Chapter: CHAPTER 92: THE CONDITION OF THEIR MARRIAGEOlivia stood still after Richard’s words. He had been forbidden from telling her what happened on the night of her disappearance if she ever married an Ashford. The condition had been written into an arrangement made while she was still a child. “Why was my marriage included in an agreement from that night?” she asked. Richard’s voice was rough. “The person who delivered the instruction told me the Carter and Ashford families would eventually have to reunite legally for a confidential agreement to become active. I was warned that revealing the arrangement could endanger you and destroy the only protection keeping you alive. I never understood why your marriage mattered. I only knew it was connected to the agreement Jonathan made with the Ashfords.” Olivia felt the weight of years of decisions made without her knowledge. Lucien was equally unsettled. His marriage to her may have been connected to a plan that existed long before his revenge against the Carter family began. O
Last Updated: 2026-11-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 91: THE CHOICE HER FATHER MADEOlivia called Richard back at once. The phone was switched off. She tried again. Nothing. The admission he had made that he knew about the second transfer and had agreed to part of it kept repeating in her mind. Lucien stood close without crowding her. “We will find him.” Olivia’s voice was tight. “He kept another secret. After everything, he still kept another secret.” Michael traced the last call. It had originated from Richard’s residence, but the signal vanished before anyone could confirm whether other people were present. Damien offered whatever remained of his father’s records. Olivia refused to wait. She wanted the answers from her father herself. They left for the house. Olivia felt the old betrayal rising again the possibility that even the man who had raised her had participated in the decision that tore them apart. Lucien understood the anger. He did not ask her to soften it. Richard was alive when they arrived, but he looked shaken and older than he had the
Last Updated: 2026-11-02
Chapter: CHAPTER 90: THE Man WHO DELIVERED THE ORDEROlivia called Richard again. The line rang and went to voicemail. She tried a second time, then a third. Each unanswered call tightened the fear in her chest. The message on her phone still glowed: come alone, or her father would pay for the truth. Lucien took the phone from her hand. “We do not answer that demand without a plan.” “His safety matters more than the investigation,” Olivia said. “Walking into another trap puts both of you in danger,” Lucien answered. “We move carefully, or we lose him and the truth.” Michael traced the message. It had come through the old N-17 channel the same system tied to Olivia’s childhood transfer. Someone with that access was still active. A security alert had also been registered at Richard’s residence. They could not yet confirm whether anyone had entered the property. Olivia insisted they act quickly. Lucien agreed, but made one condition clear: she would not face the situation alone. She was terrified of losing another person to
Last Updated: 2026-10-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 89: THE MAN WHO CAME TO CLAIM HERThe message still glowed on Michael’s screen. We have waited long enough. Bring Olivia home.Attached was the photograph of Olivia and Lucien leaving the building only minutes earlier. Someone had been close enough to take it without being seen. Lucien ordered the building secured and the transmission traced. Olivia refused to step aside while others decided her safety. “If someone wants to claim me,” she said, “they can explain why.” Michael confirmed the message had come through the dormant N-17 channel. The sender’s identity remained hidden. Olivia’s mother recognized the phrasing. “Bring her home” was the same language used in the anonymous message she had received years ago. The person behind the childhood transfer may always have considered the separation temporary. Before they could dig further, the security system flagged an unfamiliar vehicle outside. Someone had arrived. Lucien positioned his team. Michael watched the cameras. A man entered the reception ar
Last Updated: 2026-10-28
Chapter: CHAPTER 88: THE NAME BEHIND THE ORDEROlivia held the photograph of the recovered document under the light. At the bottom, clearly written, was a name she had not expected to see again so soon. Victor Ashford. Lucien’s uncle. The man who had shaped so much of the Ashford family’s public story. The man whose voice had once encouraged Lucien’s hatred of the Carters. Lucien stared at the signature for a long moment before speaking. “We’re going to see him.” Victor received them in a private study that still smelled of old paper and polished wood. He did not pretend surprise when Lucien placed the document on the desk. “I approved an emergency relocation order,” Victor said. His voice was steady, but his hands remained still on the armrests. “I was told it had already been authorized by Jonathan. The paperwork presented to me carried the correct codes. I did not know the child was Olivia.” Olivia watched him carefully. “You signed an order that took me away from my father and you claim you didn’t know who I was?
Last Updated: 2026-10-23
Chapter: CHAPTER 87: THE WITNESS WHO SIGNED TWICEOlivia stared at the name written beneath Jonathan’s original agreement. Samuel Hart. She recognized it immediately. The same man whose partial badge had appeared in the scratched photograph. The same man her mother had believed was dead. The legal witness who had signed the original protection agreement before everything began to unravel. Michael leaned closer and compared the signature on the original page with the one attached to the later amendment. The loops and pressure marks looked nearly identical. “Someone used his authorization after he was supposed to be gone,” Michael said. An anonymous message arrived a moment later. It contained only an address and a single line: The office still remembers what he signed.The address belonged to Samuel Hart’s former legal office. The building had been closed for years. Dust coated the windows, but the lock on the side entrance showed recent marks. Someone had forced it open and then carefully closed it again. Inside, draw
Last Updated: 2026-10-20
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