Chapter 5: The Secret Behind the Prescott Name
I read the medical report three times.
The words did not change.
They stayed there.
Clear.
Impossible.
*Patient Clara Bennett was never infertile. Previous results were altered before reaching her.*
My fingers tightened around the paper.
For four years, I had carried a wound that was never mine.
I had believed my body had failed me.
I had believed I was the reason Julian hesitated.
I had believed Vivian’s cruel words because somewhere deep inside, a small part of me wondered if she was right.
Maybe I wasn’t enough.
Maybe I wasn’t the woman Julian needed.
But now I was standing in an empty wedding hall, holding proof that the entire foundation of my heartbreak had been built on a lie.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Richard looked exhausted.
“Because Vivian believed she was protecting the Prescott legacy.””
I looked at him.
“A legacy?””
His eyes moved toward the grand ballroom.
The enormous flower arrangements.
The expensive decorations.
The family crest carved into every visible surface.
“The Prescott name has always been everything to her.””
“That doesn’t explain this.””
“No.””
Richard sighed.
“It doesn’t.””
I folded the report carefully.
“Then explain.””
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he sat down.
And for the first time since I met him, Richard Prescott looked like an ordinary man.
Not a billionaire.
Not the head of a powerful family.
Just a father who had made terrible choices.
“Years ago,” he began, “before Julian was born, my father created a family rule.””
I frowned.
“A rule?””
Richard nodded.
“The firstborn Prescott heir had to continue the bloodline.””
I almost laughed.
“You’re talking like this is royalty.””
“To Vivian, it was.””
His answer was serious.
“She believed the Prescott family was not just a company. It was an institution.””
I looked at the report.
“So she decided I wasn’t good enough.””
“Yes.””
“Because she thought I couldn’t have children.””
“Yes.””
“But I could.””
Richard nodded.
“And when she discovered you were pregnant…”
He stopped.
The pause made my stomach tighten.
“What?””
Richard looked at me.
“She panicked.””
I found Julian in the private room with the children.
The sight stopped me.
Because I had never seen him like that.
Julian Prescott, the man who appeared on magazine covers, was sitting on the floor in his expensive suit, helping Noah color a drawing.
His jacket was gone.
His sleeves were rolled up.
And there was a tiny purple mark on his hand from where Emma had accidentally colored him.
A strange emotion moved through me.
This was the man I once loved.
Not the man who abandoned me.
The man who existed before fear controlled him.
Julian looked up when I entered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What happened?””
I walked closer.
“I found something.””
He stood.
“What?””
I handed him the report.
He read silently.
The longer he read, the more his face changed.
“What is this?””
“Your mother changed my medical records.””
His eyes lifted.
“My mother?””
“Yes.””
“No.””
The word was immediate.
Automatic.
I looked at him.
“Julian.””
He looked back at the report.
Then away.
“I just…”
He shook his head.
“She wouldn’t do that.””
I didn’t answer.
Because I knew that sentence.
I had said similar things four years ago.
People often defend the person hurting them until the evidence becomes impossible to ignore.
Julian looked toward the children.
Then back at me.
“She really did this?””
“Yes.””
He sat down slowly.
For a moment, he looked like a child who had discovered his parents were not the heroes he believed them to be.
“I spent four years thinking…”
His voice broke.
“I thought you left because you were hurt.””
I said nothing.
“I thought maybe you didn’t want me in their lives.””
My expression hardened.
“Julian.””
“I know.””
He looked at me.
“I know that sounds terrible.””
“It does.””
He nodded.
“I’m not trying to excuse it.””
For once, he wasn’t.
“I just…”
He looked down.
“I built an entire life around a lie.””
The room became quiet.
Then Emma walked over holding her drawing.
“Mommy.””
I looked down.
“Yes, sweetheart?””
She held up the paper.
“I made a picture.””
I smiled.
“What is it?””
She pointed.
“This is me.””
Then Lily.
Then Noah.
Then she pointed to the fourth person.
“And this is Daddy.””
Julian froze.
Emma looked at him.
“You’re tall.””
A small laugh escaped him.
“I am?””
“Yes.””
She studied him seriously.
“Mommy says you used to be funny.””
My heart tightened.
Julian looked at me.
“You said that?””
I looked away.
“Before everything changed.””
Emma smiled.
“Can you be funny again?””
The question was innocent.
But it hit harder than anything else.
Julian swallowed.
“I’ll try.””
The next morning, the Prescott name was everywhere.
Not because of the wedding.
Because the wedding had been canceled.
News websites posted blurry photos of the ballroom.
Guests leaving.
The Prescott family crisis.
But the headlines didn’t know the real story.
They only knew something had happened.
Inside the Prescott mansion, the real battle began.
Vivian sat in the library.
The same room where she had once judged me.
The same room where she had decided my future.
Only this time, she wasn’t in control.
Julian stood across from her.
Richard stood beside him.
I remained near the doorway.
I wasn’t there to fight.
I was there to hear the truth.
“Tell me why.””
Julian’s voice was calm.
Too calm.
Vivian looked at her son.
“I did what was necessary.””
His face hardened.
“That is not an answer.””
“It is the only answer you need.””
“No.””
He shook his head.
“For the first time in my life, I need the truth.””
Vivian looked at me.
“This woman has manipulated you.””
I almost smiled.
After everything.
After all the evidence.
She still chose that.
Julian stepped forward.
“Don’t.””
The single word stopped her.
“Do not make this about Clara.””
Vivian’s expression changed.
“You’re defending her?””
“I’m defending reality.””
Richard looked away.
Because even he knew those words were overdue.
Vivian stood.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed for this family.””
Julian stared at her.
“I sacrificed too.””
She softened.
“Julian.””
“No.””
His voice shook.
“I lost four years with my children.””
Silence.
That was the first time Vivian looked affected.
“You think I wanted that?””
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You created it.””
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
She looked at me.
“From choosing the wrong person.””
There it was.
The truth.
Not hidden.
Not disguised.
Just spoken.
Julian looked at her.
“You never knew her.””
“I knew enough.””
“No.””
He shook his head.
“You knew what you wanted to believe.””
Vivian’s face hardened.
“You are a Prescott.””
“And?””
“You have responsibilities.””
Julian looked toward the window.
Outside were the gardens where he had once promised me a different life.
“Maybe that was the problem.””
He turned back.
“I spent my whole life trying to become the person you wanted.””
His eyes moved toward the children.
“And I almost lost the people who actually needed me.””
Vivian said nothing.
For once.
Nothing.
That evening, I received a message from an unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
But then I saw the name.
*Dr. Samuel Hayes.*
The doctor who had examined me four years earlier.
The doctor who had confirmed my pregnancy.
I opened the message.
There was only one sentence.
*“Clara, I need to tell you the truth about what happened the night Vivian Prescott visited my office.””*
My heart began racing.
A second message appeared.
*“She wasn’t alone.””*
I stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
A document.
And a name I never expected to see.
Not Vivian.
Not Richard.
Not Julian.
Someone else.
Someone who had been involved from the beginning.
Someone who had helped Vivian rewrite my entire life.
May you like
The name at the bottom of the document was:
*Brooke Hensley.*
