登入Shannon blinked. "What?""I'm sorry." Sean lowered his phone. "I shouldn't have done that downstairs.""Sean...""I was trying to stop him." His words began coming faster. "I wasn't trying to challenge your father. I know that's probably what it looked like, but I swear I wasn't."Shannon stared at him.Sean dragged a hand over his face. "I just..." He exhaled heavily. "I could see where everything was going." He stepped closer. "Your father was going after mine, my father was getting angry, people were already choosing sides, businesses were getting dragged into it and I knew if I fought back..." His eyes filled with regret. "...eventually you'd be standing between us."Shannon's expression softened."I don't want that." Sean shook his head. "I don't ever want you having to choose between your father and me." His voice cracked slightly. "You just found him."Shannon's eyes immediately burned."You've had twenty seven years stolen from you. I'm not going to become the reason you lose
Sean looked away. He hated this, every second, every camera, every whisper, every pair of eyes watching his family fall apart, but whenever he looked toward Shannon he remembered why he was doing it. He couldn't let this become a war because eventually she would be forced to choose her father or him, and Sean refused to put the woman he loved in that position.Kennedy finally spoke. "Eighty percent."Sean nodded."You think that fixes twenty seven years?""No." The answer came immediately.Kennedy's expression shifted slightly.Sean continued. "I don't think anything can." He stepped closer. "You lost your wife, you believed your daughter was dead, you lost your family's wealth, you lost twenty seven years." Sean slowly shook his head. "There isn't a percentage I can give you that returns any of that."Kennedy's eyes hardened. "Then why offer it?""Because you're coming after the business." Sean's voice remained quiet. "So I'm giving you the business."Kennedy stared at him.Sean cont
Sean didn't move. The ballroom remained eerily silent around him, hundreds of people waiting to see whether the younger man standing opposite Kennedy Miles truly intended to challenge him.Sean slowly looked around. He recognized almost every face. Some personally, some professionally, some because he'd sat across from them at negotiation tables, others because he'd helped them when their companies were on the verge of collapsing. Men who had called him at midnight because a deal was falling apart, executives whose mergers he'd rescued, investors he'd protected from disastrous decisions, politicians who had requested introductions, families he'd helped quietly, without ever asking for anything in return.His expression hardened. "Since everyone seems to be deciding where they stand..."Several guests shifted uncomfortably.Sean continued. "...then those of you who owe me favors should remember them."The room became even quieter.Edward slowly looked toward his son.Kennedy's eyes na
Sean slowly looked around the ballroom. People were already shifting, already whispering, already choosing sides before anything had even happened. His jaw tightened. He could stop some of it he knew that. There were people in this room who owed him favors personally, deals he'd saved, companies he'd rescued, investors he'd made fortunes for, political connections, international partners who worked with Sean Vale, not Edward Vale.Kennedy Miles was powerful, extremely powerful but Sean wasn't some spoiled heir sitting in his father's chair. He'd earned influence of his own and people were about to remember that. The problem was if he fought Kennedy publicly what happens to Shannon?Sean looked toward her. She stood beside the Miles table. Her face had lost every trace of happiness from earlier. One hand rested against the table, the other unconsciously moved toward her stomach.Sean didn't notice, his mind was elsewhere.Shannon looked from her father to Sean, two men she loved prepa
Edward remained standing. For several seconds, the two men simply stared at one another across the ballroom. Twenty seven years, that history stood between them now, not buried, not forgotten, exposed. Hundreds of guests watched in stunned silence while cameras continued recording from every corner of the room.Edward slowly adjusted the front of his tuxedo. Whatever shock Kennedy's announcement had caused, he refused to let it show. If Kennedy wanted a spectacle, Edward wouldn't give him the satisfaction of watching him panic.A faint smile appeared on his face. "Twenty seven years." He nodded slowly. "That's a long time to spend planning someone's downfall."Kennedy didn't respond.Edward continued. "I won't stand here and argue about the past with you."Kennedy's expression hardened. "Convenient.""You've already decided your version of events.""My version?" Kennedy laughed quietly. "You stole from me."A murmur moved through the ballroom.Edward remained composed. "And yet here y
Murmurs spread through the ballroom.Kennedy didn't stop. "By the time I realized what was happening there was almost nothing left." His expression remained composed, but his voice had become heavier. "My wife warned me." A sad smile touched his lips. "She told me I trusted too easily, she told me there was something wrong but he was my best friend." Kennedy slowly shook his head. "So I defended him." His eyes became distant. "I trusted my best friend instead of trusting my wife."The sentence hung heavily in the room."And I paid for it."Shannon's eyes filled.Kennedy looked toward her. "Your mother was pregnant." His voice softened. "Very pregnant." He smiled faintly. "And I was so broke by then that when she went into labor..." He stopped. For the first time, his voice failed him.The room remained completely silent.Kennedy swallowed. "I didn't even have money for transportation."Shannon covered her mouth. She knew the story.Sean's expression darkened."I walked." Kennedy conti
Shannon’s knees weakened beneath her. Three months of silence. Three months of absence. Three months where she wasn’t there. Her breathing grew uneven. Three months where someone else was. Her gaze slowly shifted back to Rowan. And this time she understood. Rowan watched her, something sharp
Rowan sat on the bed, his arm wrapped loosely around Evelyn.Evelyn stood close, too close, and Rowan leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world.Like he had done it a hundred times.Like it belonged there.“Stop!”The word tore out of Shannon befor
The first thing Shannon felt was the weight, like her entire body had been dragged beneath something heavy and invisible, pressing her down into a darkness that refused to let her rise.Then came the sound, a slow, steady beep... beep... beep...It echoed from far away at first, distant and unreal,
The guest room was at the end of the hall.Shannon paused at the doorway, her fingers resting lightly against the frame before she stepped in.It used to be a storage room now it was neat, cleaned and prepared.A bed, fresh sheets and a wardrobe that looked barely used.Shannon exhaled slowly and s







