Arthur felt his stomach drop as he stared at the quiet maid across his desk.
Arthur: What crazy nonsense are you trying to tell me right now, Elena?
Elena: I am telling you the absolute truth about your real family, Mr. Verruchi.
Arthur gripped the edge of his mahogany desk tightly to steady his shaking hands.
Arthur: My wife died in childbirth, and Nico is the son she gave me.
Elena: Nico is a wonderful child, but he was brought to you by someone else.
Arthur took a deep breath, trying hard to control the rising anger inside his heart.
Arthur: Who paid you to come into my home and say these terrible things?
Elena: Nobody paid me, sir, I searched for you for three long years on my own.
Elena gently placed the sleeping child down onto the soft leather couch nearby.
She reached into her uniform pocket and pulled out an old folded white paper document.
She laid the paper flat onto Arthur's clean desk right in front of his face.
Elena: Read the official adoption and transfer numbers on that lower line, sir.
Arthur looked down at the faded black ink printed clearly across the official form.
He recognized his rich uncle's familiar personal signature at the bottom of the page.
Arthur: Why is my uncle's signature on a clinic transfer document from that night?
Elena: Your uncle changed the baby records to protect his own massive business inheritance.
Arthur felt a cold sweat break out across his forehead as he read every word.
His uncle had always been a stern, controlling man who hated poor family members.
When Arthur married a simple local girl, his uncle had been extremely angry with him.
Arthur: Did my uncle take my real child away from the clinic back then?
Elena: He paid the clinic director a massive sum of money to hide the real baby.
Arthur slammed his hand down on the desk, making the brass lamp shake slightly.
Arthur: Where is my biological child right now, Elena?
Elena: She is living with a humble foster family just two miles from this house.