Chapter 10 - Blood and Lineage
Caleb kicked frantically, his patent leather shoes scraping against the wallpaper. A strangled wheeze escaped his crushed windpipe. He looked into Roman’s eyes and saw no humanity—only the cold, calculating void of a man who dealt in death for a living.
"Roman," Tessa’s voice came from the sofa, firm and commanding. "Put him down. Let him speak."
Roman didn't let go immediately. He held Caleb suspended for two more agonizing seconds, ensuring the fear was burned permanently into the man's marrow, before releasing him.
Caleb crashed to the floor in a heap, coughing violently, clutching his bruised throat and gasping for air. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he dragged himself backward, away from Roman’s polished shoes, until his back hit the opposite wall.
"You... you psycho..." Caleb croaked, his voice raw. He looked up at Tessa with wild, trembling eyes. "Is it mine, Tessa? Tell me the truth! You left eight months ago! You were already pregnant when you walked out, weren't you?! You're using him to hide my baby!"
The sheer absurdity of the accusation hung in the room like toxic smoke.
Tessa didn't flinch. She slowly pushed herself up from the sofa, smoothing the velvet dress over her six-month swell, and walked toward the doorway. She stood beside Roman, whose hand immediately found the curve of her hip, grounding her, anchoring her.
"Do you really think so little of me, Caleb?" Tessa asked, looking down at him with genuine pity. "Or do you just think that highly of yourself?"
"The timeline—"
"The timeline is six months, Caleb. You and I haven't shared a bed in nine," Tessa said coldly, her words cutting through his delusion like a scalpel. "Our son belongs to Roman. Biologically, legally, and entirely. Even if you were the last man on earth, I would never have let your weak, venomous blood touch a child of mine."
Caleb flinched as if struck across the face. "You... you were nothing before me! I made you! I gave you a place at St. Jude’s!"
"You stole my research on heart valve reconstruction and put your name as primary author," Tessa countered, her voice dropping into icy authority. "You took credit for my three-year clinical trial. And when I threatened to go to the ethics committee, you told the chief I was emotionally unstable and broke off the engagement."
Roman’s fingers tightened on Tessa’s hip. His eyes cut back to Caleb, lethal intent radiating from him like heat from an open furnace. "You stole her work?"
"No—it was a collaboration—" Caleb gasped, scrabbling against the floor.
"Marco," Roman called out.
The shadow appeared in the doorway instantly. "Sir."
"Take Dr. Hughes to the basement holding cells at the docks," Roman ordered softly. "Have our legal team draft a full confession regarding the intellectual theft of Dr. Vance’s research. If his hands are still intact after he signs it, throw him into the river."
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"No! Please! Tessa, stop him!" Caleb shrieked, kicking wildly as Marco grabbed him by the collar of his designer tuxedo like a sack of trash and dragged him down the private corridor. His screams echoed down the marble hallway before being abruptly cut off by a heavy door slamming shut.
***
