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LOGINKatherine Smith thought she'd left her past behind. But when she returns home with her twin children, she's face-to-face with Dacre Silver - the man who broke her heart. He's still ruthless and manipulative, but now he's determined to claim what he thinks is his. As they clash, secrets come to light, and Katherine must confront the lies that tore them apart. Will she forgive Dacre's past mistakes, or will their love remain just a memory?
View MoreKatherine's Pov
Ring!! Ring!!! My phone rang incessantly on the bed, making me jerk awake. I stared at the caller ID, it was Joan. “What the heck is wrong with this guy? I told him I wasn't ready for a relationship yet.” I murmured angrily, turning off my phone and going to take a shower. My brother was critically ill. How would I have the chance to get into a relationship? I got dressed up very quickly and headed to the hospital, not paying any mind to the woman on the chair. I rushed to the hospital to see the doctor and ask how my brother was doing. However, the news I got made me remember just how difficult his sickness was. “He'll die in a few days if you don't pay up for the surgery, it's been almost three weeks since we've been giving him free treatments, and we can't continue to do that anymore.” I was informed by the attending doctor. “What? Free treatments? What are you talking about, I've been paying for his treatments, it's only the money for the surgery that I have been looking around for. Doctor, there must be some kind of mistake…” I said but the doctor cut me off. “Miss Katherine, if you think we are lying, you can follow me to check the records. Your mother used to work here before she died and that's the reason why I have been treating your brother without accepting payment. But for the surgery, I am not the one that's going to perform the surgery on him or else, I would have known how to help you. However, there's nothing I can do.” I stumbled, the world spinning around me. How was it possible? I had always paid for his treatments duly, never missing one. How could it be that… Oh. That money that I handed over every week, where had it gone?! How could… “I… I don’t understand.” I whispered, feeling my knees weaken beneath me. The doctor’s words echoed in my mind, but there was one thing I knew for sure, I needed to get answers and I knew exactly where to get them. “I need to go, I'll be back in a bit.” I muttered abruptly, cutting off whatever else the doctor was saying. I turned on my heel and ran, my feet pounding against the cold hospital floors. Bursting through the entrance doors, I didn’t stop, I ran down the street, the wind whipping against my face as I pushed myself faster and faster. How could this happen? I'd worked so hard in order to save that money and pay it all, I had taken extra shifts, dropped out of school and sacrificed so much to ensure that my brother had a chance at survival and this is how I found out that none of the money went to me? My legs burned but I didn't stop running, my breaths came out in harsh pants, and tears blurred my vision. No, no, I wouldn’t cry, not now. After what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the small house I shared with my father, stepmother and stepsister, I stumbled up the steps, barely able to catch my breath and my hands shook as I gripped the doorknob and flung the door open. There she was, sitting comfortably in the living room as if she didn't have a care in the world, she glanced at me and a scowl appeared on her pale lips. “What's the fuss all about? Don't you have manners, how many times have I told you not to fling the door open like that?” She asked lazily, popping a grape into her mouth. I stood there, panting and trembling with barely controlled rage, “Where is it?” I demanded, my voice shaking, “Where is the money I’ve been giving you every week for my brother’s treatment?” She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and slowly reached for another piece of fruit, “What are you talking about?” She asked casually, her tone was annoyingly calm. “Don't play dumb with me!” I yelled, my voice cracking from the strain, “You know exactly what I'm talking about. The money I gave you for my brother's treatments, to help me pay them to the doctor, where is it!” My stepmother let out a soft, almost mocking laughter, “Oh that?” She said, waving her hands dismissively, “Why are you getting so worked up over that, Katherine? As for the money, I used it.” She glanced up at me, a bored look on her face. “What?” “There was an entrance exam f*e for my daughter's new school, it was quite expensive you know.She said nonchalantly, as if we were talking about something so trivial like buying groceries, “Your father never left anything for her so I had to do with what I had left, but you don't need to worry about that, I'll pay you back in due time. Your brother only has to spend a little more time in the hospital.” It felt like the ground had crumbled beneath me, I stared at her, disbelief and horror coursing through me, “You what?” I whispered. “I used it for my daughter’s university entrance exam.” She repeated, sounding almost amused by my reaction, “After all, she deserves a good education, doesn’t she? It’s not like your brother would have survived much longer anyway. The boy’s as good as dead.” Something inside me snapped. I lunged forward, grabbing the fruit bowl from her hands and throwing it across the room. It shattered against the wall, pieces of porcelain and fruit flying in every direction, “You took my money?” I screamed, my voice breaking with fury and anguish, “The money that was meant to save his life? You used it for that?” “Calm down, Katherine,” She said coolly, “You’re being dramatic. It’s not like I used it for something useless.” “You selfish, heartless…” I choked on my words, tears of rage burning in my eyes, “You know how much he means to me! You knew I was working myself to the bone to save him, and you, you just…” My voice broke, and I felt the tears spill over, my vision blurring. “He’s just dead weight.” She continued, completely unfazed, “There’s no point wasting money on someone who’s only going to drag us down. But my daughter? She has a future and she’s worth investing in, more so than that deadweight brother of yours.” I didn't even know how it happened, I didn't know when I stepped forward, grabbing her by the hair and hitting her face on the edge of the couch. She screamed in pain, but I didn't stop, I raised her head with her hair again, this time, hitting