LOGINBella POVWe lay in the dark together, both of us doing the same thing we had done every night for weeks lying awake, pretending to sleep.I turned toward Caleb and pressed my mouth to the side of his neck, just below his ear, slow and deliberate. He made a quiet sound in his throat.“Bella…” he whispered.I didn’t answer. I just kissed him again, then let my hand slide down his chest. My fingers slipped under the waistband of his sweatpants and wrapped around his cock. He was already half-hard. I stroked him slowly, feeling him thicken and throb in my grip.Caleb groaned softly. “We should talk about today.”“We already did,” I murmured, pressing closer. I nibbled on his earlobe, sucking lightly the way I knew he liked. “I don’t want to talk anymore tonight.”His hand came to my waist, gripping me tightly as I continued stroking him. He was fully hard now, hot and heavy in my palm.“Bella,” he said again, voice strained. “You just found out Margaret wasn’t your mother. That Richard w
Caleb pov I sat down across from her as she looked at me with full attention. It seems she had already decided to face this directly. "All of it," she said. "Don't hold anything back." "Your mother," I said, "had a younger sister named Elaine Voss. She was four years younger than Margaret, every account says she was quieter and more artistic than her sister." Bella folded her hands in her lap and said nothing. "Years ago, Elaine won a four-month arts fellowship in Geneva and she went. According to a cousin my investigator found, she came back changed. She was happier, but a different kind of quiet." I paused then continued. "Some months after she returned, she gave birth to a daughter. The birth certificate listed the father as unknown." Bella looked down at the desk between us. "When the baby was six months old," I said, "Elaine died from an undetected heart defect. She was only twenty-four." The room became completely quiet. "The baby," Bella said. "The baby was placed
Caleb pov "Sebastien Marchetti," the investigator said. He spelled the name. "Lyon, France. He is sixty-five and the chairman of Marchetti Group. It is one of the largest private conglomerates in Europe, covering private banking, real estate, and fashion. He was thirty-three when Bella was conceived. The fellowship records put him and Elaine in the same city for those four months." He paused then continued. "There is no sign he knows she exists. No contact, and no acknowledgement in any record." I wrote the name slowly, Sebastien Marchetti. "He was one of the twelve fellows," I said. "Yes. He is the only one who fits the timeline and the location perfectly. I checked the other eleven, and none of them match." I looked at my notepad. Elaine Voss, the fellowship. The baby, the heart defect, the money. Margaret raising her dead sister's daughter as a transaction. And at the bottom of the page, in my uneven handwriting: Sebastien Marchetti. "Thank you," I said. "Send me everything.
Caleb POV He called me two hours later."I have pieces," he said. "Not the whole picture." "Tell me the pieces." "Margaret's maiden name was Voss," the investigator said. "She had a younger sister named Elaine, who was quieter and artistic. Elaine went to Geneva on a four-month arts fellowship twenty-nine years ago. Six months after she came back, she gave birth to a baby girl. The father was listed as unknown." I wrote this down without speaking. "The child's name on that original registration," he said carefully. My pen stopped moving. "What is it?" "I don't have it yet," he said. "The original registration was filed in a different borough and later amended. I am tracing it now. I also found a death record for Elaine Voss. She died from an undetected heart defect when the baby was months old, she was only twenty-four." I looked at my notepad. Elaine Voss. Geneva. A baby with no listed father. Dead at twenty-four. "How long does it take to get the amended registration?" I ask
Caleb POVThe word that stayed with me was what Jade had said in the courtroom, right before the guards took her away. Stripped of all her composure, she had shouted, "You're not even my sister. Ask her what you really are."I had been standing in the gallery, three rows back. I watched Bella hold Jade's gaze for seconds. Then, Bella turned and walked toward me. I took her hand at the end of the aisle, and we walked out into the cold Tuesday afternoon. I didn't say anything about it because Bella said she didn't want to think about it, and I respected that.But the word stayed with me, I thought about it on the drive home. I thought about it that night while Bella slept and I couldn't. I thought about it the next morning at five-thirty over coffee, and by six, I had made a decision.The trial had produced hundreds of pages of paperwork—witness statements, forensic accounting, and communication logs from the remand facility. My legal team had read every page twice to prepare for testi
Bella POV Inside the office was Caleb, the deputy head—Mrs. Walcott, according to her lanyard—and Lena, who stood slightly apart with her tablet running a building schematic. Caleb turned when I came in. His face was composed, and his jaw was set. "He was at afternoon registration at 2:50," Caleb said. "No gate footage yet. Lena is pulling interior cameras." "That's thirty-two minutes," I said. "A full staff sweep is in progress," Mrs. Walcott said. "Every classroom, the sports hall, both toilet blocks." My phone rang. It was an unknown number but a number, with a local prefix so I answered. "Mrs. Black?" A young woman's voice sounded slightly breathless. "This is Miss Perry, the library assistant at Silverton Primary. I'm so sorry, I only just heard the office was looking for him. Tom is here with me. He has been here since half two. He's completely fine." I put my hand on the edge of the nearest desk. "He stayed behind to finish his Spinosaurus project," she continued. "H
Caleb pov "I understand." I felt something loosen in my chest, hope flooding in where there'd been only guilt. "Thank you, Bella. You won't regret this.""I already regret it," she said, but there was less bite in her voice. "But Maya's right. Tom deserves to know his father. And despite everythin
Bella pov Maya appeared and took Tom's hand, leading him away while shooting me a concerned look over her shoulder. I opened the door just wide enough to slip out into the hallway, closing it firmly behind me so Tom couldn't see."What are you doing here?" I demanded, keeping my voice low. How do y
Bella pov "Jennifer called me," I said coldly. "I know about your threats.""They weren't threats." He finally looked at me, his grey eyes pleading. "They were options. I don't want to take you to court, Bella. I don't want to fight you. I just want a chance to know my son.""You should have thoug
Bella pov "When?" I demanded through my sobs. "When did she die? What month?""April. April fifteenth."I'd been in London. Building my empire, raising Tom, surviving. And the one person who'd shown me genuine kindness, who'd looked at me like I was worth something, had died thinking I'd abandoned







