Araceli POV
As soon as I heard Krish speak in such a tone, I knew that he must be about to say something very important.
I dried the water from my hands, lifted my head, and said, "Let's go into the living room."
"It's better not to let Valeria know about this for now." Krish took a few steps forward and handed me the paper in his hand. "Mummy, you'll know after you read this."
I frowned suspiciously.
I took the paper, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the black headline.
It was a "paternity report".
Why did Krish have this?
I took a deep breath and continued to read on.
The column for "Identified by" read "Raphael Lancaster" and "Krish Chancey".
My eyes snapped open.
I immediately looked down, and my eyes fell on the last column.
"It has been determined that there is a 99.99% or greater probability that the parties are paternity."
My lips trembled.
I clutched the paternity report, still feeling unbelievable.
Krish and Raphael?
How was this possible?
It was unbelievable...
Just as I was about to ask Krish where this report came from, he spoke up.
"Mummy, this is the report of the paternity test I went to. The identification material is my hair and Mr. Lancaster's hair."
Krish said slowly, "That means Raphael is the biological father of Valeria and me."
I shuddered.
I held the table, stood up straight, and said shakily, "That can't be..."
How could Krish and Valeria's father be Ramon!
"My and Valeria's father is not Ramon. mommy, you don't have to fight with the Fleming family."
Krish lowered his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I should have told you sooner."
"Did you already know?"
My throat was dry and shaky as I uttered the words.
Krish nodded.
"I suspected it a long time ago, but I just never got around to getting it identified."
My heart flutters at the thought of Valeria calling Raphael Daddy all the time.
"Does Valeria know Raphael is your father?"
"She doesn't know."
Krish pursed his lips and said, "But Valeria is very fond of Mr. Lancaster, and I would love to have Mr. Lancaster as our daddy, but he probably couldn't have guessed that Valeria and I were his children..."
I closed my eyes.
My mind was in turmoil. All sorts of thoughts came to the forefront of my mind.
Ramon wasn't the children's father. That meant I wouldn't have to litigate with him over custody...
If Raphael were to learn that Krish and Valeria were his children, would Raphael do whatever it took to fight me for custody of the children, just like Ramon did?
If that was the case, Kenneth would never help me again...
I lowered my eyes and whispered, "Krish, go out and play with Valeria. I want to be alone to think about it."
Krish nodded and went out.
Slowly, my confused emotions eased.
I thought of that night five years ago.
I was so drugged and delirious that I can't remember what the man looked like.
I only remembered the strong smell of hormones. Inexplicably, I was attracted to that smell. Vaguely my wolf told me that he was my Mate.
So I didn't hesitate to let myself sink into that one-night stand...
After being drugged that day on the cruise, I smelled the same scent on Raphael's body...
The only thing was, I met Ramon that day, and Ramon told me exactly what happened that night five years ago, so I decided that Ramon was the man from that night.
In fact, that man was Raphael.
The man who ruined me was Raphael!
I couldn't stop my emotions from rising again. I took a deep breath before I dared to continue thinking about it.
Suddenly...
Micah and Essel's faces came to my mind.
They were the children of Melany and Raphael.
According to Eclipse and Raphael, they were the children Melanie secretly gave birth to five years ago when she was unmarried and pregnant.
The one who was pregnant unmarried five years ago was me! The one who was expelled from pack was also me!
I gave birth to Krish and Valeria, and Melany gave birth to Essel and Micah...
The children were all fathered by Raphael...
Does this make sense?
Could there be such a coincidence?
A bizarre thought came to my mind...
Could it be...
Was it possible...
I didn't dare to think about it anymore.
Just then, Robert's phone call came again. I glanced at it and simply hung up.
A few minutes later, Robert sent a text message.
"Ms. Chancey, your son is the heir to the Fleming family. No matter what the cost, the Fleming family will get their two children back. They need their father and family to grow up healthy. You cannot be so selfish as to decide their future! If you avoid talking about it, then don't blame me for resorting to other special means..."
I angrily deleted the text message.
The Fleming family was simply not enough to fear.
Now, I had more important things to find out.
The next day.
I drove to Royal Pack after dropping the kids off at daycare early in the morning.
I sat in the car and didn't see Raphael's car. With a slight sigh of relief, I pushed open the car door and got out.
The courtyard was empty in the early morning, not even a single maid.
I stood outside the door and rang the doorbell.
"Ms. Chancey, what brings you here? Please come in..."
Maddox came to open the door. He was surprised to see me standing outside the door.
He told the maid to serve me tea and said with a smile, "Ms. Essel is not up yet. I'm going to go get her up."
I didn't say anything and sat in the living room quietly drinking my tea.
"Maddox, you're not lying to me, are you?"
Essel had just woken up, so her voice was a little soft, like a soft marshmallow.
I smile softly and look up to see Essel running down the stairs with her bare feet.
"Be careful!" I got up in a hurry and walked over. "Where are your slippers? The floor is cold."
Essel blinked and pinched herself hard. She yelped in pain, but cheered happily, "Wow! I didn't dream it! Ms. Chancey really came to see me! Wow! I'm so happy!"
She threw herself into my arms.
I just felt that my heart had never been so soft as it was at this moment.
I slowly ran my hands over Essel's eyebrows, eyes, lips...
Why had I never realized that Essel and Valeria looked so similar?
"Ms. Chancey..."
Essel looked up at me, her voice soft and sweet.
I looked at her tenderly and asked in a slow voice, "Essel, can you tell me when your birthday is?"