2025-08-03 00:04:08
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Chapter Twenty Three
“I’ve got a lead,” Nathan said. “A witness.”Her gaze returned to him. “Then use it but tread carefully. Liam is winning the family hearts while you’re busy defending your name. That’s a hard balance to shift.”“I don’t need their hearts,” he said. “Just the truth.”Marjorie smiled, just faintly. “You’ll need both.”She turned then, walking away before anything more could be said.Nathan stepped back toward the family table, and all eyes were on him.Liam moved quickly to the center of the room,“I think it’s time everyone here understood the truth about Nathan,” Liam announced.He held up a letter high. “These prove that he has been disloyal, that he has worked against the family’s interests.”“This is not the man who deserves the Hayes name,” Liam said, his tone triumphant.Nathan’s heart sank. What letter could this be?, he caught the looks of suspicion and doubt on faces he thought were now on his side.Cassandra stood close by, looking pale and tense. Liam had trapped her with his
Chapter Twenty Two
He passed them over.Marjorie took her time flipping through each forged page, her brow furrowed and her thumb paused on a sentence or signature."This isn’t Nathan’s tone," she said at last. "It reads like someone mimicking him, not someone speaking freely.""You're defending him now?" Mr. Hayes asked sharply. "When he’s done nothing but shame this family?"Marjorie looked up slowly. "I said I find the tone suspicious. That is not the same as defending him."Liam spoke again, more smoothly this time. "Of course it’s hard to accept. But feelings aside, we need to consider facts. His letter may be real, but so are these. Both sides have things to answer for."Nathan's stomach turned. Liam had a way of changing the truth, bending it until it barely made any sense.He turned again to Cassandra. "Tell them you’re being threatened. Tell them why you said those letters look real."Her lips parted slightly and her eyes glistened but her words didn’t come.Liam leaned back in his chair, laugh
Chapter Twenty One
The meeting took place at a private club, and Nathan had barely sat down when the whole room went quiet.Liam sat across from him, looking like someone who already knew how everything was going to play out.Marjorie cleared her throat and placed her clutch on the table, giving it a tap that let everyone know things were about to begin. Cassandra sat on Nathan’s left, tense and quiet, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her eyes fixed on nothing in particular. One by one, the rest of the family settled into their seats. Nathan stood up. He tried to stay calm as he noticed the way Cassandra refused to meet his eyes. From inside his jacket, he carefully pulled out a single sheet of paper, holding it like it might fall apart if he wasn’t careful."This," he began, his voice calm but firm, "is a letter Liam wrote to Cassandra. In it, he threatened to expose her personal matters to the press if she didn’t cut ties with me and toe his line."Liam smiled, looking completely calm. There wa
Chapter Twenty
Before Nathan could answer, there was a knock on his door.Cassandra jumped.Nathan opened the door halfway, aunt Marjorie stood outside, she glanced at Cassandra, then at Nathan, frowning.“Is everything alright?” she asked.Cassandra didn’t meet aunt Marjorie’s eyes.Marjorie’s frown grew. “I saw Liam talking to you earlier. It didn’t look friendly.”Nathan stepped aside. “You should ask her what he said.”Marjorie turned to Cassandra. “What did he say?”Cassandra hesitated. “He told me to stay away from Nathan. Said I was making a fool of myself.”Marjorie’s lips pressed into a line. “Why would he say that?”“I think he’s afraid of what I might tell,” Cassandra said softly.Something changed in Marjorie’s eyes, too quick to fully understand. She looked at Nathan. “I won’t jump to conclusions—not without proof. But… thank you for not pushing things.”With that, she turned and left, her heels clicking down the hallway.Cassandra looked shaken. “I have to go. If he finds out…”Nathan
Chapter Nineteen
Cassandra’s hands trembled. “I tried. I thought—if they knew...”“You did the right thing,” Nathan said.“Did I?” she asked. “They’re still protecting him.”“Not all of them,” Emma said. “Some of them are listening. They just don’t know what to believe yet.”Cassandra turned to leave. “I need air.”Nathan didn’t stop her. He couldn’t blame her. He looked to Emma instead. “It wasn’t enough.”“It was a beginning,” she said.He gave a bitter laugh. “A beginning that got shut down.”“No. A beginning that made people uncomfortable, that means it mattered.”He didn’t answer.Nathan sat down, the USB still clutched in his fingers. Emma joined him.“They’re afraid of what it means to believe us,” she said quietly.“I know.”“But Cassandra spoke, that matters, even if they pretend it doesn’t.”—--Nathan hadn’t slept, he went in hoping to make peace. Instead, he left feeling like a stranger in his own home.That morning, while wandering aimlessly down the hallway outside the guest rooms, he pa
Chapter Eighteen
As Mr. Hayes walked off, the family slowly returned to their plates, but no one was really eating. Liam didn’t look at Nathan again.The living room was quiet, too quiet for a family that large. Nathan stood near the cabinet, watching the clock tick down toward the hour they had chosen. Emma sat next to him, her hands resting in her lap. Her face was pale, but calm. The USB drive with the recording felt heavy in Nathan’s pocket.“This is the right time,” Emma said, though her voice shook slightly. “We do it now or we never will.”Nathan nodded. “We’re not attacking him. We’re just letting them hear the truth.”“They won’t all listen. But someone might,” she said.The door creaked as Cassandra stepped in, avoiding Nathan’s eyes. She shut it quietly and glanced around. The cousins were drifting in curious and unaware. A few shot Nathan quick looks. No one mentioned the brunch, but the tension was clear in the whispers and stares. “Cassandra?” Emma asked.She nodded, her jaw tight. “
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