Chapter: CHAPTER 14
The Blood That Was Never Mine “Serena… that's my father holding you.” Damien's words settled over the room like a death sentence. I stared at the photograph in my hands. Two newborn babies. Two hospital blankets. One tiny bracelet. And a man whose face I had seen in framed photographs my entire life. Alexander Cross. My husband’s father. The man whose death had supposedly started the war between our families. “That’s impossible,” I said. My voice sounded distant, as though someone else had spoken. Damien reached for the photograph, but I pulled it against my chest. “Don’t.” “I need to see it.” “You’ve seen it.” “Serena—” “Did you know?” The question silenced him. I searched his face, desperate to find something that would make the photograph meaningless. A flicker of confusion. A hint of disbelief. Anything. Instead, Damien looked as though the floor beneath him had cracked. “No,” he said. “I swear to you, I didn't know.” I wanted to believe him. That was the problem. So
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-20
Chapter: CHAPTER 13
: The Daughter He ChoseBecause Isabella was never supposed to be the daughter who survived.I read the message three times.Each time, the words became more difficult to understand.My father had lied about Isabella's death. Someone had hidden evidence inside the Cross mansion. A recording suggested that my father and Alexander had discussed keeping one of two daughters.And now someone was telling me that Isabella was never meant to survive.“What does it mean?” I whispered.Damien took his phone back. His expression was unreadable, but the muscle in his jaw had begun to twitch.“It means someone wants you to believe your father chose between you and your sister.”“Someone who knows what happened that night.”“Possibly.”“Or someone who was there.”He looked toward the open doorway.I followed his gaze. Two guards remained in the corridor, their expressions carefully neutral. One of them was the man who had reported finding the recorder.“Did you know my father before the night Alexander died?” I asked.Da
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-20
Chapter: CHAPTER 12
: The Enemy in My Bedroom“Who were you talking to?”Damien's question hung between us.I closed my fingers around the photograph. “Nobody.”His eyes narrowed. “Serena.”“Funny. That's exactly what you say whenever I ask you a question you don't want to answer.”He glanced toward the open window. The curtains moved in the night breeze, but there was no sign of anyone outside.“Someone was here,” he said.“Yes.”His attention snapped back to me.I hadn't meant to admit it. The word escaped before I could stop myself.“Who?”I studied his face, searching for any sign that he already knew. “A woman.”“What did she look like?”“I didn't get a good look at her.”It was a lie, but not a complete one. I had never seen the woman's face clearly. I had heard her voice, though. I had heard her claim to be Isabella.And I had seen the photograph she left behind.Damien stepped closer. “What did she tell you?”“That I shouldn't open the door.”His expression hardened. “And you listened?”“By the time I opened it, she was g
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-20
Chapter: CHAPTER 11
The Girl Who Stood Beside Me
I read the message until the words blurred.Isabella was standing beside you when you entered the Cross mansion three years ago.My fingers tightened around the phone.It was impossible.Three years ago, I had entered the Cross mansion only once. It was the night Alexander Cross supposedly died—the night my family’s name became synonymous with betrayal and my sister disappeared.I remembered the rain. The shouting. My father ordering me to stay in the car.And a woman.A woman standing near the staircase, her face half-hidden by the shadows.I had always assumed she was a servant.But I remembered something else now.The woman had been wearing Isabella’s silver bracelet.“Serena?”Damien’s voice pulled me from the memory.He stood a few feet away, his expression tense. A faint line of blood marked his shirt where the attacker’s bullet had grazed him at the mausol
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-19
Chapter: Chapter 10: The Night He Lied to MeThe gunshot shattered the darkness.Someone screamed. Shoes scraped against marble, and a heavy object crashed to the floor. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear Damien shouting orders somewhere to my right.Then a hand closed around my arm.“Serena, move!”I recognised Damien's voice, but I pulled away instinctively.“Don't touch me!”“Are you insane? Someone is shooting at us!”Another gunshot rang out.He grabbed my hand again and pulled me behind the stone pillar beside the entrance. I stumbled against him, my heart pounding so violently that I could barely hear anything else.“Stay down,” he ordered.This time, I didn't argue.A few seconds later, emergency lights flickered on. Their dim red glow revealed two guards crouching near the doorway. One held his shoulder, while another scanned the room with his weapon raised.Adrian was nowhere to be seen.Neither was the person who had whispered my name.Damien released my hand and turned toward his men.“Secure the perimeter. No
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-19
Chapter: Chapter 9: The Empty CoffinFor several seconds, Damien didn't move.The phone remained pressed against his ear, but his attention had shifted somewhere far beyond the clinic walls. I watched the muscles in his jaw tighten as the words sank in.His father's coffin was empty.Three years of mourning. Three years of revenge. Three years of believing that Alexander Cross had been taken from him forever.And now, the grave itself had become another lie.“Seal the mausoleum,” Damien ordered. “Nobody touches anything. Nobody leaves until I arrive.”He ended the call.I stepped toward him. “We're going to the tomb.”He looked at me sharply. “No.”“Damien—”“You've already been threatened twice today. Someone entered this clinic while we were inside, and we still don't know where Dr Hart has gone. I'm not taking you into another potential ambush.”“You don't get to decide what risks I take.”“This isn't about controlling you.”“Then stop making decisions for me!”His eyes flashed.For a moment, I thought he would argue.
آخر تحديث: 2026-10-18
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