Finch was seething with rage. In one swift motion, he drew his gun and leveled it at the advancing bodyguards. “Take one more step, and I swear I''ll blow your head off!" he bellowed.


    "Restrain him!" Derekmanded, voice icy. The moment Finch rebelled, all trust he''d ever had in Adelle crumbled away.


    "Dad!" Finch yelled, desperate, his eyes locking onto Derek''s. But where once he''d found warmth and fatherly devotion, there was only cial indifference now-the kind of coldness only a betrayed parent could muster. Everything familiar was gone.


    Adelle felt her heart shatter as she watched the chaos unfold. Years-decades-of careful nning, alling undone in a heartbeat.


    "Derek..." she choked out, barely audible.


    But Derek wasn''t listening. Every ounce of his attention was fixed on one thing: this paternity test would bepleted, no matter the cost.


    Faced with Derek''s unyielding presence, the guards swiftly overwhelmed Finch, pinning him to the floor.


    "Take his blood," Leroy instructed the doctor nearby.


    The doctor rushed in, fumbling with his kit, hands shaking.


    Finch fought like a wild animal. "Let go of me! Get your hands off me, damn it!" But no matter how violently he struggled, it was hopeless. When Derek''s cold stare met his, all the fight drained from him. The man who''d always protected him had be a stranger.


    His blood drawn, Finch was finally released.


    With tears welling in her eyes, Adelle cast a pleading nce at Derek. This had always been her strategy: make herself pitiable in a crisis, diminish herself in his eyes to earn his sympathy. In the past, Derek would have softened—he''d always responded to this. But not now. Now, he refused even to look at her. The tactic was finished.


    Finch staggered to his feet, blood trickling down from a split reopened on his cheek. "Finch," Adelle called, hurrying toward him.


    "Let''s go, Mom," Finch said sharply, glowering at Derek. His tone was hollow, wounded—as if whatever hope he''d had for his father had finally broken.


    "You..."


    "What are we even doing here?" Finch spat. "He doesn''t consider us his family anymore. We''re nothing to him. None of us are his children."


    "Finch! Don''t say another word!" Adelle cried out, terror rising as she heard him tempting fate.


    Finch only looked at her with


    mockery in his eyes. "Isn''t it true?" His voice was heavy with disappointment, a direct indictment of Derek But Adelle knew that beneath it all, Finch''s usation wasn''t just emotional; it was too close to reality.


    A derisiveugh broke the air-Dan.


    "How many times has your mother put on this show over the years?" he said.


    Finch and Adelle both bristled, faces tightening as if struck.


    "Shut your mouth," Finch shot back. "This is between us and father. It''s none of your business."


    Dan raised an eyebrow. "But what if it turns out to have nothing to do with your father?" he replied smoothly. "If those resultse in, and you''re not his son, well then it won''t just be a family matter, will it?"


    "You..." Finch''s voice faltered.


    Dan pressed on, cool and relentless. “You''re already giving blood—what''s the point


    of this melodramatic performance? You can''t undo it now."


    He yed their pretenses with a single sentence,ying their motives bare for all to


    see. Finch flushed with humiliation, lost for words.


    Adelle''s re turned murderous.


    Dan merely shrugged, unbothered,


    His lips curled into a faint, ironic t


    smile as he turned to Derek. "So,


    about the paternity results....what''s your next move?


    Derek caught the question, and—almost on instinct-looked up to meet Dan''s eyes.