CHAPTER 76: BEHIND THE LINCOLM NAME

The night was quiet in Rome’s dimly lit room.

Papers were neatly stacked on his desk, but his attention wasn’t on them. Instead, his hands lingered over a frame that held a child’s drawing.

"Wow, with the way you keep wiping that picture frame, it’s going to break soon. Haha."

Gio teased from the other end of the line during their video call.

Rome, however, acted as if he hadn’t heard him at all.

After carefully fixing the frame that held the drawing Egypt had given him—what he considered the very first family picture the twins had ever made—he reached for another small treasure. Right beside it, he adjusted the candy Egypt had slipped into his hand earlier that day, its wrapper carrying the simple word thank you.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he remembered the twins’ bright, innocent faces.

How he wished the hours would pass more quickly, just so he could see those tender, heart-melting smiles again.

"Wow, look at him," Gio continued with exaggerated disbelief. "It’s like he didn’t hear anything at all."

"Hellooo, Mr. Hariston~~ Did you forget I have very important information to share with you? Just how valuable are those things you’re staring at that you can’t even spare me a glance? The information in my hand is starting to feel jealous, you know..."

Rome finally let out a sharp sigh, his jaw tightening as his expression darkened.

"Make it quick and make sure the information is worth my time. Otherwise, I’ll cut down the payment you’re expecting."

"Oh, come on," Gio replied with a confident grin. "I assure you, with this information, you’ll thank me later. No one else could have dug this up in just two days—only me."

From his side of the screen, he proudly pulled a set of documents from an envelope, holding them up so Rome could see.

For the first time in a long while, Rome felt an unfamiliar weight pressing down on his chest. Normally, no amount of new information could ever rattle him.

But this time was different.

"Ehem... are you ready, Mr. Hariston?"

Rome didn’t answer. He only stared coldly at Gio, whose entire face was hidden in the darkness of his background.

"Hmm, seems like you’re nervous, huh?"

Gio chuckled lightly before opening the envelope in his hands. He began to read the contents aloud.

"Egypt Lincolm and Paris Lincolm—twins, five years old, turning six next week. Born on May 16, 2020. Their mother’s name is Sylvia. Their father’s name? Unknown. For the past five years, not a single man has stepped forward as the father of these children. That means the man who got Sylvia pregnant remains unidentified. She has been raising the twins alone all this time as a single mother."

Rome didn’t realize it, but his hand had curled into a tight fist.

His chest tightened in a way he couldn’t explain, as if his heart was being squeezed with every word. Was it pity for Sylvia? Or something else?

"The only relationship Sylvia ever had before she got pregnant... was with you, Rome Hariston. However, based on your claim that she had been cheating on you with your brother, Daniel Greece, that also makes him a possible candidate for being the father of these children."

Gio smirked and reached for another envelope, pulling something out.

"That’s why I got this. You know, it wasn’t easy getting DNA samples from you and the twins... but I discovered something even more interesting. You and Daniel may be twins, but you have different blood types. You’re AB+, while Daniel is AB-. And you know what’s even more interesting?"

Rome’s brows furrowed as Gio’s grin widened.

Even with the dim background behind Gio, he could clearly see the lower half of Gio’s face and the way his lips curved into that irritating smirk.

"Are you curious?" Gio teased.

"Tsk. Of course! Just say it already..." Rome snapped, his patience already wearing thin.

"Hehe, before that, I need a down payment first. You know how hard it was for me to dig up this kind of information—"

"Tsk, you talk too much. Just name your price. I can pay you. Just spit it out already before I report you to the international groups hunting you down."

"H-haha... chill. Fine, I’ll say it now."

Gio leaned forward, his grin sharpening.

"What I’m saying is... I also discovered that Sylvia has a rare blood type. Just like you. She’s also AB positive. That makes the two of you a really perfect match."

Rome’s frown deepened, a flicker of unease flashing in his eyes.

"S-so what you’re trying to say is...?"

His voice faltered, though he already had an unsettling idea of where Gio’s words were heading.

"Haha, simple." Gio’s tone dropped, his grin now almost sinister. "I just happened to find out the blood type of the twins. And guess what—it matches yours and Sylvia’s. Meaning, there’s a huge chance... they’re your children."

