Hillbilly Girlie Marries a Billionaire – Episode 27
The paternity report glowed on Lucas’s screen. Emily had prepared for the possibility, but numbers gave fear an authority imagination lacked. Lucas read the conclusion twice, his face unreadable except for the tightening muscle in his jaw.
Noah pointed to the mismatched sample number. The result proved only that the tested material matched Lucas, not that the fetus did. Someone had likely submitted stored blood or tissue under the fetal label. They needed the laboratory’s chain-of-custody records before the family treated the report as truth.
Sophie entered without permission, already celebrating. Her knowledge of the result before notification strengthened their suspicion, but Victoria announced it merely proved maternal anxiety. She demanded Lucas acknowledge his child publicly.
Lucas said he would accept no conclusion until a new test occurred under hospital supervision. Sophie burst into tears and accused Emily of turning him against his own blood. She asked how many tests would satisfy them if every answer remained inconvenient.
Grandfather Anderson reviewed the report and agreed to a second test. Meanwhile, he ordered the pregnancy protected and prohibited public announcements. Victoria objected that secrecy dishonored the heir, but he warned her not to convert an uncertain child into a corporate campaign.
Emily told Lucas he should speak with Sophie privately about practical responsibilities if the result proved genuine. The suggestion hurt to make. Lucas refused to meet Sophie without Emily or counsel present, unwilling to offer another opportunity for fabricated intimacy.
At a supervised meeting, Sophie demanded marriage, a nursery in the master wing, and recognition of the baby as primary heir. Lucas offered medical care, child support, and shared custody if paternity was established. He made clear that his marriage to Emily would continue.
Sophie’s tears stopped. She said Emily had no purpose now that a biological child existed. Emily answered that wives were not breeding positions and children were not promotions. The calm reply enraged Sophie more than any insult.
After the meeting, Sophie cornered Emily near the stairs. She accused her of stealing a family meant for someone educated, elegant, and worthy. Emily said Lucas was not a family fortune waiting to be won; he was a person who had repeatedly said no.
Sophie grabbed Emily’s wrist and placed her hand against the slight curve of her abdomen. “Feel what you’re trying to destroy,” she demanded. Emily pulled back carefully, refusing to be forced into the performance.
Victoria appeared below just as Sophie staggered. With practiced timing, Sophie released Emily and fell against the railing. She screamed that Emily had shoved her. The sound brought servants running from every corridor.
Emily remained one step above her, making the scene look damning. Sophie clutched her stomach and whispered that the baby was hurting. Victoria ordered an ambulance before asking a single question.
Lucas arrived and went first to Emily, checking whether she had been attacked. Victoria called his concern monstrous. Sophie sobbed that he cared more for a jealous wife than his unborn child.
Emily said Sophie had grabbed her and staged the fall. The new corridor cameras should have recorded everything. Adam checked the system and discovered that the camera covering the staircase had lost power three minutes earlier.
Noah examined the electrical panel. Someone had deliberately removed a fuse. Only family and senior staff knew the camera circuits, pointing toward an accomplice inside the estate.
At the hospital, doctors found no injury and a stable heartbeat. Sophie nevertheless insisted Emily posed a continuing danger. Victoria demanded she be removed from the mansion until birth.
Lucas refused. He said either Sophie accepted monitored accommodation elsewhere or he and Emily would leave together. Grandfather Anderson supported him, unwilling to punish anyone without evidence.
Victoria revealed Emily’s old surrogacy application to the assembled doctors and staff, calling her jealous because she could not provide the heir she was hired to bear. The public humiliation cut deeply, but Emily no longer allowed the label to define her.
She said she had once considered surrogacy to save her mother. She had never promised Lucas a child. Sophie, on the other hand, seemed willing to endanger her own pregnancy repeatedly for control. The observation caused several medical staff to exchange uneasy looks.
A nurse pulled Lucas aside and disclosed something confidential: Sophie’s ultrasound dated the pregnancy several weeks later than the gala she described. Before Lucas could confront her, Sophie vanished from the examination room—leaving behind a second patient chart bearing Victoria Anderson’s name.