Mrs. Denovan blinked rapidly, her mouth slightly open. Mr. Denovan leaned back slowly, absorbing every word.“You’re… you’re saying Anika is your daughter?” Mrs. Denovan asked at last, her voice barely above a whisper.Maya nodded slowly. “Yes.” Silence fell again. Maya lowered her eyes, afraid to meet theirs. “I’m not here to take her away,” she said softly. “Being her godmother… that’s already more than I ever dreamed of. I’m just thankful she’s safe. That she’s loved.”When she looked up again, Mrs. Denovan’s eyes were shining with tears.“You truly didn’t know?” she asked, her voice trembling.“No,” Maya said. “Not until I saw the birthmark. And then I did a DNA test. I needed to be sure.”Mr. Denovan rubbed a hand down his face, still looking stunned. “This is… a lot. It changes everything. But at the same time, it doesn’t.”Maya frowned gently. “What do you mean?”He looked over at his wife, who nodded encouragingly before he continued. “We love Anika with all our hearts. She i
The news of Lena’s arrest spread quickly, especially among those who had once believed the lies she spread about Maya. The truth finally came to light—Maya had not been the villain. She had been the victim all along.Maya didn’t celebrate, though. While the public finally cleared her name and the company issued a quiet apology, her heart still ached from the days of suspicion and humiliation she’d endured. Even though the world now saw her differently, the pain of being treated like she was nothing remained inside her.But something beautiful had come out of the darkness—Anika was safe. That alone made everything Maya had suffered worth it.A few days after the chaos, Maya received a call from the Denovan couple. They asked to visit her personally. She agreed, unsure of what they wanted to say. When they arrived, they were more solemn than usual, but there was kindness in their eyes.“May we come in?” Mrs. Denovan asked gently.“Of course,” Maya said, stepping aside to welcome them in
The cold hallway of the police station echoed with Daniel’s footsteps as he was led toward the holding area. He hadn’t slept. His mind had been a whirlwind ever since the confrontation at the precinct. He still couldn’t believe it—Lena, the woman he had defended, lived with, and trusted, was now sitting behind a locked door, accused of orchestrating a kidnapping.He paused outside the interrogation room, staring at the closed door. Through the narrow window, he could see her—Lena, seated at a steel table, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her usual poise was gone. Her hair was messy, and her expression flickered between irritation and nervousness. She looked smaller than he remembered.The officer opened the door. “You have fifteen minutes.”Daniel stepped in.Lena’s head snapped up at the sound of the door. Her eyes lit up for a brief second—relief, maybe even hope—but it quickly faded when she saw the expression on his face.“Daniel,” she said, sitting up straighter. “Thank God.
The air inside the police station was sterile and quiet, save for the low hum of distant voices and the clicking of shoes against tiled floors. Daniel stood in the reception area, his arms folded tightly across his chest. His eyes were fixed on the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms. Lena had already been taken inside. He hadn’t even seen her—just the flicker of her dark coat disappearing behind a door guarded by officers.His stomach churned.It felt like standing in the center of a collapsing world.“She doesn’t even know the Denovan family,” he said again, his voice low but urgent, as he spoke to one of the officers at the desk. “Why would she kidnap their child? What possible reason would she have to do something like this?”The officer looked at him calmly. “Mr. Robert, the investigation has uncovered extensive evidence. Your wife was in contact with the men who took the child. She paid them through an untraceable digital account and used multiple anonymous SIM cards. A
The knock on the door came just past noon.Lena was in the living room, lounging on the sofa, a cold drink in one hand and her phone in the other. Her lips curled into a smile as she scrolled through a thread of comments online—many still mocking Maya, questioning her integrity, her past, and even her right to be near Anika.Lena smirked.How does it feel to be hated? she thought. You should have stayed in the shadows, Maya.She was still reading when the doorbell rang.Daniel, who had been working in his home office, heard it too. He frowned, wondering who would show up unannounced. Jamie was curled up on the rug nearby, flipping through a picture book, his mood quiet.“I’ll get it,” Daniel called, moving through the hallway toward the door.When he opened it, two uniformed officers stood on the doorstep. Behind them was an unmarked police vehicle, engine still running.Daniel’s brows pulled together. “Can I help you?”One of the officers spoke gently but firmly. “We’re looking for L
The quiet hum of Elias’s study was broken only by the soft tapping of a keyboard. The light from his laptop screen illuminated his face as he leaned forward, focused and unblinking. Across the room, one of his most trusted tech experts—an anonymous hacker known only by the alias “Kade”—was sitting on the couch, connected remotely through a secure video call.“She was careful,” Kade said, his voice low but confident. “She used shell accounts and bounced the money through multiple channels. But she made a mistake.”Elias sat up straighter. “Go on.”“There’s a flagged transaction—sixty thousand transferred from a dormant account that just became active last month. The funds were converted to crypto, then rerouted, but I traced the origin back to a private account under the name of a fake company—‘LN Consulting.’ But the registry? It’s linked to Lena Marquez.”Elias’s jaw tightened.“She set it up quietly a year ago. No activity until recently,” Kade continued. “And get this—two of the SI