Chapter 305: Chapter 305: Cruel and Stupid
She looked at the group across from her with a mocking expression, finding the whole situation laughable.
Wanda Larkin froze when she heard this, then blurted out, "The paternity test? Of course the paternity test was a lie! How else were we supposed to get you to come to the Sterling family?"
"Mom, stop talking!"
Evan Sterling’s expression darkened.
He looked at Stella Sterling. "Stella, Mom’s had a shock. She’s... not quite herself right now. Don’t take what she says to heart."
"No matter what, we’re still family."
"Besides, look at Mom’s current state. She needs treatment. Sanctyr Base has professional medical teams. Dad and I can take her there for treatment when we go to see my younger brother."
As he spoke, Evan Sterling’s eyes pleaded with Stella Sterling.
He hoped she would let him go back, for the sake of any lingering affection from their past.
He still had a bright future ahead of him. At Sanctyr Base, he was the respected Dr. Quinn. His experiments were only half-complete.
Once they returned to Sanctyr Base, they would be safe.
Marcus Sterling frantically chimed in from the side. "Yes, yes, that’s right! Your mother is just in shock from what she saw. After all, she and Yara spent over a decade together. Everything will be fine once she calms down."
Nearby, Magnus Sterling’s face turned deathly pale when he heard that Yara Sterling was dead.
A look of agony and conflict washed over him.
He suddenly collapsed to his knees, sobbing in anguish.
Stella Sterling glanced over at him. She had noticed his arrival earlier but had paid him no mind.
But his current state immediately piqued her interest.
’His expression is so strange.’ In an instant, a thousand theories raced through Stella’s mind. Her gaze, fixed on Magnus, turned icy.
Just then, the other Sterlings also noticed Magnus Sterling.
The Sterling men’s persuasion had started to calm Wanda Larkin, but the sight of Magnus Sterling made her jolt. She shrieked, "I’ll tell you who your real father is! It’s him! HAHAHA!"
As she spoke, tears streamed down Wanda Larkin’s face again. She knew she shouldn’t have been so impulsive. Revealing this would bring danger.
But whenever she thought of Yara—her real daughter—dying at the hands of that monster, Stella, she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted revenge. She wanted to make Stella suffer.
"Mom, you’re doing this for Yara, but what about Dad and me? Do you not care if we live or die?"
Evan Sterling shouted, on the verge of a breakdown and furious.
Meeting her son’s gaze, Wanda Larkin’s voice trembled. "No, that’s not it..."
Watching this grand drama unfold, the calmest person in the room was, paradoxically, the one who should have been the most shocked: Stella Sterling.
She waved a hand at Stephen Lawrence. "Bring him to me."
Stephen Lawrence was still reeling from the shock. He’d never imagined his boss’s family background was this complicated.
’And I never would have guessed that one of our own base members could be my boss’s father.’
’This is all so melodramatic.’
’It’s more of a soap opera than what you see on TV.’
But upon receiving his boss’s command, he acted without hesitation, taking two men with him toward Magnus Sterling.
Magnus Sterling didn’t struggle at all. When the two men reached him, he let them lead him away.
Believing the man might truly be his boss’s father, Stephen Lawrence handled him gently. After bringing him forward, he stepped back behind Stella Sterling.
Seeing Magnus Sterling’s pathetic state, Wanda Larkin actually laughed. ’See?’ she thought. ’Even her own biological father gets no special treatment from her.’
The thought brought her a great deal of satisfaction. She desperately wanted to say something more, but a glance at her husband and son made her hold her tongue.
’Yara is already dead,’ she reminded herself, ’but we still have to live.’
At that, she felt a pang of regret for her earlier outburst.
"Now then, are you all here?"
Stella Sterling had someone bring her a chair. She sat down and calmly regarded the Sterlings before her, her gaze finally settling on Magnus Sterling. Her voice was steady. "You. Do you claim I’m your daughter?"
Magnus Sterling couldn’t meet her gaze. He lowered his head and remained silent.
Stella Sterling scoffed. ’I see.’
’Of course I’m not his daughter,’ she thought. ’I know perfectly well who my parents are.’
At that, Wanda Larkin couldn’t resist chiming in. "Of course he didn’t give birth to you! How can a man have a baby? You were born from his wife—your real mother."
"You’ve got a real sense of humor."
Stella Sterling shot Wanda Larkin a cold glare.
Evan Sterling put a hand to his forehead.
’This situation is completely out of my control. My mind is a complete mess.’
And his mother’s little interjections, popping up every now and then, were enough to give him a heart attack.
He decided it was best to just shut up.
"I hate to admit any connection to you people, but I have to concede that I am, in fact, a Sterling."
She looked at Wanda Larkin. "You really are an idiot, aren’t you? Can’t you see the resemblance between us? Or are you just blind?"
Her features favored the Sterling side of the family, but a closer look revealed a definite resemblance to Wanda Larkin. If she were Magnus Sterling’s child, why would she look anything like Wanda?
’When the Sterlings first found me, I was ecstatic. My foster parents had been awful, and I was filled with such high hopes for the family I was being returned to.’
’But later, the Sterling family’s attitude towards me planted a seed of doubt.’
’Even if they’d grown attached to Yara after all those years, shouldn’t they have felt love and guilt for their own biological daughter, lost for so long and finally found?’
’But the Sterlings didn’t. Instead, they favored Yara in everything.’
’Back then, I started to wonder. Maybe they weren’t my parents at all. Maybe there had been a mistake.’
’So I secretly collected their hair samples and had a paternity test done. More than once, actually.’
’I used different labs, but the results were always the same: I was, without a doubt, their daughter.’
’After getting the same result over and over, I dismissed my suspicions. I just assumed that because we hadn’t grown up together, my parents simply had no affection for me. I didn’t consider any other possibility.’
’Who would have thought that the Sterlings themselves had the facts all wrong, and had been operating under the assumption that I wasn’t their daughter all along.’
’That everything before was a lie.’
’No wonder. No wonder they treated me that way.’
’From the very beginning, their bringing me back was a conspiracy. It was all so I could be a heart donor for Yara whenever she needed one.’
Looking at them, Stella Sterling could only think one thing: these parents were both cruel and stupid.
