"To get your hands on the family fortune, you were willing to get stic surgery to look like my aunt. What''s a little money to bribe a testing facility?" Lynne''s eyes glinted with malice. "It''s a high-risk, high-reward gamble. If you seeded, you''d get a piece of the Williams family''s vast wealth. Who wouldn''t be tempted by that? It''s worth the risk, isn''t it?"


    Her voice rose in pitch, her gaze fixed on Ste, full of venom. "My aunt gave birth to you while she was away from the family. We don''t even know for sure if she was ever pregnant. Unless, of course, you can find someone who can prove my aunt gave birth to a child."


    Ste''s fingers tightened. When her mother first escaped the Williams family, she had moved constantly to avoid Skyler''s pursuit. Ste hadn''t been born in Novaris; her mother only settled there muchter. Her mother had hidden so well that even Skyler couldn''t find her. Now, with Nora gone, finding where she had stayed and locating a witness from all those years ago was next to impossible. Lynne wouldn''t have made such a challenge if she hadn''t already investigated and known this.


    Seeing Ste''s silence, Lynne smiled. "Of course, I know some of you might still not believe me and think we''re faking this. In that case, we can collect samples right here, right now, and have the test done under everyone''s supervision. That way, there''s no possibility of fraud, is there?"


    Lynne spoke with absolute confidence, as if she had no fear of a public test. It was as if she was certain Ste wasn''t Nora and Skyler''s daughter. Why was she so sure?


    Suddenly, Ste remembered what Joshua had told her a few days ago. The Camerons had been in contact with Sellers.


    The Burton family controlled numerous biotechpanies, hospitals, and medical institutions around the world. The testing


    agency Lynne had chosen wel no


    undoubtedly one of them. While wh Ste had some friction with sellers, it wasn''t a public feud like the one with Leonard. On the contrary, her excellent rtionship with Mr. Burton was well-known.


    She couldn''t, in front of all these people, level an usation of fraud against the Burton Group without a shred of evidence.


    It would be a p in Mr. Burton''s face. Besides, without evidence, no one would believe her. From an outsider''s perspective, it would be surprising if the Burton family didn''t side with her; the idea that they would conspire against her was unthinkable.


    If this n seeded, she would either be branded an orphan of


    un origin c


    a con artist scheming for an inheritance. Either way, the Williams family would not tolerate her. The gradual progress she had made would be shattered, and the resulting conflict would be bloody.


    What a vicious n! It was a hundred times more ruthless than anything Leonard had ever done. Leonard had only wanted to ruin her career. Sellers wanted her to lose everything, to be abandoned by all, and to die at the hands of her own family.


    She absolutely could not do this


    test. If a public test dered she had no biological ties to the Williamsè family, there would be noing. back The whole world would know she wash their child, and they would specte that her mother had been unfaithful.