2025-08-03 11:38:09
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Chapter 27: Old Scares in New Light
"Ava.”Her name from his lips was both a command and a warning. He wasn’t going to let it go. He never did when he thought she was hiding something dangerous.She turned from the window at last, and for a moment, the room felt too small for the two of them. Liam stood with his hands braced on the counter’s edge, eyes sharp, but there was something else there too — worry. The kind of worry that made her want to look anywhere but at him.“It’s not just her,” Ava said finally. “It’s what comes with her. The kind of trouble that makes even you look over your shoulder.”“I’ve faced worse.”She let out a humorless laugh. “You’ve faced enemies who wanted to win. Delilah doesn’t just want to win — she wants me gone. Erased. There’s a difference.”His jaw tightened. “What did she do to you?”A thousand images clawed up from the dark — the auction room, Julian Vale’s cold smile, Delilah’s whispered advice that wasn’t advice at all but the first nudge toward ruin. The night she’d realized her si
Chapter 26: The Shattered Point
The sky over Manhattan bled into the color of molten gold, the kind that came only for a few minutes before the city decided night had won. From the floor-to-ceiling glass of the penthouse, Ava could see the Hudson glittering like a restless vein of light, but it did nothing to steady her.She was flustered. Restless. Uncertain and frightened. She had been pacing for the last hour. A long, measured line across the living room’s marble floor, turn, repeat. The click of her heels was the only sound besides the faint hum of the air conditioning. She wasn’t even aware she was holding her phone so tightly until the screen went black from inactivity, reflecting her own frown back at her.She didn't know why but she expected it to ring at anytime or at least to get the message alert tone, showing she had a new message. It would come, she was sure of it. The woman she saw with Tekena today, would not sit still. She would definitely make a move. It should have been just another press event.
Chapter 25: The Storm at His Door
It happened just after 7 a.m.Liam’s phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. He ignored the first two calls from Voss, assuming it was about an overnight market shift or a hostile board member making noise. The third call made him frown. By the fourth, he picked up.“They leaked it,” Voss said without preamble.Liam’s grip tightened on the phone. “Leaked what?”“The boy. You. Boston.”Ice spread through his spine. “Where?”“Everywhere. Takeda’s media arm packaged it into a headline: The Child Ava Langston Hid From the Empire.”“That’s a lie,” Liam said sharply.“I know,” Voss replied. “But they buried the truth under something better — headlines, sentiment, outrage. Social feeds are flooding with it. News anchors are dissecting your morality over morning coffee.”Liam didn’t bother pulling up the articles. He could already hear the crowd outside his building from the top floor — the chaos of press cameras, shouted questions, and the shrill click of shutters.From the street, voices rose like a
Chapter 24: His Eyes, My Ghosts
The Boston air had a different kind of bite than New York’s — cleaner, colder, sharper. The kind that seeped into your lungs and made you feel like you’d been stripped bare.Liam Hawthorne stood across the street from the quiet brownstone, hands in his coat pockets, watching the upper windows for signs of movement. He had been here for nearly an hour, watching life pass — a mailman making his rounds, a jogger with headphones, a neighbor scraping frost from a car windshield.No security. No cameras. No guards. Just the occasional sound of a child’s laugh drifting faintly from inside.When he finally crossed the street and climbed the steps, he wasn’t sure if his hands were cold from the air or from something deeper — nerves he wasn’t used to admitting to himself.He knocked.The door opened to a woman with tired eyes and a softness to her face that spoke of years spent choosing peace over confrontation. She was maybe thirty, her auburn hair pulled back loosely, wearing an oversized swe
Chapter 23 : The Blood They Took
Ava poured over the background check Liam had commissioned. The child’s name was Cassian Rhys. Aged seven. Born in Prague. No known father listed on any official records. The mother’s name? Nina Vargo.The file was thin. Too thin.“She’s scrubbed herself,” Ava muttered, tapping the screen. “No job history. No taxes filed under her name. Not even a registered address the last five years.”“She’s not hiding from the government,” Liam said quietly. “She’s hiding from me.”A long silence stretched between them.Ava’s fingers hovered over the screen. “This boy… Cassian. Are you absolutely sure?”Liam nodded, jaw clenched. “He has my eyes.”They had both seen the resemblance instantly. Not just in his features, but in the restless defiance captured in the single polaroid. It was the look of someone who’d already lost too much to believe in comfort.“He’s been raised without you,” Ava said, her voice low. “And now she wants you to know he exists. Why now?”That question had haunted Liam sinc
Chapter 22: Eight Years Ago
Flashback: Eight Years AgoThe city had been colder then — or maybe just lonelier. Liam was fresh off a broken engagement. His girlfriend at that time had left him for a richer guy and that nearly ruined him.He had come back to the little apartment they shared. There had been a promising response to his application. He had been invited for an interview and he was so happy, he wanted to share the good news with Rose. Thank goodness she was already home when he got there. He knew because the key was not where they usually kept it, under the doormat. He pushed open the door which was fortunately not locked and was about to shout her name in his uncontrollable joy when something on the floor drew his eyes and her name froze on his lips. On the floor was a line up of clothes, carelessly thrown or dropped. He followed the trail the caresskessly thrown clothes laid. First were her shoes, then panties. He picked up an item of clothing that he had not seen before. It was a short. A make sh
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