Mag-log inJeffery sat in the back of the car with Sophia leaning on his shoulder. He kept his head low for a moment then spoke in a tired voice that carried through the small space.“I have to stop by somewhere important.”Sophia lifted her head slowly and looked at him with concern written across her face. “But we were just returning from the funeral,” she said. Her fingers stayed on his arm like she did not want to let go just yet. The black dress she wore still carried the smell of the cathedral incense.“I understand your concern Soph,” Jeffery replied softly. “I won’t stay long.” He told Logan to pull over at the next junction. The car stopped smoothly beside the sidewalk. Sophia stepped out and stood there watching the car drive away until it disappeared around the bend. She pulled out her phone and called her friend Emma to come pick her up. A small smile touched her lips once the car was completely gone from sight. She crossed her arms and waited under the street light.Back inside
MALCOLM'S MANSIONMalcolm sat in his mansion with a glass of whiskey in his hand. The television played low in the background while the city lights blinked outside the large window. For two days now every station kept replaying the news about Clara Rothwell's death. He listened for a moment then reached for the remote and switched the TV off with a tired motion. Her death did not freak him. It only felt distant like something that happened to other people in other worlds. He took another slow sip and stared at the dark screen.Suddenly the door burst open. One of the guards rushed in breathing hard and greeted him quickly. "Sir, they are just announcing it now that Daniel is dead. He was found dead in his apartment. They say his body was almost rotten when they discovered it."Malcolm froze. The glass slipped from his fingers and landed on the floor with a loud clink. Daniel. His most trusted man. The one who drove better than anyone, spied without getting caught, gave him informa
ADRIAN'S APARTMENTAdrian stepped into the quiet sitting room with a towel still wrapped around his head. Water drops fell slowly from the ends onto his shoulders but he did not bother fixing it. His eyes locked straight on Cole, the man who usually run things for him discreetly. Cole sat waiting with a thick folder on his knee like it held the final piece of a dangerous puzzle.He dropped into the chair across from Cole and pulled the towel down around his neck. The room felt charged with heavy silence. "Tell me what you found," Adrian said in a low voice that demanded every detail.Cole opened the folder carefully. He placed the first sheet on the table between them and spoke in a steady tone. "The test is clear sir. Jeffery Rothwell does not match George Rothwell. The man we know as Jeffery has no biological link to George at all. No shared pattern. Nothing."Adrian picked up the paper and scanned it line by line. His fingers tightened around the edges until the paper almost wrink
Jeffery stood in the doorway for a long moment. His cold eyes locked onto the nurse standing too close to Clara's bed. The file in her hands shook just a little as she turned to face him under the harsh hospital lights.He stepped inside slowly and closed the door behind him with a quiet click. The room felt smaller right away with his presence filling every corner and pressing down on the air. The machines kept beeping steadily but the atmosphere grew thick and heavy between the three of them like something bad was about to break."What are you doing near her?" Jeffery asked again in that deep cold voice. He moved closer to the bed with slow steps that made the nurse press her back against the side rail. She held the file tighter against her chest like it could somehow protect her from what might come next in this tense space."I came to check her charts and vital signs," the nurse said quickly. Her voice stayed steady on the outside but her fingers gripped the papers harder than
He picked up the chart and started writing with unsteady hands, noting every intervention and vital sign.Outside the hospital, the press had not left. They had been waiting since the car first arrived hours ago, and they were still there - cameras ready, microphones out, restless and hungry. The footage from the amusement park played on every screen and every phone: Clara on the stage in the peach dress making her pregnancy announcement, the crowd cheering, then the sudden shots and chaos. Jeffery dropping to one knee. Logan's car speeding away."Mrs. Clara Rothwell shot at anniversary celebration following pregnancy announcement. Condition still unknown. No statement from the Rothwell family."The city that had been celebrating that evening had turned into something else. People talked in groups. They watched the videos again and again. They felt helpless, the way people do when something big happens to someone they feel like they know.The Rothwell camp had said nothing yet.They
Clara had been moved from the operating room to a private bed on the same floor. The machines came with her beeping steadily, breathing for her, watching every small sign of life. The small team that had stood through all seven hours of surgery now stood quietly around the edges of the room, tired and silent.The doctor stood at the foot of the bed, his shoulders heavy. Jeffery stood near the door, hands inside his pockets, watching everything with that same calm face he had worn since they arrived."The injection, sir," the doctor said. His voice was low and careful. "We are in a position where both options carry serious consequences, and I need you to understand that before we decide anything."He looked directly at Jeffery."If we give it to her now, it will wipe her memory the way you want. But her body has just been through seven hours of surgery. Her brain is under more stress than it has ever been in her life. Giving her the agent right now means the chances of her surviving i
Jeffery closed the last file on his desk. The sound of the paper hitting the wood was loud in the quiet room. He didn’t stay to think or read it again. Usually, he was a man who liked order, but today he moved fast. He stood up and went straight to the big bookshelf against the wall.He reached ou
Jeffery got home. The house was calm when he stepped in, but he could already smell food from the dining area. Clara was at the table, arranging the plates neatly as if she had been waiting for him for a while. She had called him earlier to ask if he was almost home, and now she looked up the momen
Sophia came out of the swimming pool in her apartment, still wet and wrapped in her wearable towel. She walked inside slowly and picked up her phone from the table while pouring herself a glass of wine. She had just sat down when her phone started ringing.She looked at the screen and answered it.
The executives gathered in the meeting room early in morning, taking their usual seats around the long table as the day’s files were arranged before them. Malcolm sat at the head, going through the legal documents prepared for the session while the quiet conversations around the room gradually fad