CHAPTER 102 – THE MAN IN THE IVORY SUITThe man’s voice came from behind her, smooth but commanding—like someone used to being listened to, not questioned.“Well, well,” he drawled, his tone heavy with arrogance. “If it isn’t one of the Arizona daughters. You people always know how to make an entrance.”Joyce turned slowly, frown already forming. The man before her was dressed in a fitted ivory suit, the kind that dared attention. His posture screamed confidence—shoulders relaxed, chin slightly lifted, eyes glinting with a kind of lazy superiority. He didn’t look at her like a person. He looked at her like property.“Excuse me?” Joyce asked flatly.He smiled, slow and smug. “No need to look so defensive. I was only complimenting you.” His gaze swept over her gown, uninvited. “You clean up better than I expected.”Her spine stiffened. “You expected something?”“Of course,” he said, unfazed. “I know your family. Everyone does. Arizona Investments practically bleeds through this city. Yo

CHAPTER 104 – THE SCANDALThe room froze for half a heartbeat.A few heads turned, curious eyes darting toward the table where the Arizona sisters sat locked in silence. Joyce’s voice still hung in the air — soft but sharp enough to cut glass. No, bitch, it’s mine.Lola’s lips parted in disbelief. Her smile faltered for the first time all evening. “What did you just say?”Joyce didn’t move. She just stared up at her sister, her hand still resting on the velvet box between them. The tension in her shoulders trembled like a pulled wire.“You heard me,” Joyce said quietly. “Let go.”A ripple of whispers began to rise around them — subtle at first, like the sound of silk rustling. Guests pretending not to watch, eyes glancing sideways over the rims of champagne glasses.Lola leaned closer, her expression changing from shock to fury. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” she hissed under her breath. “Let go of it before people start talking.”“They already are,” Joyce said, her tone colder now.

CHAPTER 106 – THE PICKUPKelvin’s day had been slow, heavy in a way he couldn’t quite shake off.He spent the morning buried in work — or at least pretending to. The emails were the same, the calls just noise in the background. He replied to messages without reading half of them. The coffee on his desk went cold twice. It was easier to stay busy than to think about how quiet the house had become lately.Sometimes he could almost hear the echo of Mia’s laughter in the hall, or the faint sound of cartoons still running from the night before. But when he looked up, there was nothing. Just silence. The kind that stretched too far and too long.By two thirty, he was already in his car. Picking Mia up was the only part of his day that still felt like something worth looking forward to. He liked the moment she spotted him through the gate — that burst of energy, that little wave that made everything else fade away. She’d run toward him with her backpack half open, one shoe untied, eyes brigh

CHAPTER 108 – TAKE HIM AWAYThe room went still.Kelvin’s heartbeat kicked loud against his ribs as Diana’s words hung in the air like smoke. This is her home now. It echoed in his head, warping everything else—the lights, the furniture, even the air between them. He didn’t move. He didn’t blink. He just stared at her, stunned, like she’d slapped him with something heavier than her voice.“Diana,” he said finally, his voice low, warning, tired. “Don’t play games with me.”“Who’s playing?” she shot back, stepping closer. Her chin angled up, her eyes sharp as glass. “I’m telling you the truth. She’s staying here.”Kelvin took a slow breath, tried to anchor himself. “You don’t get to decide that on your own. She has a home with me.”“And she has a home with me,” Diana snapped. “But unlike you, I’m actually giving her stability.”Kelvin’s jaw flexed. “Stability? You took her from school without telling me—”“I took my daughter,” she cut in. “Not a stranger’s child. Mine.”Mia looked betwe

CHAPTER 110 – THE BLACK BLOODLINEThe door opened so slowly it was almost theatrical—like something out of a crime movie where trouble didn’t knock, it just walked in wearing expensive shoes and a face full of secrets.Kelvin’s breath hitched.Four men stepped out.Not rushed.Not startled.Not confused.No—these men moved like they owned the ground they walked on.The first one was familiar, painfully familiar—broad shoulders, scar on his jaw, the kind of presence that made your instincts rise before your mind even caught up.Patrick.Kelvin’s jaw clenched. If rage had a face, it would look like his right now. Patrick. The same Patrick who sent men to beat him up—until he saw the birthmark on Kelvin’s chest and suddenly changed his mind. The memory hit like a punch he never fully recovered from.Behind Patrick, two other men emerged—both tall, both built like human refrigerators with legs. They had that “bouncer energy,” the type who didn’t need to talk to prove a point. One glance a