Chapter 72: Shattered Hopes
A heavy silence settled over the room, thick and suffocating. Evelyn’s heart pounded against her ribs, each beat sending a sharp, painful echo through her body. Her vision swam with dizziness, the weight of Damien’s revelation crashing down on her. She swayed, but Zevian’s strong grip on her shoulder kept her anchored, though her nails bit into his shirt as if she needed to grasp something real.
"This... this has to be a joke!" Avery’s voice shook, her own disbelief mirrored in her wide eyes. She grabbed the phone from Damien, zooming in on the DNA report. Her breath hitched when she saw the glaring truth—zero percent match. William’s DNA was a complete mismatch with Evelyn’s, just like Annabelle, who was a total stranger, unlike Evelyn.
"Get some water," Zevian instructed sharply, his voice cracking through the silence. He eased Evelyn down onto the brown leather couch, pressing a button to ignite the heater and the fireplace. The cellar’s air had grown cold, but nothing compared to the chill gripping Evelyn’s bones.
Avery’s hands trembled as she followed Damien to the counter, her frustration bubbling over. "This has to be a mistake," she muttered, snatching a bottle of water left behind by Agatha. "Your team must’ve made a blunder!"
"I wish they had," Damien muttered darkly. His usually calm demeanor was shaken, tension tightening his jaw. For once, he found himself hoping his lab had made a mistake, his brilliant scientists hired from all over the world turned incompetent but deep down, he knew better.
The truth got its own twisted ending and he thought on how to blend it in their plan, on how to use it for Sophia’s downfall.
Evelyn sat numbly, her grip on Zevian tightening. His hand moved to rub her back, the warmth of his touch trying to penetrate the icy shock consuming her. But the comfort did little to ease the storm raging inside her. Not part of the family! The words echoed in her mind, relentless and unforgiving.
Her father, no, William Wright, his hateful words played over and over like a broken record.
"I am still keeping you because of Gracie’s wish. Otherwise, you’d be out on the streets.