking. "You're all listening to a dead woman! She's obviously been driven mad by whatever happened to her!"

But Nia didn't even look at her. She kept her eyes on Juan.

"Ten years ago, when Miss Saskia fell down those stairs, it wasn't Miss Sophia who pushed her."

The entire room went dead quiet again. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"Lady Eloise had been planning to hurt Miss Sophia for weeks," Nia continued. "She was jealous of how much you loved your daughter, sir. She wanted Sophia out of the way so her own son would be your only heir."

This is it. This is really happening.

"She put a slippery substance on the stairs leading to Miss Sophia's room. She told me it was just a prank, something to make Sophia slip and maybe get a small injury. Nothing serious."

Juan's face was getting redder and redder. "What kind of substance?"

"A clear oil mixed with soap powder. Nearly invisible, but slick as ice." Nia wiped her eyes. "But Miss Saskia stepped on it first. She fell so hard... there was so much blood..."

I remembered that day. The screaming, the chaos, everyone pointing fingers at Sophia. Poor Saskia lying unconscious at the bottom of those stairs.

"And after Saskia was hurt, Eloise told you to blame Sophia?" Juan's voice was deadly quiet.

"She said if I didn't, she'd make sure my family suffered. She had connections, she said. People who could hurt us." Nia's voice broke. "I was scared, sir. I had small children. So I lied. I said I saw Miss Sophia push her sister."

The crowd was getting restless. I could hear people whispering more urgently now.

"That's not possible," someone called out. "Saskia would have contradicted that story when she woke up!"

Nia looked toward where Saskia was standing, pale and silent near the wall.

"Miss Saskia tried to," Nia said sadly. "When she woke up in the hospital, she kept trying to tell people it was an accident, that no one pushed her. But Lady Eloise visited her every day. Had long private conversations with her."

I looked at Saskia, who had tears streaming down her face.

"What did she tell the child?" Juan demanded.

"I don't know exactly, sir. But Miss Saskia came home different. Scared. She never talked about that day again." Nia's voice was full of regret. "I think Lady Eloise threatened her too. Made her too afraid to tell the truth."

Poor Saskia. All these years, she'd known Sophia was innocent but had been too terrified to say anything. What kind of threats had Eloise made to keep a child quiet for a decade?

Juan turned to stare at his wife. His face was a mixture of rage and disbelief.

"Eloise," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "Is any of this true?"

Eloise looked around the room desperately. "Of course not! This woman is clearly deranged! She's been living in hiding for months, probably completely insane by now!"

But her voice was shaking. She was falling apart.

"Then why is she alive at all?" I asked, stepping forward. "You told everyone she and her family were killed by bandits during their exile."

"I... I received reports..." Eloise stammered.

"Reports from who?" Juan's voice was getting louder. "What reports?"

Nia spoke up again. "The men you hired to kill us, you mean?"

The room erupted. People were gasping, some were shouting questions, others were demanding explanations.

"They murdered my husband Tom," Nia said, her voice cutting through the noise. "They murdered my son Marcus. Shot them down like dogs on the road."

Little Mira pressed closer to her mother, and I felt my heart break for them.

"We only survived because I grabbed Mira and ran into the forest. We've been hiding ever since, barely staying alive." Nia looked directly at Eloise. "Waiting for the right moment to tell the truth."

Juan looked like he was about to explode. "Guards!" he bellowed. "Arrest Lady Eloise immediately!"

"Wait!" Eloise screamed. "You can't believe her over me! I'm your wife!"

But Juan wasn't listening anymore. He was looking at Nia with a mixture of horror and desperate hope.

"Is there more?" he asked quietly.

Nia nodded. "Yes, sir. There's something else you need to know. About Master Zaid."

I felt a chill run down my spine. Here it comes.

"What about my son?" Juan demanded.

"I don't think he's your son, sir."

The ballroom went completely silent again. This was even bigger than the bloodline stone revelation.

"That's impossible," Juan said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"When Lady Eloise first came to work for your family, she was already pregnant," Nia said. "She told you the baby was yours, but I helped care for her during that pregnancy. I know how to count months."

Juan's face was turning pale now.

"She was at least three months along when she arrived at your estate. But according to what I heard, you and she had only been involved for about a month before that."

Goddess. Even I hadn't expected this bombshell. Zaid wasn't Juan's biological son? That would explain so much about Eloise's desperation to secure her position in the family.

"You're lying," Zaid shouted from across the room. His face was bright red. "My father is Juan Stewart! I'm his heir!"

But Nia shook her head sadly. "I heard her crying at night, talking to herself. She'd mention a name - Vincent. She'd say things like 'What would Vincent think if he knew about the baby?'"

Juan looked like someone had punched him in the gut. "Vincent?"

"I believe Vincent is Master Zaid's real father," Nia said quietly. "And I think Lady Eloise has been hiding this truth for fifteen years."

The crowd was going nuts. People were shouting, gasping, demanding answers. Some of the guests near the exits were already heading out, probably rushing to spread this gossip to anyone who would listen.

By tomorrow, this will be all over the capital.

Juan looked around the room at all the shocked faces, all these people watching his family's dirty secrets get dragged out in public. Everything he'd worked for was falling apart right in front of everyone.

"Enough!" he roared. "Everyone out! This evening is over!"

But it was too late. The damage was done. Every important person in the capital had just witnessed the complete destruction of the Stewart family's reputation.

As people started filing out, talking excitedly among themselves, Juan's face was thunderous.

"Enough!" he bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Guards! Bring everyone to my study immediately - Nia, Eloise, Vincent, Zaid, Saskia!"

He turned to me, his eyes blazing. "Sophia, you're coming too. And someone get the family doctor!"

"The doctor?" I asked, though I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

"If what Nia says is true about Zaid's parentage, we're going to test it," Juan said grimly. "Bring a fresh bloodline stone - one that hasn't been tampered with."

My pulse started racing again. This is really it. The final test.

As we all headed toward Juan's study, I caught sight of Zaid's pale, terrified face and Eloise being escorted by guards. She was no longer the composed, elegant woman who had ruled this household for fifteen years. She looked broken, defeated.

Saskia walked beside me, tears still streaming down her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I should have spoken up years ago."

"You were just a child," I told her gently. "It wasn't your fault."

Juan's study felt packed with so many people crowded inside. The doctor arrived within minutes, carrying a pristine bloodline stone in a wooden box.

"Doctor Matthews," Juan said curtly, "I need you to verify this stone is completely untampered with before we use it."

The doctor examined the stone carefully under a magnifying glass. "This stone is clean, sir. No foreign substances whatsoever."

Juan looked around the room at all of us - Nia holding Mira close, Eloise flanked by guards, Vincent standing silently in the corner, Zaid trembling with fear, and Saskia still quietly crying.

"Now," Juan said, his voice deadly calm, "we're going to find out the truth once and for all."

Finally, I thought. Finally, Sophia, you're going to get complete justice. And finally, all of Eloise's lies are going to crumble.