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Author: Olly Dy
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-09 21:53:11

Third person's POV

Avery woke up to her phone buzzing on the nightstand like an angry wasp. She reached for it without opening her eyes, her hand fumbling across the surface until her fingers closed around it.

The screen was too bright. She squinted at it, her brain still foggy with sleep.

Astor Sinclair.

Her stomach dropped.

She sat up, the movement making her head spin slightly. Morning sickness. Or maybe just fear. With Astor, the two felt pretty much the same.

She answered. "Hello?"

"We need to meet." Astor's voice was cold. Clipped. The tone he used when he was pissed off and trying not to show it. "Today. This morning."

"I'm at the hospital. Jackson is—"

"I don't care where you are. Be at my office in one hour."

He hung up before she could respond.

Avery stared at the phone, her heart hammering against her ribs. Nothing good ever came from Astor demanding a meeting. Nothing.

She dragged herself out of bed, her pregnant belly making everything harder. Getting dressed. Putting on
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  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   167

    Two Days LaterThe Hospital General de México smelled like antiseptic and the particular anxiety that came with waiting rooms full of people hoping for good news. Avery Maddox shifted in the plastic chair, her hand resting on her belly where the baby had been kicking up a storm all morning. Eight months pregnant and every part of her body ached in ways she hadn't known were possible.The antenatal clinic was busy today. Women in various stages of pregnancy sat around her, some with partners holding their hands, others alone like Avery. A television mounted in the corner played a telenovela nobody was really watching. The volume was low enough that it was just colorful noise, a distraction from the waiting."Avery Maddox?" A nurse appeared in the doorway, clipboard in hand, her scrubs decorated with cartoon storks.Avery pushed herself up from the chair with effort, one hand braced against the armrest. Her back protested immediately, that constant low ache that had become her companion

  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   166

    Third person's POV Officer Eve Dove sat in the waiting room, her laptop bag resting against her leg, watching corrections officers move through their routines with the kind of bored efficiency that came from years of seeing the same walls, the same faces, the same cycles of human failure playing out on repeat.She'd driven three hours to get here, leaving before dawn while the city was still dark and quiet. Mackenzie had made the call personally, pulling strings to get her this meeting on short notice. Astor Sinclair didn't take visitors anymore. Hadn't since his son Liam had walked out of the last visitation six weeks ago and never looked back.But Dove had leverage now. Richard Maddox's confession had opened doors that had been sealed shut. And she needed answers from the man who had built West Ark, who had orchestrated murders and money laundering on a scale that made her head spin, who was now sitting in a cage waiting to die.The door buzzed and clicked open. A corrections offic

  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   165

    Third person's POV Richard stood up, his face flushing. "You don't understand what it was like. The pressure. The constant need to maintain appearances. To keep the money flowing. To keep all the plates spinning.""I understand perfectly. You're a coward and a murderer who sacrificed everyone around you to protect your precious empire." Jackson pulled out his phone. "The police know I'm here. They're watching this building right now. And I'm going to walk out of here and tell them everything you just told me.""Jackson, wait—" Richard took a step forward, and Jackson instinctively stepped back."Don't come near me. Don't call me. Don't text me. As of right now, you don't have a son." Jackson moved toward the door, his hand on the knob. "And when they come to arrest you, I hope you remember this conversation. I hope you remember choosing money over family. Choosing lies over the truth. I thought you are better than Astor, Liam's father. But it turns out you both are the same.""You ca

  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   164

    Third person's POV Richard Maddox opened the door before Jackson's finger left the buzzer, like he'd been standing there waiting, counting down the seconds. He looked older than Jackson remembered from just a few months ago. The lines around his eyes had deepened into crevices. His hair had gone almost completely gray at the temples. The expensive suit he wore hung slightly loose, like he'd lost weight he couldn't afford to lose."Jackson." Richard's voice cracked on the name, and he cleared his throat. "Come in. Please."Jackson stepped into the apartment and immediately felt the weight of downward mobility pressing down on him. This wasn't the sprawling mansion where he'd grown up, with its marble floors and spiral staircases and rooms they'd never even used. This was four walls and expensive furniture that looked wrong in the smaller space, like artifacts from a life that no longer existed.The living room held a leather couch that had cost fifteen thousand dollars when it was new

  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   163

    Third person's POV The city slid past the car windows in a blur of glass and concrete, the afternoon sun turning everything into a washed-out photograph. Liam kept his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, his focus supposedly on the traffic but really on the man sitting beside him. Jackson stared out the passenger window, his reflection ghostly in the glass, and Liam could see the tension in every line of his body.They were heading to Richard Maddox's apartment, to a conversation neither of them wanted to have but couldn't avoid. The address was programmed into the GPS, counting down the minutes and miles until they arrived at a reckoning that had been building since Astor Sinclair went to prison two months ago.Liam had wanted Jackson to stay home. Had argued that morning that Jackson needed rest, that the stress of confronting his father could wait another day. But Jackson had shut that down fast, his voice sharp with frustration."I'm not staying locked up in the apartment

  • Sweet Unhappy Heart   162

    Third person's POV Three Days LaterThe precinct conference room felt smaller than it should have, the walls pressing in as Liam and Jackson sat across from Mackenzie, Torres, and Dove. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting everything in a harsh white glow that made the whole situation feel even more surreal. It had been less than two months since Astor Sinclair had been locked away, and already the empire he'd built was threatening to collapse and take everyone with it."Let me make sure I understand this," Mackenzie said, his fingers drumming on the table in a rhythm that suggested he'd heard a lot of bullshit in his career and was trying to determine if this qualified. "You're telling me West Ark is still active. That there are people threatening to restart operations and using you two as leverage.""Morgana Prescott made that very clear," Liam said. His coffee had gone cold in the styrofoam cup in front of him, but he kept holding it anyway, needing something to do with

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