เข้าสู่ระบบChapter 100The settlement offer from Frederick’s lawyer fell apart by the end of the week, exactly as Evelyn had predicted. Faced with the overwhelming evidence of perjury, the televised interview, and a judge who took one look at the court filings and granted a temporary protective order, Frederick’s legal team quietly advised him to cut his losses. He dropped the petition entirely and agreed to the binding financial agreement covering years of unpaid child support.With the legal chaos temporarily settled, as if the universe had been waiting for the runway to clear, Riley’s career exploded into something extraordinary.When the trailer for The Shadow's Edge dropped a month later, it sent shockwaves through the industry. The studio’s marketing campaign heavily featured the intense, emotionally charged dynamic between Aniya and Riley. Film critics and online commentary channels immediately singled Riley out, calling her performance the unexpected heart of the film.Her manager, G
Chapter 88Riley didn't remember the walk home. One moment she was standing in the dairy aisle with her heart slamming against her ribs, and the next she was fumbling her key into her apartment door, milk carton sweating in her grip.She set the groceries down and pressed both palms flat against the counter, breathing.He'd looked smaller. That was the thing she couldn't shake. Ten years he'd loomed over her, and today, he'd just looked like a tired man in an expensive coat, grasping at a life that no longer wanted him back.Her phone buzzed against the counter. Ashton."Hey," she answered, and her voice came out steadier than she expected."Surgery went well, patient's stable." She could hear him moving, a door swinging shut behind him. "You sound off. What happened?"She almost lied. Almost told him it was nothing, that she was just tired. But she'd promised herself months ago that she wouldn't do that anymore, wouldn't swallow things down just to keep the peace."I ran into Frederi
Chapter 87They picked Iris up from school and spent the rest of the day at Ashton’s house. Sitting on the living room rug while Iris showed Ashton her new drawings, Riley watched the two of them laugh together. The tight knot of panic that had taken over her morning was slowly loosening, replaced by a steady, quiet strength. She wasn't fighting this alone anymore.The next morning at ten o'clock, Riley and Ashton sat across from Evelyn in her sunlit office downtown. Evelyn opened a laptop on her desk, turned the screen toward them, and pressed play on a video file."I spent last night pulling up every media appearance Frederick made over the last six months," Evelyn said, leaning back in her chair. "His team tried to scrub his interviews, but nothing ever really leaves the internet."The video was from a live months ago. Frederick stood in front of a wall of reporters, wearing a custom suit, looking full of himself.When a journalist asked him about his daughter, Frederick sneere
Chapter 86The walk back from Iris’s school was terrifying. Riley kept her eyes fixed on the pavement, missing the feeling of her daughter's little hand in hers. Every passing car made her chest tight. Every shadow made her stomach drop.When she unlocked her apartment door, Ashton was sitting at the kitchen with a cup of coffee and three yellow legal pads spread out in front of him. He looked up the second she walked in. "She didn't notice a thing. She just ran into the school yard to play with her friends." Riley said quietly, dropping her keys on the counter.Ashton didn't say anything. He just stood up, walked over, and pulled her tight against his chest. Riley collapsed into him, letting out a long breath she felt like she’d been holding all morning."My lawyer, Evelyn, is already working on it," he murmured into her hair. "I sent her photos of the paper Frederick left you. She's pulling up his files right now."Before Riley could answer, Ashton's phone rang on the counter. He
Chapter 85Principal photography wrapped on a Tuesday, and by Thursday, Riley found herself standing in her kitchen at seven in the morning holding a manila envelope that had been slid under her apartment door sometime in the night.There was no return address. Just her name, typed in flat block letters across the front.She set her coffee down and opened it slowly, half expecting a magazine clipping, a fan letter, something harmless. Instead, three pages of legal letterhead slid out into her hand.PETITION FOR MODIFICATION OF CUSTODY, the header read.Her stomach dropped straight through the floor. She read it twice, her eyes catching on Frederick's name typed neatly beside the words "Petitioner," and beneath it, a list of claims that made her hands go cold. Unstable work schedule. Exposure to unrelated adult partners. A minor residing in two households without consistent supervision.Her phone was in her hand before she'd finished the second page. Ashton picked up on the second ri
Chapter 84The pen felt heavy in Riley’s hand, but as her signature slid across the final page of the contract, a sense of closure settled over her. She scanned the document one last time...The Shadow’s Edge, Supporting Lead, principal photography set to begin in three weeks.Her agent, sitting across from her in the sunlit glass office, leaned back with a wide smile. "Congratulations, Riley. This contract elevates you into a completely different bracket. The studio is already locking in your wardrobe fittings.""Thank you, Greg," Riley said, handing the signed pages back across the desk. "For everything."Leaving the agency building, she walked out into the cool afternoon air, pulling her coat around her shoulders as she reached for her phone. She dialed Ashton’s number, tapping her foot against the pavement as it rang."Hey, sweetheart," Ashton’s voice came through, warm and unhurried despite the faint background noise of the hospital page system. "Tell me you just signed it.""I
Chapter 1“Mom, are you really sure he’s going to show up?” Iris’s voice had a hollow, heavy ache that no ten-year-old should ever have to carry. As Riley ran the brush through her daughter's dark curls, the strands slipped from her fingers. Today was Iris's golden birthday, a day that should ha
Chapter 5Riley didn't hesitate. The woman who had fiercely slapped him the night before disappeared under the crushing weight of a mother’s desperation. Slowly, agonizingly, she lowered her battered, aching body onto the gravel driveway, her knees digging into the sharp stones right beside his dr
Chapter 4The heavy smell of cheap disinfectant, sweat, and old plastic chairs filled the crowded emergency room waiting area. It was completely different from the freezing, rainy night Riley had just escaped.The nurses had rushed Iris through a set of double doors into a separate treatment room t
Chapter 2The silence that followed his words wasn’t just quiet; it was deafening. It felt as though the air had been entirely sucked out of the room, leaving Riley gasping. Her mind spun violently as she tried to process the horrible words that had just left Fredrick’s mouth.Bastard child.“Say







