LOGINChapter 296 Cynthia's POV Nathaniel's face hardened, his jaw setting in that stubborn way that meant he'd already made up his mind and nothing I said would change it. "I'm going to tell Mom," he said firmly. "She needs to know what Julian is doing. What he's become." "What he's become?" I repeated, my voice rising. "Nathaniel, he hasn't become anything. He's always been gay. This isn't something that happened to him. This is who he is." "It's wrong," Nathaniel said, his voice tight with conviction. "It's ungodly. It goes against everything we were raised to believe, everything our family stands for." "Everything you believe," I shot back. "Not everyone in this family shares your rigid, judgmental view of the world." Nathaniel stepped closer, his expression a mixture of anger and something that looked almost like desperation. "Julian needs to come back to his senses," he said. "He needs to understand that this... this lifestyle he's chosen is unacceptable. That he's putting the
Chapter 295 Bryan's POV I looked Grace directly in the eyes, keeping my voice cold and controlled. "I don't actually give a fuck about whatever drama is going on between you, Anna, and Pascal," I said bluntly. "That's your mess to sort out. What I do care about is making sure you never get found." Grace's eyebrows rose slightly. "Because if the police catch you," I continued, "they'll make you talk. They'll get information about where you took Ethan, where you dumped him, every detail of what happened that night. And that trail will lead them to finding him." I stepped closer, my voice dropping lower. "And I can't let that happen," I said. "Right now, I don't know if Ethan is dead or alive. And honestly? It's better not to know. Better for everyone if he just stays... gone." Grace stared at me for a moment. Then she burst out laughing. The sound was sharp and mocking, echoing off the walls of the alley we were standing in. "This is hilarious," Grace said, wiping at her eyes
Chapter 294 Cynthia's POV Amber had finally fallen asleep. After all the tears, after all the promises I'd made that I desperately hoped I could keep, after holding him close and feeling his small body shake with sobs, he'd exhausted himself into sleep. I'd stayed with him for a while longer, watching his chest rise and fall, his face peaceful in a way it so rarely was when he was awake. I'm going to fix this, I'd promised silently, brushing his hair back from his forehead. I'm going to bring your father home. Finally, I'd slipped out of his room, closing the door quietly behind me. Helen had been in the hallway, her expression sympathetic. "He's been asking about Ethan more lately," she'd said softly. "I think seeing the news coverage... it's making it harder for him to pretend everything's okay." "I know," I'd said. "But we're close now. The police have real leads. We're going to find him." Helen had nodded, but I could see the doubt in her eyes. The same doubt everyone s
Chapter 293 Bryan's POVGrace struggled in my grip, twisting violently, trying to wrench herself free. "Let me go!" she hissed, her voice sharp with panic. "Let me go or I'll…" "I'm not going to report you to the police," I said quickly, tightening my hold just enough to keep her from bolting. "Grace, listen to me. I'm not here to turn you in." She froze, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Then what the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. I took a breath, keeping my voice calm and measured. "I came here for selfish reasons," I said. "Reasons that have nothing to do with the police or turning you in or any of that. You don't need to be concerned about me." Grace's expression shifted from panic to confusion. "Selfish reasons," she repeated slowly, studying my face. "What does that mean?" "It means we might actually want the same thing," I said carefully. Grace stared at me for a long moment, her breathing still ragged, clearly trying to decide if I was lying or setting s
Chapter 292 Ethan's POV I barely noticed when the light started fading. Didn't register the sun moving across the sky, didn't feel the temperature dropping as evening approached. All I could see was her face. Cynthia’s face. The memory had ignited something in my brain — not everything, not a flood of returned memories like I desperately wished for—but enough. Enough to remember the curve of her jaw, the exact shade of her eyes, the way her blonde hair fell just to her shoulders. I needed to get it down on paper before it faded. Before the details blurred back into the fog that had consumed the last six months of my life. I'd found paper in Prisca's room and a pencil, and I'd started drawing. Over and over. Sketch after sketch. The first one was wrong — her eyes weren't quite right, too wide, too round. The second was closer but her nose was off, too sharp. The third was better. The fourth is even more so. I kept going, my hand moving frantically across the page, erasi
Chapter 291Ethan's POVPrisca's lips were soft against mine.Warm. Insistent. Moving with a hunger I couldn't reciprocate but couldn't seem to escape either.My hands were on her bare shoulders—when had I let them get there?—and she was pressed against me, her naked body seeking heat and connection and something I couldn't give her.This is wrong, the rational part of my brain screamed. Stop. Push her away. This isn't—And then I felt a bright and sudden and overwhelming.Like lightning cracking across a dark sky.…I was in a car.Night outside. The ocean somewhere close—I could hear waves.And there was a woman beside me.Short blonde hair. Beautiful face. Eyes that held years of pain and longing and something fierce that made my chest ache.Cynthia.My wife.I could see her. Actually see her for the first time in six months.I had just finished kissing her then I led her to a beach house close by and she turned and looked at me."Kiss me again," she said, her voice raw, desperate.
Chapter 120 Anna's POV I was pacing back and forth in my apartment, on a phone call. The space felt emptier than usual tonight — the furniture I'd carefully chosen, the décor I'd selected to impress Ethan whenever he visited, all of it seemed hollow now. . Practically meaningless. This was what
Chapter 124 Cynthia's POV “What?” "You've been on your phone an awful lot," Julian observed from his position on the couch, looking at me over the rim of his wine glass with that knowing older brother expression. I looked up from my screen, where I'd been rereading Nikolai's lunch invitation f
Chapter 122 Cynthia's POV With all that had happened today — Ethan ambushing me at the university, the humiliating phone call incident with Bryan, that exposed woman with her vulgar comments and inappropriate touching, Ethan crashing my business meeting and turning it into some territorial pis
Chapter 117 Ethan's POV While I followed Cynthia's car to the restaurant, keeping a safe distance so she wouldn't spot me in her rearview mirror, I remembered Sienna immediately. Devian's cousin. The woman who had sat on my lap back at the club months ago and fought with Anna, creating a scen







