เข้าสู่ระบบCHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIXSarah's expression became defensive.“I needed to know what you would do.”“No.”Her eyes narrowed.“You wanted to know what I would do to Katelyn.”Sarah didn't answer.Damon's voice became colder. “You thought I'd use Avery to hurt her.”“I thought you would fight for what belongs to you.”“Avery doesn't belong to me.”Sarah stared at him.“She is my daughter,” Damon said. “That doesn't mean she is property.”For a moment, Sarah seemed almost speechless.Then she turned away and muttered, “You're making this far more complicated than it needs to be.”Damon watched her.“What exactly are you afraid will happen if I don't fight Katelyn?”Sarah turned back too quickly.“I'm not afraid of anything.”“Then why are you so concerned?”“Because I know how Katelyn operates.”Damon's expression changed.“You know?”Sarah realized her mistake a fraction too late.She recovered quickly. “I know what she's like.”But Damon was no longer listening to the explana
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVESarah had spent the better part of the week trying to understand her son.That alone was enough to irritate her.Damon had always been predictable when something mattered to him. He pursued what he wanted with a determination that rarely left room for compromise, and once he believed someone had wronged him, he did not simply move on. Yet the discovery of Avery had changed something in him that Sarah could neither control nor understand. Instead of demanding answers from Katelyn, he had quietly stepped back. Instead of fighting for immediate access to Avery, he had accepted boundaries. And instead of using the knowledge Sarah had placed in his hands as leverage, he had begun behaving as though the child herself mattered more than the battle surrounding her.Then Sarah learned that Damon had attended another Bright Horizons event.She waited until he returned home that evening before confronting him. Damon had barely removed his jacket when he foun
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOURDamon kept his word.That was the first thing Katelyn noticed over the following days. There were no unexpected appearances at Bright Horizons, no convenient encounters, and no messages asking about Avery. When Winchester Enterprises had a legitimate reason to participate in an event, Damon made sure his involvement remained strictly professional. He did not linger after meetings, did not search the crowd for a familiar little face, and did not allow himself the excuse of passing by Avery's school simply because he happened to be nearby. It should have made Katelyn feel relieved. Instead, the silence left an unexpected space behind.At first, she welcomed it.She went back to the rhythm she knew. Morning breakfasts with Avery, hospital shifts, evenings with Kevin, homework spread across the dining table, and the small conversations that filled their home with the ordinary noise she had spent years protecting. There was comfort in knowing that not
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREEBy the time Katelyn returned home that evening, she had already made the decision she had been avoiding for days. She had tried to convince herself that Damon being around Avery was harmless because, technically, he had done nothing wrong. He had attended events where he had legitimate reasons to be present, spoken to Avery kindly, and never crossed a boundary in front of her. Yet every time she saw the two of them together, something inside her tightened. It wasn't jealousy, and it wasn't regret over the past. It was the instinctive fear of a mother who had spent eight years protecting the life she had built from anything that might destabilize it.Avery was in the living room, stretched across the rug with her colored pencils scattered around her while Kevin sat nearby helping her decide what color to use for the roof of a house she was drawing. The sight should have eased Katelyn immediately, and in some ways it did. This was the life she had
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWOSarah had expected anger.When she had placed the DNA report in Damon's hands, she had imagined the shock would be followed by outrage, demands, and the kind of determination she knew her son possessed whenever he believed something had been taken from him. She had expected him to confront Katelyn, demand explanations, and perhaps involve lawyers before Katelyn could prepare herself. Instead, weeks had passed, and Damon had done none of those things. He had not even mentioned custody. He had simply continued attending Bright Horizons events and quietly spending time around the child he had only recently discovered was his daughter.That was not the reaction Sarah had intended to create.She watched him from across the dining room that evening as he read through a document on his tablet. He looked calmer than he had been in months, and that calm irritated her more than anger would have. Sarah finally placed her cup down with a deliberate movement,
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONEThe following week passed without anything dramatic happening, which was precisely what Katelyn needed. Her shifts at St. Catherine’s remained demanding, Avery returned to her usual school routine, and the evenings settled back into the comfortable rhythm that had become familiar over the years. Yet something had changed, and Katelyn couldn't quite identify when it had happened. Avery had begun mentioning Damon more often. Not obsessively and never with the excitement of a child discovering something new, but casually, as though he had simply become another person occupying a small corner of her world.“Mr. Winchester knows about rockets.”Katelyn had heard that one twice.“Mr. Winchester doesn't know everything.”That one had made her smile.And then there were the little observations Avery offered without being asked, such as the fact that Damon liked dark shirts or that he listened when people talked. None of it seemed important enough to quest
CHAPTER SEVEN*TRIGGER WARNING: ASSAULT, GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS***********Katelyn hated being idle. It always left her mind open for unwanted thoughts and bad memories. She had done every single thing she could think of to keep herself busy, including visiting the hospital to check her fertility st
CHAPTER SIXHer full name was Genevieve Sterling. Katelyn knew this because of Stella who wanted to know what exactly made Genevieve ‘special’. All it took was a single search on social media to find out just how special she was. She was an heiress to a multimillionaire luxury mall business, a ri
CHAPTER FIVEKatelyn didn’t know how much she needed a hug until her only friend pulled her into one. She melted into the warmth, her first comforting physical contact in over a year. The friend, Stella, hadn’t even waited to hear all that Katelyn had been through since the last time they saw each
CHAPTER FOUR"Where is that scheming snake?!” It was the shrill voice of Sarah Winchester that woke Katelyn from her deep sleep the next morning. She tried to gather her bearings and prepare herself for the full wrath of her mother-in-law that was about to descend on her, but it was too late.Sarah







