MY BILLIONAIRE EX THREW $30 AT ME WHEN I WAS PREGNANT AND SAID: "TAKE IT AND DISAPPEAR!" 10 YEARS LATER, I SAW HIM ON TV TELLING MILLIONS: "MY GREATEST REGRET IS THAT I NEVER HAD CHILDREN." I LOOKED AT THE 10-YEAR-OLD TWINS SLEEPING BESIDE ME—BOTH CARRYING HIS UNMISTAKABLE FACE—AND LAUGHED. THEN I TEXTED MY LAWYER: "GET THE INVITATIONS READY. WE'RE ATTENDING HIS COMPANY GALA."

"Check your evidence again, Vivian!" a loud, commanding voice echoed from the rear of the courtroom.

The heavy mahogany doors of Courtroom 402 were thrown open with thunderous force.

I walked down the central aisle of the courtroom, my hair damp from the rain, wearing a tailored navy suit. Right beside me walked Ethan, holding the original sealed glass drive from Dr. Thorne’s vault, surrounded by three federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice.

Noah and Sophie gasped, jumping up from their chairs. "Mommy! Dad!"

Vivian’s smile instantly vanished, her face turning as pale as chalk. "This is impossible... you were locked in..."

"Your Honor!" Ethan declared, walking straight up to the bar, setting the glass drive and Dr. Thorne’s original hand-written journal onto the judicial bench. "We submit into evidence the original, unedited cryogenic logs from St. Jude’s Rural Hospital and the Geneva Medical Repository, verified by federal digital forensic auditors!"

Judge Miller put on his reading glasses, plugging the glass drive into his secure court terminal. As the encrypted files opened, high-resolution lab reports and Dr. Thorne’s signed affidavit projected directly onto the large courtroom monitors.

The master genetic match flashed in bright green text:

MATERNAL DNA MATCH: CLARA MORETTI (100%)