Chapter 289

The air in the hospital room was suffocatingly still.

Vincent Sullivan's fingers trembled slightly as he dialed the phone, but his voice was ice-cold. "Arrange paternity tests immediately. Three different institutions." His gaze remained fixed on Xavier Stapleton's pale face on the hospital bed. "Full surveillance. Anyone who interferes will face the consequences."

Hugo Lee stood in the corner, a cold sweat trickling down his back.

He knew better than anyone—once the Sullivan family grew suspicious, the truth could no longer be hidden. The most damning fact? Xavier wasn’t a Sullivan by blood.

"Dad! Mom!" Xavier struggled to get up, yanking at his IV stand. "I'm your real son! That bitch Evelyn Sinclair framed me!"

Vincent ignored him.

Strangely, now that doubt had taken root, the man who had called him "Dad" for over twenty years seemed like a complete stranger. His features, his mannerisms, his bone structure—nothing resembled the Sullivans.

"Let's go." Vincent steadied his swaying wife.

But Madam Zade suddenly shrieked, "You jinx! Did you even get pregnant back then? Where did you pick up this bastard to fool our family?" Her wrinkled face twisted with rage. "Now we’ve raised an impostor!"

Madam Sullivan froze.

At the end of the hallway, a young man in a wheelchair was being slowly pushed toward them. Bandages wrapped around his forehead, his pallid face framed eyes identical to Madam Sullivan’s.

Her hands began to shake.

"Are you—" Her voice fractured in the air.

The young man’s eyes reddened. His lips moved soundlessly.

"My child..." Madam Sullivan suddenly lunged forward, collapsing to her knees before the wheelchair. "You’re my real child, aren’t you?"

"Mom..." The young man finally choked out the word.

Vincent rushed forward. "What’s your name?"

"Roman Young." The young man lifted his face, his gaze clear and steady.

The name struck Vincent like thunder. The fog lifted instantly—this was the Roman Young Evelyn had been protecting all along!

Hugo seized the chaos to slip toward the emergency exit.

He suddenly recalled the unfamiliar medical staff, the sudden appearance of the head nurse... Everything had been orchestrated.

"Evelyn Sinclair!" He punched the wall in fury. "A perfect trap!"

At the other end of the hallway, Madam Sullivan clung to Roman’s hand.

"We can do a DNA test right away," Roman said softly. "Before my adoptive parents passed, they told me my birth parents were the Sullivans of Kingsbury."

Vincent’s pupils constricted. "What exactly did they say?"

"They said..." Roman looked out the window. "Thirty years ago, a Sullivan couple was working on a project in Chiyuan County. The wife went into labor during a landslide..."

Memories flooded back. Vincent remembered the stormy night, the mudslide crushing the clinic, the infant they’d fled with—and the faint cry of another baby they’d left behind...

"That night, there were two women giving birth at the clinic," Roman murmured. "Besides your wife... there was my adoptive mother."