it on the ground and the sound of something breaking echoed in the sitting room. “H… help me!” She screamed as I continued to hit her, “She'll kill me! She's going to kill me! Help me!” In my haze of anger, I was suddenly pushed away from her, the back of my head hitting the glass table. I groaned as black spots filled my vision, and it didn't stop at that, my head suddenly turned to the side and a shot of pain went through my body. My eyes cleared instantly and I stared in shock at the person who just slapped me, my father. “Katherine! What the heck are you trying to do right now?! Are you insane?!”Katherine’s povEmily frowned when I said that, but Dahlia placed a hand on her arm and tried to calm her down. Then she turned to me. “Look, it doesn’t have to be like that. It’s just… families have fights sometimes and they break apart, but we need to stick together. We can help each other.”Jordan stepped forward in anger, trying to control himself as I saw how his jaw was clenched together. “You are so fucking unbelievable. You stole from us, you lied, and then you break us apart.”Dahlia’s smile faded. “You don’t know the full story.”“Your father…” she started again as I had heard enough from the lying snake.“Speaking of him,” I said, “where is he?”She looked at me in shock. “He’s… somewhere.”I laughed. “He’s somewhere. Where?” She couldn’t say.I looked at Jordan. “She said she doesn’t know where our father is, but yet she wants family to stick together.” Her eyes turned to me. “Look, your father loved me more than he loved anybody else.”Jordan nodded. “Exactly. And that’
Katherine’s povWith the plans we made, we were able to catch Marcus and the police swooped in to whisk him away which gave us so much joy. Finally I was free to go home.I was in court for his session as I covered myself well with the coat I had on. Marcus Blackwell was sitting with his head held high like this was another business deal he’d walk away from. Even in handcuffs, he looked smug, like he’d already thought of ten ways out.I sat behind the prosecution’s table with Elijah on one side and Dacre on the other. Strange, how life could twist itself into this. My pulse hammered every time the bailiff read out another charge. Fraud. Conspiracy. Kidnapping.Elijah leaned close, whispering, “He’s cornered, Kat. They’ve got everything. Don’t let his face trick you.”I could only nod.The lawyers paraded evidence, the paper trails, shell companies, accounts drained dry. A witness testified about payments that linked straight back to Marcus. Then came the final blow. Emails leaked by
Katherine’s POVThat day, I went to the market to get something for the children. They had forgotten so many things while we were rushing to the safe house so now we had to get a lot of their toys and books afresh.I wasn’t even thinking about danger when it happened. I’d been staring down at the shelf of children’s books, comparing prices, when I felt the shift. That prickling sensation crawling down my neck. The mall was busy but not that busy. Then two men I hadn’t even seen showed up and grabbed my arm.“Let me go!” I yelled as what I held poured into the floor.The second guy moved in from behind, and for a second, I thought, this is it. Not again. Please, not here.But before I could even scream, Dacre was there. His fist hit the first guy's face as the man fell into an aisle while he kicked the second guy down.The second one lunged at me, pulling something shiny from his coat. It was a knife.“Dacre!” I screamed in fear as I froze. What could I even do in a situation like th
Katherine’s povI needed to change the subject. It was getting too personal and I didn't like the territory we were in. So I breathed out, grounding myself. “Mara, my contact, she’s found his shell companies. The money trail. If we leak it right, his partners will back off. He’ll lose leverage. But it has to be clean. If it points back to me, or to you, we’re finished.”“Agreed.” He said in a businesslike manner. “Send me what you have. I’ll get my people on it.”“No.”“What do you mean, no?”“I’m not handing this off to your people. This isn’t your empire swallowing mine, Dacre. This is our move. Equal footing. My terms, or I walk away and handle it myself.”“Oh come on.”“You either listen to me or I walk,” I said in a calm manner. “Can you do that?”There was a long pause between us. Then, slowly, he reluctantly said, “Yes.”I smiled. “Good,” I said. “Because if Marcus thinks he can break me to get to you, he’s about to find out he picked the wrong woman.”Dacre chuckled. “God, Ka
Katherine’s pov“Then we watch him flinch,” Mara said. “If he retaliates, we have the receipts. If he tries to turn it on you, we can show it was already going on. You don’t look like the unstable one. He does.”I thought about the kids again, about safety, about a future that i wasn’t scared of. Part of me wanted to call dacre and tell him everything, to let him storm into Marcus’s house and burn it down. He deserved the chance. Maybe he wanted it. But I shook my head.“Elijah will be your shield,” Mara said. “And I’ll be your eyes.”“And if it blows back?” I asked, then immediately knew the answer.“Then we deal with the blow,” she said. “You protect your kids. You protect your life.”I looked at the two of them. They were scrappy allies, not knights. They were imperfect and bruised. They were mine for this moment.“Okay.” I sighed. I was tired of the thought of what I was about to do anyway. “Let’s do it.”“We end it here,” I said, and the words were calmer than I expected, but th
Katherine's povA knock came on my door as I looked to it. It opened with Mara coming in. Mara was my spy. She stood there for a while as I gestured her in.“You look like you’ve seen a lot of better days,” she said as I shrugged.“I know. Thanks for observing.”She smiled and sat down.“What did you find for me?” I asked.She opened her pockets and got out a file.“I got what you asked for, but it’s worse than we thought.”She dropped the file on my table.I set the coffee down, suddenly wishing it was stronger. “Spit it out.”She took a breath. “Marcus Blackwell’s not just poking around Dacre’s empire. He’s built a net. Shell companies, cutouts, some of his people are fronting as independent investors. He’s been funneling pressure through anyone he can get near Dacre. And… he’s using you.”My chest went cold. “Using me how?”“He’s been pushing contact. Little threats, anonymous calls, deals collapsing when you need them most. He’s not trying to break you directly. He’s trying to mak






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