Chapter 2 - THE MEDICAL FILE THAT DESTROYED HIS LIE
I had spent two years believing my body had betrayed me.
Now my former doctor was standing in front of three hundred guests, telling me someone had deliberately manipulated my medical history.
I stared at the envelope.
"What are you saying?"
Dr. Carter glanced nervously toward the audience.
"Not here."
Julian was already walking toward us.
"What's going on?"
His voice carried the smooth authority that once made people obey him without question.
Dr. Carter stiffened.
"Mr. Duval."
Julian's gaze moved to the envelope.
"That information is private."
I looked at him.
"Then why do you look terrified?"
He didn't answer.
Gabriel stepped beside me.
"Khloe, we can discuss this somewhere quiet."
I nodded.
For once, I didn't need to win an argument in front of an audience.
I needed the truth.
We entered a private conference room behind the ballroom.
Dr. Carter closed the door.
Then she placed several documents on the table.
"Before I explain, I owe you an apology."
My chest tightened.
"For what?"
"Three years ago, your medical results were altered."
The words seemed to hang in the air.
I stared at her.
"Altered?"
She nodded.
"Your fertility evaluations showed no definitive condition that would prevent you from becoming pregnant naturally."
I gripped the back of a chair.
"That's not what you told me."
"I know."
"You said I had a severe reproductive disorder."
Tears filled her eyes.
"The records you were given weren't the original reports."
My knees weakened.
Gabriel gently pulled out a chair.
I sat.
For years, Julian had used those supposed results against me.
Every argument ended the same way.
He'd remind me that I couldn't give him the family he wanted.
Eventually, I started believing I wasn't enough.
"Why would anyone do this?" I whispered.
Dr. Carter swallowed.
"Someone wanted you to believe you were infertile."
"Who?"
She hesitated.
Then opened the final page.
A financial transaction.
A payment to a private consulting company connected to the clinic's former administrator.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
My stomach dropped.
The payment had come from Duval Holdings.
Julian's company.
I looked up.
"No."
Dr. Carter lowered her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
For a moment, everything went silent.
Then I remembered the night Julian told me our marriage had become impossible.
He'd stood in our bedroom with his suitcase.
He'd said, I can't spend my life waiting for something you'll never give me.
I had begged him to stay.
He'd looked at me with pity.
Now I understood.
That pity had been rehearsed.
Gabriel crouched beside my chair.
"Khloe, look at me."
I couldn't.
I was staring at the signature authorizing the payment.
Julian Duval.
My former husband.
The man who had publicly blamed me for our childless marriage had secretly financed the lie.
But Dr. Carter wasn't finished.
"There's one more thing."
I looked up.
"What?"
She hesitated.
"Someone else knew about the altered records."
My throat tightened.
"Who?"
Dr. Carter turned another page.
There was a second signature.
Dalia Fontaine.
May you like
And beneath it was a handwritten instruction.
Make sure Khloe never discovers the truth before the divorce is final.
