ABANDONED WITH TRIPLETS: CLAIMED BY THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE

Four weeks after the gala, Ethan Mercer’s life had completely unraveled.

Evicted from his luxury penthouse, blacklisted from every venture firm in North America, and facing imminent prison time, he sat in a squalid motel room outside Newark, drinking cheap whiskey straight from the bottle.

Sabrina kicked the bathroom door open, holding her smartphone, her face twisted in hysteria. "The talent agency dropped me, Ethan! Every brand deal has been canceled because of that video of Claire slapping me going viral! We are ruined!"

Ethan’s bloodshot eyes flared with madness. "We still have one card left."

"What card?! You have no money!"

"The children," Ethan hissed, slamming the bottle onto the rickety table. "Under New York family law, I am still their legal father on the birth certificate. If I file an emergency motion for sole custody, claiming Claire is an unfit mother living in a scandalous arrangement with Sterling, the court will freeze her access to the trust!"

Sabrina’s eyes gleamed with wicked greed. "A custody battle... Sterling’s PR team will do anything to keep his name out of family court scandals. He'll pay tens of millions to make it go away!"

"Exactly," Ethan sneered. "We hit them through the tabloids first. Tomorrow morning, the world will hear that Claire Hayes is an unstable gold-digger who alienated her children from their biological father."

The next morning, sensational headlines flooded the internet:

“BILLIONAIRE’S MISTRESS? ETHAN MERCER FIGHTS FOR HIS TRIPLETS AGAINST TYCOON NICHOLAS STERLING!”

I stared at the tablet screen in Nicholas's private study, my hands trembling with rage. "He’s trying to take my babies. After leaving them to die on a bus, he has the audacity to claim he wants to be their father?!"

Nicholas sat behind his mahogany desk, completely calm. He took a sip of black espresso and dialed a number on speakerphone.

"Marcus," Nicholas said coldly. "Execute Phase Four."

"Right away, Mr. Sterling," his lead investigator replied.

Within two hours, a massive counter-offensive wiped Ethan’s smear campaign off the internet. Sterling Enterprises released the timestamped security footage from Ethan’s corporate office: Ethan signing the eviction papers while laughing about Claire's pregnancy, the recorded phone call where he explicitly ordered his assistant to cancel her medical insurance during labor, and the hotel surveillance footage showing Ethan and Sabrina in Beverly Hills while the emergency C-section was taking place.

The public reaction was swift, brutal, and unforgiving.

Protests formed outside Sabrina’s talent agency. Sponsors demanded full refunds. And at 2:00 PM, the Manhattan Family Court issued an emergency, permanent termination of Ethan Mercer's parental rights on grounds of extreme child endangerment and abandonment.