CHAPTER 181: CHAPTER 181: THE FUTURE HEIR

Jean Ellison saw her daughter standing at the bedroom door.

Her heart tightened, and she crouched down, reaching out to Jesse.

"Jesse, come to mommy."

Jesse, holding her doll, slowly walked over to her.

Jean looked at her little face, trying to keep her tone calm, "Jesse, did you hear mommy talking on the phone? What did you hear?"

Jesse raised her big eyes to look at Jean, speaking in her childish voice.

"I heard mommy say Uncle Holden is daddy."

She tilted her head and asked, "Mommy, is Uncle Holden really my daddy? Then why can’t we live with daddy? All my friends in kindergarten live with their mommies and daddies."

Jean felt a physical ache in her heart.

She reached out and pulled Jesse into her arms, gently rubbing her chin on her daughter’s soft hair, her voice hoarse.

"Jesse, daddy and mommy can’t live together because of some reasons."

"But you see, daddy still loves Jesse very much, right? Doesn’t he often play with Jesse?"

Jesse nodded in her mom’s arms, "Yeah, Uncle Holden is very nice to me."

"So, even though daddy and mommy aren’t together, we both love Jesse very, very much."

Jean repeated, comforting her daughter.

Jesse was silent for a while, as if accepting this information.

Then she looked up, her eyes carrying a hint of cautious expectation, and quietly asked, "Mommy, can I call Uncle Holden daddy? Just when we’re together, secretly."

Jean’s heart sank, and her expression turned serious.

She held Jesse’s small shoulders, looking into her eyes, her tone firm, unconsciously becoming stern.

"No, Jesse, remember, you absolutely cannot call him daddy, you can only call him Uncle Holden, do you understand?"

"The fact that Uncle Holden is daddy must not be told to anyone."

Jesse was startled by her mom’s sudden change of tone, her big eyes quickly welling with tears, and asked, aggrieved, "Why?"

Jean looked at her daughter who was about to cry, her heart wrenching, but she couldn’t relent.

She lowered her voice, speaking with a kind of brutal candor, "Because if you call him daddy, you won’t be able to live with mommy anymore. You’ll be taken away, and mommy will never see you again."

Jesse’s eyes widened instantly, filled with terror.

She shook her head vigorously, her small hands clutching Jean’s clothes tightly, her voice tinged with sobs.

"No, I don’t want to, I don’t want to be separated from mommy, I don’t want daddy anymore, I only want mommy."

"From now on, I’ll only call him Uncle Holden, I won’t call him daddy, please don’t leave me, mommy."

Seeing her daughter so frightened and incoherent, Jean’s heart ached immensely.

She hugged Jesse tightly again, gently patting her back, her voice softening.

"Mommy will never leave Jesse, mommy will always want Jesse."

"As long as Jesse is good and listens to mommy, we can always be together."

"Okay, I’ll be good, I’ll be the most obedient, I want to be with mommy forever."

Jesse buried her face in Jean’s neck, her voice choked.

"Good, Jesse is the best." Jean kissed her daughter’s hair, "Mommy will work hard to give our Jesse the best life."

"I don’t want the best, I just want mommy." Jesse held her neck tightly.

Jean held her, soothing her for a long time until Jesse’s emotions gradually calmed down.

She checked the time and gently said, "Alright, it’s late, let mommy take you to shower and sleep, okay?"

"Okay." Jesse nodded obediently, taking Jean’s hand willingly.

Jean took Jesse to wash up, tucked her into the children’s bed, covered her with a blanket, and sat by the bed, gently patting her while humming an off-key lullaby.

Not until Jesse’s breathing became slow and deep, indicating she was asleep, did Jean quietly get up and turn off the small night light by the bed.

Weary, she returned to her own bedroom, and just as she picked up her phone to check the time, the screen lit up, displaying a new message.

It was from a number without a stored name, but Jean recognized the number.

It was Leah Sutton.

She opened the message.

"I know you’ve returned to the country, don’t forget what you promised me."

Immediately after, another message popped up, carrying an unmistakable threat.

"If you dare to renege, I’ll immediately send the paternity test report to Justin Holden’s email, and we’ll go down together."

Jean looked at the cold text on the screen, her fingers tightening, her knuckles turning white.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then quickly typed a reply on the screen.

"Rest assured, I remember our agreement, my return to the country has nothing to do with Justin Holden."

She sent it, throwing the phone onto the bed.

She walked to the window, looking at the night view of the city outside, neon lights shining beyond the floor-to-ceiling window.

Kingswell City was bustling, especially where she was now, in the city center, instantly spotting the Keystone Law building.

The lights were still on upstairs, as if someone hadn’t left work.

Across the distance, she felt she saw Justin Holden.

He was still the same, dressed in a suit, sitting behind his desk, looking at the files on the computer, his eyes clear and focused beneath his frameless glasses.

Jesse is her only child.

No matter what, she must stay by her daughter’s side.

Having been to prison, the Holdens would never recognize her as The Eldest Grandson’s biological mother.

If the Holdens truly wish to groom a successor for the group, they will certainly find a respectable and dignified mother for their grandchildren.

At the very least, it must appear on the surface that the future heir is perfect.

The lights in the chief office at Keystone Law remained on all night.

Justin Holden sat behind the large desk, his desk piled with thick files and an open laptop.

There were faint dark circles under his eyes, yet his concentration was intense, processing his work.

