LOGINAuthor’s POVHailey Devantaire sat by her desk long after midnight, her eyes locked on the computer screen. The blue glow reflected off her face, highlighting the restlessness that had settled deep inside her. For days, a thought had been gnawing at her, a thought she tried to dismiss but couldn’t. The girl she had seen in that photo online, the one beside Veldena, looked too much like Maurice. The curve of the nose. The tilt of the eyes. Even the faint smileeverything screamed resemblance.She wanted to believe it was just coincidence, but the idea refused to leave her alone. If that child was Maurice’s, then everything she had worked for, every sacrifice, every humiliation she endured to stay beside him would crumble.Hailey wasn’t the type to sit quietly and wonder. She was the type to dig, to find out, to destroy.She opened her phone and scrolled to a saved contact. The name “Dr. Loren” appeared on the screen. He was an old hospital administrator, someone she’d helped out years a
Author’s POVHailey woke to a sound. At first she thought it was the city, a car horn, it was like she was in a dream and someone was shouting somewhere far away. Then she heard it again, soft and low, It was Maurice’s voice, calling a name in his sleep.“Leila,” he whispered, She sat up, heart thudding. Maurice had been distant for months, they barely spent any time together anymore. He woke up some nights talking, sometimes laughing, sometimes calling names he hadn’t said in years. But the way he said Leila made her feel weird. It was a word full of tenderness, an accident of care that surprised her in the dark.Hailey smoothed the covers over her knees and listened to him breathe. He rolled onto his back, eyes still closed, and the room went quiet again. She could have left it at that another meaningless whisper in a house full of things they didn’t say but something tightened inside her. Curiosity pressed at the edges of worry until it became something harder.By morning, the cur
Author's POVThe next morning came heavy with silence. The rain had stopped, but the house still felt cold not from weather, but from the tension that had settled in its walls. Fred had been locked in one of the family’s secured quarters, a small, quiet place at the far end of the estate. The old room had no windows, only a single lamp that flickered weakly against the walls.Fred sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the closed door. He wasn’t angry at least, not anymore. Mostly, he was tired. He had shouted, pleaded, and reasoned with Maurice until his voice cracked, but none of it mattered. His brother’s mind was made up.“Maurice has lost himself,” he murmured to the empty room. “And I’m paying the price.”He didn’t even know how long it had been hours or maybe a full day. There was no clock, no sunlight. Just silence and the echo of his own thoughts.**Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, Maurice stood by the window in his study, watching the rain drip from the eaves. Fro
Author’s POVThe rain came down hard that night, beating against the windows like it was trying to warn someone. The thunder rolled in the distance, and flashes of lightning lit up the sky. Inside Maurice’s mansion, the lights were dim, the air thick with tension.Maurice sat alone in his study, a glass of whiskey untouched beside him. He wasn’t drinking tonight yet. His thoughts were enough to make him dizzy. Fred’s face kept flashing in his mind, mixed with Veldana’s. Each time he pictured them together, his chest tightened until he could barely breathe.For weeks, Gary’s words had haunted him.“Fred’s been around Veldana’s circle a lot.”The more he thought about it, the more it made sense at least in his mind. Fred had been distant lately. Secretive. He’d started going out late and coming back without saying where he’d been. And whenever Maurice asked, his brother would only smile and say, “Don’t worry about it.”But tonight, Maurice was done wondering. He wanted the truth.When F
Author’s POVMaurice had always been a man who liked control over his work, his home, his thoughts. But lately, control was slipping through his fingers like sand. Ever since he saw Leila, ever since her face began haunting him, he had become a man split in two.He spent most of his days locked in his study, avoiding everyone, even Hailey.Hailey noticed it immediately. The change in him was like watching sunlight fade behind clouds. He no longer smiled when she spoke, barely responded when she called. At first, she thought it was work stress. Then she blamed it on his old memories, the ones he never talked about.But deep down, she knew it was because of her.Veldana.The name alone carried a shadow that never seemed to leave their lives.Maurice tried to stay busy, but his mind wouldn’t stop spinning. Every quiet moment became a battlefield. Every night, his thoughts dragged him back to the same question: Was Leila his childAnd worse, had Veldana been with Eldric all along?The ima
Days had passed, but Maurice still couldn’t shake off the image of the little girl at the hospital, Leila. The way she smiled, the sound of her laughter, and those bright, curious eyes. There was something about her that refused to leave his mind.He had cleared her hospital bill without even thinking twice. It wasn’t like him to care so deeply about someone else’s child, yet something in him had pushed him to do it. Now, as he sat in his office, papers scattered across his desk, he found himself lost in thought again.Who was she really?At first, he told himself he only helped because he felt pity, nothing more. But now, a strange thought had begun to creep into his mind. A thought that wouldn’t let him rest.Could Leila be his?The idea hit him like a storm. His chest tightened, and he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to shake it off. No, that was impossible. It couldn’t be. But then again… what if it was?He remembered her face again, the shape of her nose, the curve of he







