**Chapter 20**
The moment the video ended, dead silence fell in the room.
Seraphina trembled all over, her scalp throbbing from the pull, the faint sound of breaking hair strands clearly audible.
Her eyes red–rimmed, she desperately clung to Damien’s arm.
“No… this video is faked! Someone is trying to frame me!”
Damien let out a cold laugh, increasing the force in his grip.
“Are you saying I deliberately framed you?”
“It hurts! Damien… please no…”
Seraphina cried out in pain, lifting her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I was wrong… I truly know I was wrong… I was just too afraid of losing you…”
She trembled as she tried to grasp Damien’s sleeve.
“Damien, please forgive me this once, for the baby’s sake…”
“Baby?”
Damien suddenly released her hair, then clamped his hand around her chin.
“When did you get pregnant? You can get pregnant automatically just by sleeping next to me, is that it?”
Seraphina’s pupils contracted sharply.
9:29
<
“No, no, that night we clearly…”
“That night, I only touched one person.”
Damien flung her face away.
“I was a little drunk, but I wasn’t stupid.”
“No! No! We *did* sleep together!”
Seraphina shook her head wildly, tears smearing her face.
“You can’t deny it, you can’t!”
Damien stood up, calmly adjusting his cuffs.
“Since you insist you’re carrying my child, then we’ll cut it out and test it.”
Those words struck Seraphina like a bolt of lightning.
She abruptly lunged for the bedside, pressing the call button and screaming in terror.
“Help! He’s killing me!”
“Save your breath.”
Damien kicked the call button away.
“This hospital belongs to Sterling Corp.”
He leaned down, closing in on her, his eyes swirling with a terrifying storm.
“Seraphina Reed, I’ve found out a lot of things.”
“You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing all these years? Hiring people to follow Elara, tampering with her car… I just didn’t expect that it would be me driving that day.”
“So what?!”
Seraphina completely broke down. She hysterically tore open her hospital gown, exposing a scar on her collarbone.
“Why does she, an imposter, deserve your love?! What about me, a Reed heiress, is inferior to her?!”
“That scar is from when you pushed me and I fell when I was ten! I’ve liked you ever since then! All these years I’ve been following you, couldn’t you see?!”
“Why, why could you only see her?!!”
Damien’s eyes were glacial.
“Because in my eyes, you’re not even worth a single strand of Elara’s hair.”
9:29 AM
<
“No, Seraphina Reed, you’re not even in my eyes at all.”
“Ha… hahaha… not in your eyes…”
Seraphina suddenly burst into a deranged laugh.
“So what? Damien, you’re just as pathetic as I am. Elara doesn’t love you either, does she?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the person you’re longing for right now is lying in another man’s arms! Liam Parker is much gentler than you are!”
Those words completely ignited Damien’s rage.
He grabbed Seraphina’s neck, pressing her against the wall.
“Say that again?”
“I said-”
Seraphina’s face was flushed, but she was still laughing.
“Elara doesn’t want you! She hates you, she wishes she could be miles away from you, she just wants to escape you!”
“What about all your years together? She’d rather run off with that Liam Parker than stay by your side!”
Damien’s knuckles turned white as veins bulged on the back of his hand. Just as Seraphina was about to suffocate, the hospital room door suddenly burst open.
“Master Sterling! We found a lead!”
The assistant rushed in, holding up a tablet. The screen showed a surveillance screenshot from Charles de Gaulle
Airport–behind Elara, unmistakably, was Liam Parker pushing a luggage cart.
Damien released Seraphina. She slid to the ground like a broken rag doll, gasping for breath.
“Check flights.”
Damien’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
“I need to know where they ultimately went.”
The assistant swallowed. “We’ve already checked. They bought tickets to the U.S., but…”
“Speak.”
“Someone photographed Liam Parker boarding a flight alone at Los Angeles International Airport. Miss Elara… is gone.”
“So we’re not sure if Miss Elara is still in the U.S., or where else she might have gone…”
Damien clenched his fist tightly, his nails digging deep into his palm.
On the floor, Seraphina let out a hoarse laugh.
<
е
D
“Serves you right, Damien! You deserve it!”
Damien didn’t spare a glance for the somewhat deranged Seraphina. He turned towards the door, throwing one last instruction to the bodyguards.
“Send Brooke away to join Mom and Dad.”
“As for her… prepare the operating room now. Today, we *will* find out who the father of this bastard child is.”
