Chapter 6 - Vanessa Had Never Been Pregnant At All
The first major contradiction came from medical records Vanessa voluntarily submitted months earlier to the Hale family’s insurance coordinator.
They were fake.
Not entirely fabricated.
Altered.
The clinic existed.
The physician existed.
But the ultrasound belonged to someone else.
The patient number did not match Vanessa.
The supposed laboratory report had been edited from a legitimate result downloaded from an online portal belonging to another woman.
Cesare’s attorney asked the obvious question:
“If there was no miscarriage, was there ever a pregnancy?”
The answer came within days.
No.
Vanessa had never been pregnant.
Not with Julian’s child.
Not with anyone’s.
The lie had existed from the beginning.
Which meant Julian’s explanation was wrong.
Vanessa had not lost a baby and panicked.
She had told him she had been pregnant knowing she wasn’t.
Then later invented a miscarriage only when the false pregnancy became harder to maintain privately.
Julian sat across from Cesare in stunned silence when he learned.
“She showed me a test.”
“Fake.”
“An ultrasound.”
“Not hers.”
“She had morning sickness.”
Cesare’s expression did not change.
“She performed it.”
Julian went pale.
For the first time, Cesare saw his son experience the betrayal Avice had already been living inside.
Being lied to by someone you trusted.
Then being made to feel stupid for noticing inconsistencies.
May you like
Avice had simply seen the truth sooner.
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