Logan stood frozen, staring at Charlotte as though she had just spoken a language he’d never heard before. The revelation that Barbara—Barbara, the woman he had known for years as Charlotte’s mother—was not actually her biological mother, struck him like a physical blow.He felt his heartbeat hammering in his chest. Of all the things he had expected when he confronted Charlotte about the mysterious woman in the video, this was the last possibility that had ever crossed his mind.“What did you just say?” Logan asked, his voice low, almost strained. “Barbara… is not your mother?”Charlotte swallowed hard. Her hands trembled slightly as she wiped her eyes. “Yes, Logan. Barbara is not… my biological mother. I just found out.”Logan felt something twist inside him—shock, confusion, and a sharp sting of betrayal. “Charlotte,” he said, shaking his head slowly, “how could you keep something like this from me? How could you not tell me something so important? All these years, you let me be

For a moment, Logan couldn’t breathe. The words he had just heard hung in the air like a weight pressing down on his chest. His body went still and his breath caught somewhere between disbelief and raw urgency. He swallowed hard, forcing his voice to stay steady even though a storm of emotions surged beneath the surface.“Send me the address,” he ordered, his tone clipped and controlled despite the pounding in his heart.Within seconds, his phone vibrated. A message appeared: a set of coordinates, a street name, and a picture of a medium-sized house. Logan stared at the screen for a brief moment, committing every detail to memory before his resolve hardened. There was no time to lose—not when Charlotte’s entire world was about to change.He grabbed his keys and strode inside, his steps quick and deliberate. He found Charlotte pacing in the living room, her fingers twisted together so tightly her knuckles had turned white. She was trying to stay calm, but anxiety clung to her li

The woman’s words—“the devil fashioned against me has finally shown up in person”—hung in the air like a blade suspended between them, sharp and damning. For a moment, it felt as though the entire world stopped breathing. The street, the wind, even the faint noise from passing cars seemed to fade beneath the weight of her accusation.Charlotte froze. Her breath caught halfway in her throat, trapped painfully as though an unseen hand had reached into her chest and squeezed her lungs shut. Logan, who had been standing just half a step behind her, stiffened as well. His jaw tightened, and the surprise on his face was unmistakable. He had prepared himself for anger, suspicion, even fear—but not this. Not a declaration of hostility before they had even explained themselves.Nothing could have prepared them for this reaction.After all the sleepless nights, the frantic searching, the emotional whiplash and confusion, Charlotte had allowed herself a sliver of hope. She expected—hoped fo

On the other end, a sharp, surprised hiss broke through the line. “Is that… really true?” The voice carried a mixture of disbelief and curiosity, but beneath it, Charlotte would have recognized the unmistakable undercurrent of control, the sly satisfaction that came with knowing someone was caught off guard.Selena’s lips curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smirk, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She leaned back in her chair, letting herself savor the small, private victory. “Yes,” she said, her voice steady, tinged with quiet satisfaction. “She came here thinking she could reach me, thinking we could suddenly be sisters again. She doesn’t know me, she doesn’t understand me, and yet she believes she can just walk into my life.”For a long moment, silence crackled across the line, thick and tense. Then, a soft chuckle drifted through the receiver—low, controlled, almost predatory in tone. “I’ve been waiting for this day. I knew she’d find you eventually, but seeing it h

The morning at Elysian Bloom was crisp, the sunlight filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows in golden streaks, illuminating the sleek modern interior. The air smelled faintly of polished wood and fresh coffee, blending with the subtle scent of the plants that dotted the office. Charlotte had always found mornings like this invigorating—a sense of quiet productivity, the promise of a day where anything could happen. Yet, today, the usual calm was interwoven with a thread of anticipation that made her pulse quicken.Charlotte sat at her desk, surrounded by neatly stacked reports and open notebooks, her laptop humming quietly. Her fingers tapped rhythmically against the surface of her desk as she reviewed projections, quarterly reports, and updates from her team, but her mind was only partially on the work. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the conversation she had shared with Selena the day before. Even now, recalling the smooth, measured tone of her sister’s voice made Ch