Until dawn started breaking outside the window.

At eight o’clock sharp in the morning, the computer alerted him to an incoming new email.

The sender was the paternity testing center he commissioned.

Justin Holden’s hand holding the mouse paused.

He looked at the email but didn’t open it immediately.

He leaned back in his chair, took a sip of the coffee on the table—it was already cold.

He sat there like that, eyes on the email subject, for a full two or three minutes before moving the mouse to open the email.

He quickly skimmed through the email body and the summary of the attached report, and when he saw the critical conclusion, his tense jawline relaxed a little.

The report showed: it does not support that Diana Sawyer and Jesse Ellison have a biological parent-child relationship.

As expected, they’re not.

Justin Holden closed the email page and immediately picked up the internal phone to connect with the testing center contact.

His tone returned to its usual calmness, but his speech was slightly faster.

"I received the results. Now, I need to expedite another test. I’ll send the samples over right away. Change the comparison subject to me."

"Yes, me and Jesse Ellison. Cost is not an issue. I need the fastest results."

He hung up, stood up, and stretched his somewhat stiff neck.

He pushed open the office door and walked to the coffee machine in the common lounge area.

A few early-arriving assistant lawyers were chatting in the lounge and were a little surprised to see Justin Holden come out.

What surprised them more was that Lawyer Holden seemed to have a smile on his face.

"Morning, Lawyer Holden!"

"Lawyer Holden seems to be in a good mood today?" one bold assistant whispered.

Someone next to him nudged him with an elbow, whispering, "Don’t talk nonsense. Group Two just messed up that acquisition case, and Attorney Pryce looked really grim this morning. There’s no way Lawyer Holden is happy."

"But Lawyer Holden really is smiling..."

At this moment, Samual Pryce came out of the adjacent office with a grim face, frowning at the group gathered there.

"Got nothing to do? Finished reviewing all the case files? What gossiping are you doing here? Get to work, quickly."

The colleagues immediately fell silent and dispersed like startled birds.

Only then did Samual Pryce notice Justin Holden standing by the coffee machine and his unusually relaxed demeanor.

He walked over, a bit puzzled, "What’s going on? Why so happy?"

Justin Holden finished making coffee, turned to look at Samual Pryce.

"The test results are out—Jesse isn’t Diana’s daughter."

Samual Pryce was stunned for a moment and then shrugged indifferently.

"That’s it? What’s there to be happy about? It only shows that Jean Ellison lied again. It doesn’t prove that Jesse is your child."

"I’ve already expedited a paternity test for me and Jesse."

Justin Holden took a sip of coffee, speaking with certainty.

"We’ll have the results soon."

"Are you crazy?" Samual Pryce lowered his voice, "You’re really going to test yourself with Jesse?"

"If, hypothetically, Jesse is really your child, what do you plan to do? Immediately take her and Jean back to the Holden family? Aren’t you afraid of sending Uncle Holden straight to the hospital?"

"Don’t forget, Jean Ellison came out of prison—that’s a hard fact that can’t be changed."

Justin Holden’s eyes darkened, but his tone showed no wavering.

"I know, but if she’s Claire and Jesse is my daughter, nothing else matters to me."

"I don’t need anything from the Holden family. I can take care of them."

Samual Pryce looked at the rare stubbornness and a hint of hope in his friend’s eyes, sighed, and patted his shoulder.

"Justin, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Don’t say too much until the final result is out."

Justin Holden didn’t refute, but the light in his eyes hadn’t dimmed.

He used connections and a large sum of money, paying as much as a hundred thousand for the expedited test, demanding the testing center to provide an accurate report as soon as possible. The waiting time felt particularly long.

A few hours later, the notification sound of a new email rang again.

Justin Holden almost immediately opened the email.

His eyes quickly scanned the report conclusion section.

The color in his face drained visibly, and his fingers holding the mouse clenched suddenly, knuckles turning white.

The report showed: it does not support that Justin Holden is Jesse Ellison’s biological father.

Time seemed to slow down, almost coming to a standstill.

At that moment, the office door was knocked, and an intern lawyer cautiously walked in holding a stack of files.

"Lawyer Holden, here’s what you needed..."

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Justin Holden waved his hand abruptly, the motion large enough to accidentally knock over the cup of cold coffee he hadn’t finished on the corner of the table.

The dark brown liquid instantly splashed out, soaking the files the intern lawyer handed over and wetting Justin Holden’s sleeve and desk.

"Out!"

Justin Holden’s voice was low and hoarse, tinged with anger.

The intern lawyer paled in fear, repeatedly apologizing, and hurriedly retreated.

Samual Pryce heard the commotion outside, soothed the nearly-crying intern lawyer for a few words, telling her to take a few days off and rest at home.

He pushed open Justin Holden’s office door.

He saw Justin Holden standing behind the desk, back facing the door, looking out the window.

His back was stiff, emanating an intimidating aura; the desk was a mess with coffee stains and wet files.

Samual Pryce didn’t need to ask; just by seeing this scene and the report copy casually thrown on the desk, he guessed the result.

He sighed, walked forward, trying to ease the atmosphere.

"Justin, let it go."

"If you can’t be the biological dad, you can still be the stepdad. No need to—"

"Get out."

Justin Holden didn’t lift his eyes to look at him, his voice icy.

Samual Pryce knew that anything he said now was unnecessary. He shook his head and quietly exited the office, gently closing the door.