HIS FIANCÉE SHOVED THE MAID'S TODDLER OFF THE PIANO BENCH — ONE LOOK AT THE CHILD'S EYES ENDED THE WEDDING BEFORE IT BEGAN

The DNA results took forty-eight hours. The media leak took only twenty-four.

Fiona Greer was not a woman who accepted defeat gracefully. When she was unceremoniously dumped, she immediately weaponized her family's formidable PR machine. The tabloids exploded on Monday morning.

BILLIONAIRE'S MAID TRAPS ASHWORTH HEIR IN ELABORATE SCHEME? read the glaring headline of the city's largest gossip column. There were photos of Marisol pushing a cleaning cart, contrasted cruelly with photos of Fiona in haute couture. The narrative was brutal: a calculating servant who seduced her wealthy employer and was now extorting him with a child.

Marisol stared at the iPad on the kitchen counter, her stomach churning. Celia was happily eating pancakes beside her, blissfully unaware of the storm raging outside the estate's iron gates.

Daniel walked into the kitchen, his jaw set like granite, holding his phone to his ear. "I don't care what the legal team says, issue a cease and desist. If the Post runs one more defamatory word about Marisol Vega, I will buy their parent company and liquidate it for spare parts. Am I clear?" He hung up and tossed the phone onto the island.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Marisol asked quietly.

"It's noise," Daniel said, walking over to press a kiss to the top of Celia's head before turning to Marisol. "My lawyers are shutting it down. The DNA test confirms exactly what I already knew. She is my daughter. I'm filing the paperwork to establish paternity today."

"Daniel, Fiona's family has leverage," Marisol argued, her analytical mind kicking in. "Her father is heavily tied to your infrastructure fund. If he pulls his capital, your board will panic. They'll blame me."

"Let them panic," Daniel said, pouring a cup of black coffee. "Arthur Greer is an arrogant fool who builds cheap resorts on unstable fault lines. I've been covering for his bad engineering for years because of the optics. If he wants a war, I will gladly give him one."

Just then, the front gates buzzed. The head of Daniel's security stepped into the kitchen. "Mr. Ashworth. Child Protective Services is at the gate. Someone filed an anonymous report claiming the child is in an unsafe environment due to the mother's... financial and mental instability."