Silence stretched for a long moment.
Mrs. Sterling was the first to recover.
“Scarlett, what did you just say?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“Mom, it’s obvious. Why keep pretending?”
“Amo isn’t your child. You know that better than anyone, don’t you?” Scarlett sneered.
“Who told you that Gray isn’t a Sterling?” Mrs. Sterling’s face turned pale.
“No one had to tell me. The proof speaks for itself.”
“Gray and you share AB negative blood. But Father is type O.”
“How can an O-type father have an AB-type child?”
“Anyone with basic medical knowledge understands the truth.”
“The only explanation is that Gray isn’t Father’s biological son. He’s not one of us!” Scarlett declared triumphantly.
She pulled a folder from her bag.
She had prepared it in advance, just in case.
She handed a copy to everyone present.
“This is Gray’s personal file. I guarantee every word and every number is true.”
“Turn to the medical report page. The blood type column clearly says AB negative.”
Uncle Richard put on his glasses and examined the document.
He was shocked.
He turned to Mrs. Sterling.
“Sister-in-law, what’s going on?”
Mrs. Sterling sighed deeply.
“Uncle Richard, please forgive our family’s lack of discipline.”
“Since everyone is here, and Scarlett has raised this issue herself…”
“I will take this opportunity to explain the truth.”
“Let Scarlett and Audrey understand what really happened back then.”
She asked the lawyer to step out first.
This was a private family matter. No outsiders needed to be present.
Scarlett objected.
She insisted the lawyer stay as a witness.
Mrs. Sterling was furious but held back.
She began to explain.
It turned out that years ago, Mrs. Sterling discovered her husband had been keeping another woman.
He had two daughters with her.
She was heartbroken and disappointed.
She took her eldest son and moved abroad.
The matter was serious at the time.
Uncle Richard knew about it.
Mr. Sterling tried many times to explain, but Mrs. Sterling couldn’t forgive him.
She avoided him completely.
She only returned home when Mr. Sterling fell gravely ill.
The truth was this.
Audrey and Scarlett’s biological mother, Selina Moore, was the daughter of the Sterling family’s nanny.
She and Mr. Sterling grew up together.
They were close.
But the family opposed their relationship.
Mr. Sterling was forced to marry Mrs. Sterling instead.
Selina married someone else out of spite.
Later, Mr. Sterling learned Selina’s life was hard.
Her husband died.
She was raising two daughters alone.
He couldn’t bear to see her suffer.
He arranged for Selina and her children to live in a suburban property.
Over time, their old feelings rekindled.
He took care of Selina as a mistress.
He treated her two daughters as his own.
So outsiders believed the two girls were Mr. Sterling’s biological children.
Even Mrs. Sterling believed it at the time.
When Mr. Sterling died of illness, Selina couldn’t bear the grief and followed him soon after.
Mrs. Sterling looked at the two orphaned girls.
She felt pity.
She brought them home and raised them as her own daughters.
It wasn’t because she was noble or selfless.
She simply believed the sins of the parents shouldn’t fall on the children.
Besides, Audrey and Scarlett were sensible and cute.
Mrs. Sterling had no daughters of her own.
She treated them as her own.
She never expected that raising them would create enemies.
“The ancients were right,” she said bitterly.
“A bowl of rice creates a friend. A bushel of rice creates an enemy.”
“Lies!” Scarlett jumped up.
“Don’t think making up a story will cover up the fact that you stole our inheritance!”
She pointed at Mrs. Sterling hysterically.
“Scarlett, shut up!” Uncle Richard scolded.
“When Uncle Richard and I are here, we will seek justice for you.”
“Scarlett, stop it!” Audrey pulled her sister back down.
“Second sister, don’t you hear her?” Scarlett yelled.
“She’s saying we’re not Father’s daughters at all. We’re not Sterlings!”
“How can you just sit there?”
“Why are you always such a coward? Why don’t you fight for yourself?”
“Scarlett, sit down,” Uncle Richard ordered.
“I’m not dead yet. You have no say here.”
Scarlett sat down reluctantly.
“Sister-in-law, do you have any documents or evidence to help these two girls understand?” Uncle Richard asked gently.
“Yes. I have a letter their mother wrote to them before she passed.”
“Also, my husband’s blood type was not O. It was AB negative.”
“One of the reasons I agreed to marry into this family was because of this blood type. Just in case.”
“The hospital records can confirm this,” Mrs. Sterling explained.
Scarlett stared at her in shock.
Then she burst out hysterically again.
“You’re lying! How can Father be AB type?”
“Audrey and I are both O type. How can Father be AB type?”
Audrey grabbed Scarlett’s arm.
“Scarlett, stop talking!”
If Mrs. Sterling was telling the truth…
Then the outsider in this family wasn’t Gray.
It was her and Scarlett.
Everything Scarlett had planned was just a farce.
The family meeting ended abruptly.
Audrey asked Ethan to help her.
She dragged Scarlett out of the meeting room.
“Second sister, why are you pulling me?” Scarlett struggled.
“I haven’t finished explaining to that old woman!”
“Pa—”
A heavy slap landed on Scarlett’s cheek.
This was the second time Audrey had hit her since they were children.
And it was the second time in just a few days.
Scarlett was stunned.
Even Ethan was shocked.
“Haven’t you embarrassed us enough?” Audrey shouted.
Nathan Cole, who had been waiting outside for news, saw the commotion from a distance.
He trotted over.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Audrey turned and yelled at him.
“Nathan, don’t think no one knows what you’ve been doing.”
“Hurting others only hurts yourself.”
“If you want to take over the family property, you need to have the ability and the right identity.”
She pushed Scarlett toward him.
She didn’t care what they did next.
She grabbed Ethan’s arm.
“Ethan, let’s go back.”