Hillbilly Girlie Marries a Billionaire – Episode 28
Hospital security sealed the floor while staff searched for Sophie. Her coat remained on the bed and her shoes beneath it, suggesting she had changed clothes before leaving. The abandoned chart contained fertility procedures, hormone schedules, and an embryo-transfer date six weeks earlier.
Lucas read the dates with growing fury. The transfer occurred long after the gala Sophie described. Whatever genetic material created the pregnancy, there had been no drunken encounter between them.
Emily felt relief followed by a different horror. Sophie had deliberately conceived a child as part of the scheme. The unborn baby was not evidence of a past mistake but a life engineered to trap people who had never consented.
Victoria snatched the chart and accused the hospital of falsifying records. Noah pointed out her name and identification number. Either she had authorized the procedure or Sophie had committed medical identity theft.
Victoria admitted Sophie once borrowed her passport for a family visa appointment. She had never entered the clinic. Realizing the extent of the deception stripped arrogance from her face, though she still resisted apologizing to Emily.
The clinic contacted the hospital after Adam presented the key card. A nervous administrator confirmed that a patient using Victoria’s credentials had requested implantation with a frozen Anderson sample. Privacy laws had prevented ordinary disclosure, but a fraud investigation now changed the situation.
Lucas demanded to know how the clinic possessed his genetic material. Years earlier, the Anderson family stored samples during a hereditary-disease screening. Access required executive authorization or cooperation from an employee.
Noah remembered the technician in the service corridor. His key card identified him as a junior embryologist whose employment began shortly before Sophie’s visit. Adam sent the information to police.
Sophie had not fled far. Security found her in a parking structure speaking with the technician. When officers approached, he ran while she collapsed against a car, claiming abdominal pain.
Doctors returned her to the ward. The fetus remained stable, but stress elevated her blood pressure. Lucas agreed medical care must continue. He refused, however, to let concern erase the crimes surrounding conception.
Sophie insisted she had used Lucas’s own sample and therefore carried his biological child. The morality of the method did not change paternity, she argued. Lucas told her theft could create responsibility toward the child, never a relationship with her.
Emily watched Sophie absorb the distinction. The woman had risked prison, health, and an innocent life believing biology would force affection. Even exposed, she could not understand that love chosen freely was the one thing money and manipulation could not reproduce.
Victoria demanded Sophie reveal whether anyone else had helped. Sophie threatened to describe Victoria’s campaign against Emily, including the maid and restaurant setup. The women stared at each other, their alliance collapsing publicly.
Lucas told his mother the threats were already documented. Protecting Sophie to save herself would only deepen the damage. Victoria finally instructed police that Sophie had used her identity without permission.
Officers could not arrest Sophie immediately while doctors evaluated her condition. A guard was placed at the door. The technician remained missing, carrying access logs that could prove whether Lucas’s stored sample was actually used.
Emily asked for a moment alone with Lucas. She said the child might still be his and would one day learn the circumstances of conception. They needed to decide whether anger at Sophie would shape the way the baby was welcomed.
Lucas promised it would not. If the child was biologically his, he would fight for custody and ensure it never became punishment or leverage. Emily said she would not ask him to choose between them.
He replied that there was no competition. The child would be his responsibility; Emily was his partner. Different forms of love did not diminish one another unless adults made them weapons.
Their clarity strengthened the choice Emily had delayed. She told Lucas her answer to the garden proposal was yes. His eyes closed briefly, emotion breaking through exhaustion. He kissed her hand because the hospital corridor offered no privacy for more.
Before they could share the news, Adam received an alert from the estate. The technician had broken into the Anderson genetic archive. Security footage showed him carrying a cryogenic case—and the inventory now revealed that Lucas’s sample had never been removed at all.