LOGINNathan glared at him, his face almost touching Ben’s. "You’re lying," he said. "You’re mixed up in all of this. You know something. They paid you. They told you to do it. Where did that van take them? Tell me the address!""I don’t know!" Ben cried, his voice breaking from fear and pain. "I swear, I don’t know! The deal was only about Caldwell!"Nathan’s anger exploded, dark and blinding. He grabbed Ben by the shoulders and shook him violently.No. He refused to accept it. Ben was their only lead to find Tessa. He had to know something."I’ll kill you if you don’t tell me where she is!" Nathan yelled.Suddenly, the door slammed open. A court officer rushed in, pale and trembling. He looked at them nervously. "Mr. Hale, stop! This is illegal! Let him go, now!"Of course it was illegal. That’s why Nathan had hired a fool who apparently failed to watch the door.Nathan almost snapped at him to leave, reminding everyone that nothing was more important than Tessa, when a slender figure app
The courthouse security room reeked of cold sweat and the aftertaste of a small fire, smoke and burned leaves lingering in the air. Blue light from the monitors washed over Nathan’s face, throwing the storm of fury and helplessness inside him into sharp relief. Jack stood beside him like a statue barely holding back something violent.“Run the west corridor camera again,” Nathan said. His voice was knife-sharp.The nervous security technician obeyed at once. The grainy footage rolled again. There. A man in a black mask and a hat. Tall. Lean. Cruel elegance in the way he moved, the kind only Remington Charles ever radiated, even with his face hidden. He walked out of the women’s restroom. He didn’t carry Tessa. He had her locked against him, his arm trapping hers, pinning her to his body like stolen treasure.Tessa looked wrecked.Her body sagged, her head lolling against his shoulder. She didn’t look completely unconscious, but her legs barely worked. She seemed one breath away from c
The world shrank to one impossible image: her father standing right in front of her in a place that felt like a nightmare. His face was pale, carved with a war she couldn’t read, and he had suddenly become the center of Tessa’s collapsing universe.Confusion pulled at her like a black hole. Why was he here? Why had the same hands that used to carry her when she was little just grabbed her and dragged her to this place?Her mind was fogged by fear and whatever chemicals were still in her system. Her head throbbed so hard it drowned out everything else.They hated each other. Charles had ruined her father. Her father blamed Charles. Was all of that a lie? One big performance?A shaky sob slipped out of her throat, muffled by the cloth gag. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks, washing through the fear that clung to her. It was all too much. Too much betrayal, too many wounds.Charles watched from the corner of the room, arms folded, brows pinched in irritation. "Seriously, Robert, calm you
The image of Robert and Charles laughing together, so familiar and in sync, burned itself into Nathan’s mind and scorched everything else away. Guilt hardened into a cold, lethal anger. It was no longer just a knot in his gut. It had turned into a blade demanding action.They had been playing him. Those two bastards had been laughing at him, using him like a pawn in their game, so sure they already had him under control. They had pushed him to choose a side only so he would realize that both of them were guilty.“Bring him here,” Nathan growled, spinning toward the nearest officer. His voice didn’t even sound human. It was the low snarl of a wounded, betrayed animal. “Bring Robert Caldwell here right now. I want to see him.”The officers stared at him, confused. One of them, his face streaked with soot, blinked uncertainly. “Mr. Hale? But he’s still in custody, in the holding room downstairs waiting for appeal…”“I don’t care,” Nathan cut in, stepping forward. “I want him in front of
Somewhere else, the minutes crawled like a slug. Every heartbeat reminded Nathan of time wasted, of years he had thrown away chasing revenge that he now knew was built on lies. The guilt was so real it felt like a boulder pressing on his chest, stealing his breath.He had locked up an innocent man.Robert Caldwell might be arrogant, a ruthless rival in business, but he wasn’t the criminal Nathan had hunted with so much hatred. While he’d been blinded by obsession, the real culprit had been laughing, slipping away like a fish in water, untouchable. Nathan had shattered a family, wrecked someone’s life, and all of it happened because he couldn’t see past his own rage. Regret ate at him slowly, bitter and poisonous.Movement beside him snapped the spiral. Tyler fussed with his bangs. Jack checked his watch. Then, like a bolt of light, reality slammed into Nathan.Tessa.She had gone to the restroom. How long had it been? It felt way too long for a quick bathroom break during a recess.Na
Tessa’s foot bounced restlessly as she sat on one of the wooden benches outside the courtroom. Her emotions were stretched to the limit. She almost blamed the pregnancy, but deep down, she knew exactly what this was really about. Her father’s future.Julian had recorded what Charles said when he attacked Tessa. At the time, Tessa had been on the phone with Julian, so everything was caught.This might be Robert’s last chance to walk free. They had to win. And that responsibility rested on Julian’s shoulders. Tessa trusted him.Today, all the evidence was being presented. After that came deliberation. That part was what scared her the most.Time.It could take an hour. A day. Weeks. Even months.And Tessa did not have months. If this case wasn’t settled by the end of the week, she would ask Nathan to bribe the jury.She glanced to her side, watching Nathan, who looked almost as bad as she felt. His posture was rigid, arms crossed over his chest, eyes locked on the heavy wooden door like