"W-what...?"

Rome froze. He didn’t know how many seconds passed as the weight of Gio’s words crashed into him.

His brows knit tighter, his chest pounding so violently it almost hurt.

Deep down, he was waiting—hoping—for Gio to laugh it off, to say it was just a prank or a cruel joke.

But that moment never came.

"W-why... h-how can you say there’s a chance they might be my children just because of a blood type?"

Rome couldn’t help the tremor in his voice.

"Haha, you must still be in shock, Mr. Hariston," Gio replied calmly.

"Blood type is something inherited directly from the parents. And in your and Greece’s case, he has AB– blood, a very rare condition where identical twins like you and him end up with different blood types. That rare condition actually works in your favor at this point. Do you know what it means? It means he carries both the A and B markers, but more importantly, he carries only the negative Rh trait..."

"Unlike those with AB+, he doesn’t have even a trace of the positive factor in his blood. Because of that, every child he could ever father would inherit that negative Rh and turn out negative as well. There’s absolutely no way he could ever have children with a positive blood type. Do you get it now?"

"H-haha..."

Rome let out a dry, nervous laugh and rubbed his face with both hands.

So if there’s a higher chance that he’s the father of the twins... then the longing, the ache, the strange pull he feels toward them... it’s probably blood calling to blood.

"So, what now, Mr. Hariston?" Gio leaned back, his voice dropping into a more serious tone. "I’ve already told you what you needed to hear. The only thing left to truly prove they’re your children is a DNA test. Until then, you’ll just be stuck with questions."

Rome fell silent, his chest tightening. If the twins were really his daughters... how could Sylvia have hidden them from him?

Does she really hate him that much—to the point she would keep this from him?

A long silence settled between them.

"Oh—and there’s something else I discovered."

Gio’s voice suddenly shifted into an even more serious tone.

"Sylvia Lincolm," Gio said slowly. "That surname... doesn’t it sound familiar to you?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Rome asked, still struggling to process the revelations Gio had already thrown at him.

"Haist." Gio sighed.

"What I’m saying is... has it never crossed your mind, even once, that Sylvia might not have been an orphan all along? Because the Sylvia you know—the one who grew up with nothing, who had no parents, who couldn’t even finish her education—that might not be the whole truth."

Rome’s brows knitted tighter. "No. The first time I met her was back in college. She was just a poor girl working two part-time jobs to survive..."

But his words faltered when he suddenly caught sight of the sly smile tugging at the corner of Gio’s lips.

"Why? What about her? Is there something I should know?"

"Yes. Because Sylvia—the woman you think is just a poor orphan and the mother of the twins who might even be yours—is hiding a secret from you. For example, she’s not the poor woman you thought you met in college and fell in love with..."

"Wait, wait. I don’t get where this conversation is going. Can you just tell me what’s so special about her that makes you grin like that?"

Rome was starting to get irritated. He still hadn’t recovered from the shock of discovering that Sylvia had hidden the twins from him—twins who could very well be his daughters. And now this?

"Haha, okay, I’ll tell you. But first—don’t tell me the surname Lincolm doesn’t ring a bell?"

"Lincolm? What about it? It’s not like I have to know everything about that name... unless she’s somehow connected to Lloyd Lincolm, which would make you—"

Rome stopped mid-sentence as realization dawned on him. His eyes locked onto the widening grin on Gio’s face.

"Bingo. Now you remember the Lincolm family."

"W-what do you mean?"

Rome’s face went pale as the truth began to sink in.

"Based on the information I gathered about Sylvia... she’s not just an ordinary woman like you’ve always thought."

"She’s one of the heiresses of the Lincolm family—the billionaire dynasty that owns the largest pharmaceutical corporation in Europe. And what’s more, I finally figured out why it was so hard to trace anything about the twins or where they were born. Turns out, Sylvia gave birth to them in Europe, and only came back here for reasons I still don’t know..."

"Maybe she was running away from her family... or something else. But one thing’s for sure—her family is now looking for her. So good luck trying to win her back, because it looks like you won’t just be dealing with Greece anymore... but also with Sylvia’s powerful family."