Chapter 518 William and Hayden
"You have such deep feelings for Nikolai. Could it be that Nikolai is your biological son?" Hayden stared at Sophia with a gentle smile and suddenly spoke.
When the words ‘biological son’ came out of Hayden's mouth, a trace of shock clearly flashed in Sophia's eyes, followed by unprecedented panic.
However, Sophia suppressed all of these strong emotions within one or two seconds and shouted, "Why are you talking nonsense here? Nikolai is my nephew whom I raised since he was a child, just like my own son. He was killed by you two sisters. Shouldn't I be sad and seek justice for him?"
"Is that so? It seems I was overthinking." Hayden continued to stare at her and smiled again. Nonchalantly, she stood up and said, "If Auntie doesn't want to eat, then rest well. I won't disturb you."
With that, Hayden turned around and left.
Originally, she had initiated the voice recording app on her phone with the intention of capturing evidence of Sophia's words. But in her haste, she had underestimated Sophia's cunning.
Though her eyes had silently confirmed the truth, Sophia's lips remained stubbornly sealed, refusing to confess.
Nevertheless, Hayden remained undeterred. Samples of Nikolai's and Sophia's DNA had already been discreetly collected for a paternity test. Tomorrow, perhaps she would know the results.
The following day, as she prepared to depart from work, Hayden's assistant approached her with a sealed envelope.
After the assistant left, Hayden opened the envelope and was extremely surprised when she saw the final result.
But upon careful consideration, it wasn't that surprising after all.
After carefully reading the report from beginning to end and confirming that she had read it correctly, Hayden put the document back into her file bag and stood up, holding the bag as she walked toward the elevator.
Once inside the elevator, she pressed the button for the top floor, heading toward Finn's office.
When she arrived outside Finn's office, she saw Finn leaning back in his executive chair with a tired expression on his face. After hesitating for a moment, she knocked on the door.
"Come in," Finn replied, keeping his eyes closed.
Given permission, Hayden closed the office door and walked over.
"Raymond, you look exhausted," she said upon hearing her voice. Finn slowly opened his eyes and looked at her tiredly, asking, "What's the matter?"
Hayden didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she pulled out a chair and sat down across from Finn, then asked, "Raymond, have you considered how much stronger Sophia's reaction to Nikolai's death was compared to Sienna, his biological mother?"
Hearing Hayden say this, Finn thought carefully for a moment and realized she was right.
Immediately, Finn frowned slightly and asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"Raymond, do you remember the day you hit Daniel? When Daniel was crying and said that Nikolai was also his brother?" Hayden looked at Finn, leading the conversation.
Finn furrowed his brow and thought for a moment.
Indeed, Daniel did say that.
"Daniel grew up in the Johnson family from a young age until he was seven or eight. It's normal for him to have a good relationship with Nikolai," Finn explained.
"Raymond, I have a report here, take a look," Hayden said, handing the file bag to Finn.
Finn didn't know what it was, but he took it with a furrowed brow and looked inside the bag.
"What is this?" he asked, his expression growing even more grim.
"Raymond, based on Sophia's recent reactions and what Daniel said, I sent the bloodstains left by Nikolai on the floor and a strand of Sophia's hair for a paternity test at the testing center. The result is the report you have now," Hayden said, looking at Finn with great seriousness.
"This paternity relationship is between Sophia and Nikolai?!" Finn asked in disbelief, looking at the report in his hand once again.
Hayden nodded seriously, "Raymond, they are definitely mother and son. I personally collected the samples and there is no issue at all."
Finn glanced at the report again, furrowing his brows and thinking deeply. Then, he slammed the report on the desk and scolded, "Nonsense! Nikolai is already 24 years old this year. Aunt Sophia is only 33 years old. Are you saying she got pregnant and had a child at the age of 9?"
"Raymond, what if Aunt Sophia has been hiding her real age?" Hayden calmly asked in response.
At first, she couldn't understand this point either. After thinking for a long time, the only possibility she could think of was this.
"Girls usually start their menstruation at around 12 or 13 years old, some even earlier. Once they start menstruating, they can produce eggs and get pregnant. If Aunt Sophia's actual age is 37 or 38, then everything would make sense, right?" Hayden added, looking at Finn who seemed to be deeply skeptical.
"If Nikolai is indeed Aunt Sophia's son, then who is Nikolai's biological father? Could it be that he was born to Aunt Sophia and Pierre?" Finn asked in response.
However, as the words slipped out of his mouth, he was shocked himself.
"I haven't checked if Pierre is Nikolai's biological father," Hayden said in a low voice.
Suddenly, she regretted not clarifying the whole situation before coming to tell Finn. What if this wasn't the case and she ended up in a more difficult situation?
Looking at the report in his hands, Finn suddenly became angrier the more he thought about it.
Hayden was her biological daughter, and she wouldn’t lie to him about such matters.
If Nikolai was really Aunt Sophia's son, then he had been deceived for over a decade. Perhaps, this was also the reason why Sophia was so eager for Nikolai to marry Hayden and become the son-in-law of the Lin family.
At this thought, Finn gripped the report and swiftly stood up from his executive chair, unable to control his anger, and said, "Let's go back and find out."
--
Sophia had been fasting for three days, barely eating anything except for a little water. She was lying on the bed, deeply asleep, when Finn burst into the room.
Looking at Sophia, who had made herself look like half a dead person by picking fights with Nikolai and starving herself for three days, Finn became even angrier and had more reason to believe that Nikolai was indeed Sophia's biological son. Immediately, he forcefully slapped the report in his hand onto Sophia's face.
Originally, Sophia knew that the person coming in was Finn, but in order to save some dignity, she deliberately pretended to be asleep with her eyes closed, ignoring anything that hit her face.
