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Chapter Twelve

2025-08-02 23:59:10

The dining hall had never looked so grand.

Tonight’s gathering was for no one in particular, just one of Aunt Marjorie’s spontaneous family dinners that she insisted on every few weeks. A dinner of unity, she called it. To Nathan, it didn't feel like unity.

He sat at the far end of the long table, directly across from Liam. Their eyes met briefly before Liam smirked and raised his wine glass in mock salute.

“To family,” Liam said loudly, his voice warm and theatrical. A few cousins clapped, even Uncle Jerome chuckled, oblivious to the tension between the brothers.

Nathan did not raise his glass; he watched Cassandra, who sat two seats away from Liam, her eyes cast downward. Her hands trembled as she tried to cut into a roasted duck breast, the knife barely making a cut. Her lips were perfectly done, and her dress looked flawless, but her face didn't look happy.

Nathan cleared his throat.

“I have a question,” he said.

Marjorie looked up from her soup, raising one eyebrow in silent cu

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Chapter Twenty Five
After the product launch wrapped up and the last guests left, the smiles and applause faded from Nathan’s mind. There was only one move left on Nathan's mind to make—and it started with finding the family lawyer’s number.Nathan waited until the hallway outside Mr. Hayes’ office was silent. The doors were slightly open, almost as if inviting him in, but stepping inside without permission was risky. He slipped inside, closing the door slightly behind him. Nathan began searching for anything that looked like a phone list, a directory, or even a scrap of paper with numbers jotted down.He started at the desk drawers, careful not to let them slam. The first drawer held neatly aligned pens, a calculator, and a stack of unused envelopes. The second was filled with company reports bound in leather folders, each stamped with the Hayes Telecom logo in gold. The third, deeper drawer contained what he needed, a slim black notebook. He flipped it open, Inside, every page was filled with a neat h
Chapter Twenty Four
The papers were neatly arranged, stamped with dates and company headers that looked entirely legitimate. Nathan recognized them for what they were: forged documents. The same careful work that had humiliated him at the club meeting now played out on an even larger stage, and this was only his first day at work.Liam’s eyes found Nathan in the crowd. "The theft was committed by none other than Nathan Hayes."Nathan’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.Then came Cassandra, she stepped forward from the side of the stage. "I can confirm," she said, her voice steady but almost too controlled, "that the documents are genuine and that Nathan passed Sterling Enterprises sensitive information belonging to Hayes Telecom."It was a betrayal Nathan had seen coming from the moment Liam glanced toward her. He knew her betrayal at the meeting was the beginning and this was something far worse.She stepped back, her eyes briefly flicking toward him. There was fear in them, though no one else in the
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

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Chapter Twenty Four

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