The silence in the examination room became suffocating.
Dr. Vance slowly lowered the ultrasound probe, his expression unusually serious.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "But there isn't a baby boy."
Marcus frowned.
"What do you mean? We paid for the best clinic. We were told months ago it was a boy!"
Dr. Vance shook his head.
"The fetus is healthy... but it's a girl."
"What?!"
Penelope's face turned pale.
"No... that's impossible! We already had a private gender test!"
Dr. Vance turned the monitor toward them.
"The results are very clear. I checked three times. There is absolutely no doubt."
Marcus' mother staggered backward.
"A girl? But our family has been preparing everything for a grandson!"
His father slammed his fist onto the table.
"The Henderson bloodline needs a male heir!"
Penelope grabbed Marcus's arm desperately.
"They must be wrong! Tell them to test again!"
Before anyone could speak, Dr. Vance took a deep breath.
"I'm afraid... that's not the only problem."
Everyone froze.
"The DNA information from your previous prenatal screening raised serious concerns. We repeated the analysis this morning."
Marcus suddenly felt his heart pounding.
"What concerns?"
Dr. Vance looked directly at him.
"The unborn child is not biologically related to Mr. Marcus Henderson."
The room exploded.
"What did you just say?!" Marcus shouted.
Penelope's face instantly lost all color.
She stumbled backward, unable to breathe.
Marcus snatched the report from the doctor's hands.
"No! This is fake! Run the test again!"
"The laboratory has already verified it twice," Dr. Vance replied calmly. "The probability of error is virtually zero."
Marcus slowly turned toward Penelope.
His voice trembled with rage.
"...Whose child is it?"
Penelope burst into tears but couldn't answer.
Marcus's mother screamed in disbelief.
"You destroyed our family for this woman?! You divorced Julianne... abandoned your own children... for someone else's baby?"
Marcus felt the room spinning.
At that exact moment, his phone vibrated.
It was a news alert from the Henderson Group's board of directors.
URGENT BOARD MEETING – Effective immediately.
A second notification followed.
All assets previously registered under Marcus Henderson's authority have been frozen pending investigation.
His hands began to shake.
Then came a third message.
It was from the family lawyer.
"Mr. Henderson... there's something about the apartment, the Mercedes, and several company properties. They were never legally yours."
Marcus's eyes widened.
He suddenly remembered Julianne's final words before walking away.
"What was never really yours... will eventually find its way back to its rightful owner."
For the first time since the divorce...
Marcus realized that losing Julianne might not have been the biggest mistake of his life.
It might have been the beginning of his complete destruction.
