Chapter 4The Counterfeit Mom

The moment those words left my mouth, Vanessa burst into laughter.

She laughed so hard tears practically formed in the corners of her eyes.

"A deepfake?"

"Are you actually psychotic? Ethan Sterling just looked you in the eye and told you he doesn't know you, and your excuse is that the video is fake?"

The surrounding parents joined in the mocking laughter.

"Getting caught red-handed and immediately blaming AI. That's hilarious."

"If Mr. Sterling knew some crazy stalker was using his name like this, he'd probably be sick to his stomach."

My mom's face was as white as a sheet of paper.

I squeezed her hand harder.

"Mom. Look at me."

She turned her head, her eyes brimming with terrified tears.

I enunciated every single word with absolute certainty. "It is fake."

Vanessa scoffed aggressively. "You say it's fake, so it's fake?"

I raised my hand and pointed directly at the phone screen.

"First of all, my father has never, in my entire life, called me 'Mia Sterling.' He only calls me 'Mimi.'"

"Second, he has been married to my mother for twenty-six years. Even when they are in the middle of a screaming match, he has never, ever looked at her with that kind of disgust."

"Third."

I stared at the stiff, unnatural face on the screen and let out a dark, mocking laugh.

"When he speaks, the audio sync is delayed by half a second."

"His eyes aren't focusing on anything in the camera."

"And the reflections of the streetlights outside the car window haven't moved a single inch in over thirty seconds."

"You used a cheap, amateur AI deepfake program, and you actually had the absolute audacity to stand outside a Sterling Corporation school and pretend to be Ethan Sterling?"

Vanessa's expression froze for a microsecond.

But she immediately straightened her spine, refusing to back down.

"What the hell do you know?! My husband is overseas closing a massive acquisition! The cellular signal is terrible, obviously there's lag!"

"You're just throwing a tantrum because you lost!"

She turned back to the phone, ramping up the whining. "Baby, did you hear that?! They're actually trying to say you aren't real!"

The "Ethan Sterling" on the screen froze completely for two full seconds.

Like a buffering video game NPC.

And then, in a perfectly flat, robotic monotone, he repeated: "Please ask them to leave."

My smile widened into a terrifying grin.

"Did you see that? Even the AI responses are pre-scripted macros."

Principal Vance's expression shifted nervously.

But she absolutely refused to admit she had been played.

"Ms. Sterling, even if you harbor paranoid suspicions regarding the video feed, it does not legally prove that your claims regarding the child's identity are valid."

"Then open the backend server right now and check the audit logs."

"I already told you. You do not have the security clearance."

"I absolutely do."

I ignored her completely. I grabbed my mom's phone from her purse and opened a completely black, unmarked app icon she never used.

The Sterling Family Enterprise Protocol.

My mom usually only used it to check which luxury condo my dad had just bought her, or to track the shipping status of a custom Birkin bag.

She had absolutely no idea that this specific app was hard-coded with supreme, overriding administrative authority over the Sterling family's residential estates, corporate vehicle fleets, private academies, medical facilities, and trust funds.

I handed the phone to her.

"Mom. Face ID."

She stared at me, completely bewildered.

"I... I don't know how to use this."

"I'll show you."

Her fingers were shaking violently, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

But she did exactly as I asked.

The biometric scan was successful.

A massive, red notification dominated the screen:Supreme Family Protocol Clearance: Chloe Sterling.Initiate Emergency Lockdown & Audit Protocol?

My mom looked up at me.

I nodded.

She bit her lip, and pressed Confirm.

The very next second, the electronic security gates of Oakmont Elite Academy let out a sharp, piercing alarm siren.

The massive steel gates slammed shut and magnetically locked.

The entire backend database was instantly frozen and encrypted.

Every single pickup log, attendance record, administrative modification log, and CCTV video file was simultaneously uploaded directly to the Sterling Corporate Legal Division's encrypted cloud servers.

Principal Vance's face instantly turned chalk-white.

Ms. Davis panicked. "Principal Vance! What's happening?!"

I held the phone screen up directly in front of their faces.

"Look very closely."

"This is what actual, unrestricted security clearance looks like."

Vanessa still tried to act tough.

"Who knows what kind of fake, hacking app you just downloaded!"

Before the words even finished leaving her mouth, the screech of aggressive braking echoed from the street.

Three massive, black, armored SUVs slammed into park along the curb.

The doors flew open.

Teams of Sterling Corporate lawyers, private security contractors, and cybersecurity engineers rapidly swarmed out of the vehicles.

From the very last SUV, a man stepped out.

He was wearing a dark, tailored overcoat. His eyes were lethal and freezing cold.

He practically sprinted toward us.

When he saw the bright red handprint blazing across my mom's cheek, his entire body went rigidly, terrifyingly still.

"Chloe."

The second my mom heard his voice, the tears she had been fighting back broke completely.

"Ethan..."

My dad, Ethan Sterling, pulled her tightly into his chest. His voice was so cold it could freeze hell over.

"Who hit you?"