2026-02-04 22:17:01
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Chapter 364
Wilfreda watched Chance go, the space he left behind feeling both emptier and clearer. The party continued its soft, joyful noise around her, but she was no longer drowning in it. The grief for her mother was a cold stone in her chest. The fear for Harry was a live wire of anxiety. The guilt toward Chance was a deep, lingering ache.But layered over all of it now was a sharp, brittle focus. Tomorrow, we start hunting.She set her untouched glass down on a side table. The reflection in the window now showed not a lost girl, but a woman with a target. Her mother's eyes, her father's resolve, stared back at her from the glass. She wasn't a guest at this victory party. She was a strategist at the dawn of the next campaign.Turning from the window, she didn't rejoin the celebration. Instead, she slipped out of the grand hall and into the quiet of the library.As Chance moved through the room, accepting a pat on the back here, a murmured congratulations there, he felt a hand slip into his
Chapter 363
That night, the O’Connor mansion was a bastion of warm light against the dark. The mood inside was one of profound, weary relief. Laughter echoed in the grand hall, softer and more genuine than it had been in months. Julia, holding a glass of sparkling water, stood before the assembled group—her family, her protectors, her allies.“I don’t have the words,” she began, her voice thick with emotion but clear and strong. “What we’ve endured… it was meant to break us. To break me. But it didn’t.” Her gaze swept over them—Philip, solid beside her; Chance; Chloe; Flynn, a quiet sentinel; Ava, sharp-eyed and satisfied; Gerald; Priya; Janelle, tucked under Flynn’s arm. “It didn’t because of you. Because of your faith, your courage, your relentless skill. You stood in the breach when I could not. You fought the shadows with truth and light.”She raised her glass. “This victory is yours. And I swear to you all, we will never be brought to such a brink again. We are stronger now. We are awake.
Chapter 362
Julia was silent, her gaze inward. The legal battle was almost over, but the personal one—the violation of her own mind—felt fresh and raw. "I just want to go home," she said softly."Almost there, Mom," Chance said, his voice thick.The fifteen minutes felt like an hour. When the bailiff summoned them back, the walk to their seats was a march back into the arena.The jury filed back in. Their faces were unreadable."Madam Foreperson," the judge intoned. "Has the jury reached a verdict?""We have, Your Honor."A piece of paper was passed. The judge read it, his expression unchanging. He passed it back."On the count of murder in the first degree of Bruce Lincoln, how does the jury find?"The foreperson, a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes, looked directly at Julia. "We find the defendant… Not Guilty."A gasp, then a smattering of applause quickly gaveled into silence. Julia swayed, and Philip’s arm went around her waist, holding her steady. Chance let out a shuddering breath, a smile
Chapter 361
The day of the final hearing dawned not with hope, but with a grim, focused tension. The courtroom was packed full once again, the air thick with anticipation. Julia O’Connor sat perfectly still beside Philip, her face a mask of presidential calm, but her knuckles were white where they clasped his hand beneath the table.Today, the verdict of the case that had been lingering for the past three months would finally be given and her fate, as well as the fate of the United States of America will be decided.If someone had told that a day will come when she'd be in such a situation over a nation and the people she had fought so hard for, she wouldn't have believed it, but here she was, and the only thing still giving her the title of 'president' was the fact the verdict was yet to be given.Sandy Thorne, at the prosecution’s table, wore a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. It was the smirk of someone who believed the system was still hers to manipulate.Ava stood to begin her closing argum
Chapter 360
“But I trusted you. And you used my trust to steal from me. For him.”Each word was a lash, stripping away the strategic armor she’d tried to don. He wasn’t accusing her of endangering their their lives and the lives of those around them; he was accusing her of breaking his heart. The ice shard of guilt in her gut melted, flooding her with a shame so acute it was nauseating.“He said he’d let my mom go,” she choked out again, the defense pathetic even to her own ears. “He said if I brought him the ring, he’d consider it a sign of good faith. He promised she’d be safe.” A sob ripped through her. “I was desperate. I was so scared for her. I didn’t know what else to do.”“And you couldn't even tell me about it?” Chance asked, the question steeped in sadness. “You thought the only solution was to betray me?”“I thought I was protecting you!” The words burst from her, fueled by the accumulated terror and guilt of months. “By keeping you out of it! By dealing with the monster myself! I was
Chapter 359
Brenda gestured wildly towards the closed door across the hall."He knows Steven is alive. Robert knows. They're not going to let him wake up. And they're certainly not going to let me walk around knowing what I know.""So you've come to warn me?" Susan's voice was laced with bitter skepticism. "Out of the goodness of your heart? If I should remember vividly well, you would never come to me like this, not since the day you discovered that I was the 'gifted one.'She took another step, closing the distance, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper. "I offer you my loyalty. My knowledge. Everything. In exchange for your protection. Get me under the O'Connor security umbrella. Philip's, Julia's, I don't care. Keep me alive, and I'll give you the keys to bring Richard and Robert down."Susan stared at her sister, this architect of her ruin, now begging for sanctuary. The fury was a white-hot coal in her chest. Every instinct screamed to throw her out, to let her face the consequences she'd
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