C6 The DNA Scandal

The city never slept, but neither did its gossip.

By mid-morning, news alerts flashed across phones and tablets. Headlines screamed about the Kingsley Group, but Lia almost didn’t notice—they didn’t mean anything to her. That is, until she saw her own name appear, attached to someone else:

“DNA Scandal Rocks Elite Kingsley Family: Missing Heiress May Have Been Found?”

She froze. Her coffee cup trembled in her hand.

The article was brief. Vague. Corporate lawyers and PR teams were quoted carefully, but the message was clear: the Kingsley Group, one of the most powerful families in the country, had a missing child—a granddaughter reported gone at birth—and now rumors suggested she might still be alive.

Lia’s breath caught.

Her fingers tightened around the cup. She had always known there was a hole where family should have been. She had spent years filling it with work, survival, and quiet endurance. But now, a single line threatened to unravel everything she had held together:

“Sources confirm DNA evidence is being tested to identify the missing heiress.”

Her heart raced. DNA? Testing? Missing heiress?

A thousand questions collided in her mind.

Was it a mistake? A rumor? A cruel prank?

She barely registered the sound of her manager calling her name.

“Lia, are you okay? You look… pale.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly, but her voice sounded hollow, even to her.

After her shift, she returned to the small, dim apartment she shared with her aunt. The envelope from Sebastian lay on the desk. The crisp bills felt meaningless now, overshadowed by the storm of possibility swirling in her chest.

She had no family—or so she thought.

Her phone buzzed. Unknown number.

“Did you see?”

She hesitated before replying.

“Yes. I saw.”

“It’s happening. You have to be careful.”

“Careful? About what?”

“About them.”

Lia’s mind whirled. Who were they? The fake heirs? The family she never knew? Someone trying to bury the truth?

The room seemed smaller, the shadows longer. She had always survived—but this was bigger than her. The world was suddenly aware of a girl who had spent her entire life invisible.

Somewhere in a glass tower downtown, Sebastian Blackwood read the same news on his phone.

He didn’t flinch, didn’t gasp.

He simply stared at the screen, expression unreadable.

She’s here.

And for the first time in years, he felt a flicker of… interest.

Not pity. Not curiosity.

Interest.