"Sophia, you better explain to me clearly. Did you make such a fuss about Nikolai's death because he was your biological son?" Finn shouted after slapping the report.
Hearing this, Sophia couldn't help but tremble. However, her eyes were closed, and no one could see what flashed through her eyes just now.
"Finn, are you trying to frame me with such absurd accusations, hoping for my death?" Sophia quickly calmed down, and slowly opened her eyes, her eyes visibly moist, and teardrops twinkled as she looked at Finn, questioning with great sadness and grievance.
Seeing her in this state, Finn couldn't help but feel annoyed and pointed to the report on the pillow, saying, "Look at it yourself, see what it is."
Obeying, Sophia took a look and immediately said with even more grievance, "This is nothing, why are you having me look at it?"
After Hayden asked her those questions last night, she guessed that Hayden would not give up easily and would continue to investigate based on those suspicions. So, she notified Pierre last night to quickly cremate Nikolai's body and not leave any of his DNA evidence behind.
Unexpectedly, she was still a step too late and Hayden had already obtained Nikolai's DNA sample.
Now that Finn was also suspicious, she absolutely couldn't continue to confront Finn.
"The sample is from you and Nikolai. What do think you are looking at?" Finn said angrily.
"Hahaha, a sample from me and Nikolai? Hahaha!" Finn's words made Sophia seem like she had just heard the most amazing thing in the world, and she laughed uproariously.
Hayden, standing at the door, watched Sophia's every move and felt uneasy in his heart.
She had been careless, rushing to find Finn without fully investigating everything, wanting to bring down Sophia.
"What's so funny? Isn't Nikolai your own son? If not, why do you look so desperate?" Finn angrily questioned Sophia.
"Nikolai is my son? Hahaha. Nikolai is my son?!" Sophia laughed hysterically as she looked at Finn. "Finn, I'm a 33-year-old woman. How can I have a son as old as 24-year-old Nikolai?!"
"You can fake your age."
"Me? Fake my age?!" Sophia looked at Finn, her expression full of disappointment, sadness, and even despair. "Finn, do you think I've faked my age? Are you stupid or am I dumb? If I fake my age, how can I make myself appear so much younger?"
"Well, how do you explain the complete DNA match between you and Nikolai?" Finn continued to question.
"How should I know what's going on? How should I know who wants to slander me and get rid of me?" Finn shouted, and Sophia shouted back, loudly and confidently.
Hayden looked at her, feeling increasingly uneasy.
Indeed, the worst outcome she had anticipated was likely to happen.
"Why do you look so desperate when Nikolai is dead?" Finn questioned again.
"Why should I be desperate when Nikolai is dead?!" Sophia laughed again, tears streaming down her face, with a pitiful look. "Finn, others may not understand, but don't you realize?
For the past ten years, I've been following you without a name or position, giving birth to Daniel. Do you know how difficult my life has been? How much pain I've endured? Others even insult Daniel as a fatherless bastard! It was Nikolai, kind Nikolai, who has always been by my side, accompanying Daniel and helping us to make it through. Didn’t you know any of this? You say Nikolai is my own son, yes, he's just like Daniel, my own son."
"You're making baseless claims!" Finn's anger slowly subsided as he looked at her.
"I'm making baseless claims?!" Sophia leaned weakly against the headboard, on the verge of collapsing. "Since you think I'm making baseless claims and don't believe me at all, then fine. You can kick me and Daniel out together. This way, we'll..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Sophia closed her eyes and fainted again.
"You stop pretending and continue talking!" Finn hadn't fully calmed down and when he saw Sophia fainting, he thought she was faking it and yelled again.
However, Sophia didn't react at all.
Finn looked at her, his face becoming stern, and ordered, "Someone, take her to the hospital. She keeps fainting for no reason, I want to find out what's wrong."
"Yes, sir."
Sophia was taken to the hospital.
Hayden also wanted to see if she was truly fainting or just pretending. If she was really fainting, she wanted to know why.
To her complete surprise, when the doctor examined her, it turned out she was pregnant.
Pregnant!
This news was like a bombshell to Hayden, catching her off guard.
Sure enough, as soon as Finn heard that Sophia was pregnant, a look of joy spread across his eyes.
Although Daniel was his son, he wasn't very gifted and had weak learning abilities. So, Finn had always hoped to have another son.
Sophia woke up and upon finding out that she was pregnant, she immediately looked at Hayden provocatively.
"Raymond, Auntie, congratulations. Soon you'll have another son." Hayden approached and, without changing her expression, genuinely offered her congratulations.
"Finn, you didn't believe me, you didn't want me anymore. You doubted that I was having a child with another man. If you doubt me, then why should I have this child? I won't have it. I'll die with the child." Immediately, Sophia used her most skilled technique, leaning into Finn, her demeanor shifting to one of vulnerability as she wept openly before him.
Hayden watched and coldly chuckled to herself before leaving the hospital room.
At this point, no matter what Sophia said or did, she couldn't stop anything anymore.
Now, she could only pray that Finn wouldn't overly favor Sophia because of the child she carried.
Outside the hospital, Hayden really wanted to find a place to get completely drunk.
If she was drunk, she wouldn't have to think about anything or consider anything.
But she knew she couldn't!
Staring at her phone, her finger landed on the familiar number she had memorized, Hayden really wanted to make the call and tell William on the other end of the line that she couldn't hold on any longer, asking him to come and take her away.
She wanted to leave with him, not caring about anything, not worrying about anything, and live far away from their little family of three.
Could she? Could she do that?
Sitting in the car, staring at the numbers on the screen, tears unknowingly slipped down her face, flowing into her mouth, tasting salty and slightly bitter.
Suddenly, someone tapped on her car window.
