ANMELDENChapter 52 :Father vs Son
The air in the penthouse turned to ice the moment Alex’s voice shattered the afterglow. Damien remained buried deep inside me, his powerful body shielding mine from view as he slowly, deliberately pulled out and lowered me to my feet. He adjusted my robe with calm precision before fixing his own clothes, every movement controlled. Lethal.Alex stood frozen in the doorway, eyes wild with rage and disbelief. His gaze dropped to the DNA test resul**Chapter 80: The Master Plan**The warehouse lights buzzed overhead like dying insects. The smell of gunpowder, saltwater, and rust hung thick in the air, choking me as another contraction rippled across my belly. Thirty-four weeks. Too early. But nothing about this night was going according to plan.Damien knelt in front of me on the dirty concrete, his expensive coat smeared with dust and a streak of someone else’s blood. His hands hovered near my belly like he was afraid to touch me. For the first time since I’d known him, Damien Voss looked truly afraid.“Isla,” he rasped, voice hoarse. “Look at me.”I couldn’t. My eyes were fixed on Marcus Hale, who was being zip-tied by Damien’s security team. Even now, Marcus was smiling through bloody teeth, like a man who knew he’d already won.“Tell her, Voss,” Marcus taunted. “Tell your precious good girl the *full* truth. No more half-confessions. No more convenient omissions.”Mia w
**Chapter 79: Hostage**My heart hammered so violently I could feel it in my throat.Mia.Marcus Hale had my best friend. The woman who had held my hand through every breakdown, every scandal, every time I questioned whether loving Damien would destroy me. And now she was paying the price for standing by me.“You are not going.” Damien’s voice was pure steel as he blocked the bedroom doorway. His eyes blazed with fury and fear—the kind of lethal combination that made lesser men tremble. “Victor is already coordinating with my security team. We will get her back. But you are thirty-four weeks pregnant with my son. You are staying right here where I can protect you.”I stood in front of him, hands trembling as I clutched my phone. Marcus had sent a new message: a photo of Mia tied to a chair in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, a gag in her mouth, terror in her eyes. The timestamp was minutes ago.*Come alone, Isla. One hour
**Chapter 78: Double Betrayal**I couldn’t hold it in any longer.The photos burned a hole through my phone and straight into my chest. I waited until morning when Damien was in his home office, sleeves rolled up, commanding his empire like the ruthless king he was. Our son was kicking restlessly at thirty-four weeks, as if he could sense the storm brewing inside me.I walked in without knocking, phone clutched in my hand like evidence in a trial.“Explain this.”I dropped the phone on his desk. The screen lit up with the photos: Damien and Lilith on the rooftop lounge. Her hand on his arm. Their faces inches apart. Her slipping something into his pocket.Damien picked up the phone slowly. His expression didn’t change at first—cold, calculating. Then his eyes lifted to mine, dark and stormy.“Where did you get these?”“Does it matter?” My voice cracked. “You told me she was nothing. That you rejected her complet
**Chapter 77: The Business Witch**The smear campaign began with surgical precision.By morning, every major tabloid and gossip site carried the same carefully leaked narrative: *“Isla Harper: Unfit Mother or Gold-Digging Homewrecker?”* Anonymous “sources close to the Voss family” painted me as emotionally unstable, manipulative, and using the pregnancy to trap Damien. They dredged up old photos of me with Alex, twisted therapy notes from the custody hearings, and even screenshots of bitter texts I’d sent months ago when everything first fell apart.Then came the deeper cuts.A “leaked” medical report suggested my stress levels were endangering the baby. Another article claimed I had demanded millions in a prenup. Social media exploded with coordinated hate—thousands of comments calling me a whore, a parasite, a danger to the Voss bloodline. Lilith Voss didn’t do anything as crude as speak my name publicly. She simply funded the machine and smiled
**Chapter 76: New Rival**The ultrasound gel was still cool on my skin when Victor Kane delivered the next blow.I lay on the examination table in the private clinic, thirty-three weeks pregnant, my belly glistening under the lights as the technician printed out fresh 3D images of our son—strong heartbeat, perfect profile, already weighing over five pounds. Damien held my hand, thumb stroking my knuckles, when Victor walked in without knocking, tablet in hand and face grim.“We have a new problem,” Victor said, glancing at the monitor where our baby’s face filled the screen. “A bigger one than Selena.”Damien’s jaw tightened. “Speak.”“Lilith Voss.”I sat up slowly, pulling the paper sheet over my belly. “Voss? Is she family?”“No blood relation,” Victor explained. “She took the name legally three years ago after marrying and divorcing one of Damien’s distant cousins. Smart move. It gives her credibility in certain circl
**Chapter 75: Second Shadow**The press conference played on every screen in the penthouse.I stood frozen in the living room in one of Damien’s oversized button-down shirts, my hand cradling the heavy swell of my thirty-two-week belly, while Selena Drake’s face filled the television. She looked radiant—flawless makeup, soft lighting, one hand resting meaningfully over her still-flat stomach.“I never wanted it to come to this,” she said, voice trembling with practiced vulnerability. “But Damien Voss deserves to know he’s going to be a father again. I’m eight weeks pregnant. And despite what the tabloids say about his engagement to that girl… I believe our child deserves a chance at a real family.”The headline ticker screamed: **DAMIEN VOSS BABY MAMA WAR EXPLODES — TWO PREGNANCIES, ONE EMPIRE.**My stomach twisted violently. Our son kicked hard, as if protesting the chaos his father had dragged us into again.Damien stood behind
**Chapter 66: Hospital Again**The steady beep of the fetal monitor was the only sound keeping me anchored.I lay in the private suite at St. Augustine’s, the same wing where I’d visited Bianca what felt like a lifetime ago. IV fluids dripped cold into my arm. My hospital gown s
**Chapter 62: Punishment**The marble floor was cool against my knees, but it did nothing to temper the heat flooding my body. Damien stood above me like a god carved from shadow and steel, his fingers still tangled in my hair. The city lights painted sharp angles across his face, highlighting the
Chapter 57:Cold ShoulderThe silence was worse than any argument.Three days had passed since our fight, and Damien had become a ghost in his own penthouse. He left before I woke up and returned long after I’d gone to bed. When he was home, he was polite. Distant. He checke
Chapter 1: I Almost DrownedIsla’s pov“Between you and me, Isla, if we both fell in, who do you think he’d save?” Bianca’s voice dripped with fake sweetness, her glossy lips curving into that sharp, knowing smile she always wore around me.I barely had time to register the words. “What are you”Sh







