تسجيل الدخولShannon caught Sean’s wrist.He looked at her.She shook her head, not yet knowing what he was being asked to do, only knowing what he might offer.Sean turned his hand beneath hers and held it. “I want proof they’re alive,” he said.“Do you think I would have gone to the trouble of collecting them just to kill them before we spoke?”“I think you’re capable of anything. Put one of them on.”Silas looked towards the door. For a moment, he considered refusing. Then he pressed the small button beside his chair.Darius entered. “Bring his mother.”Sean heard the instruction. His grip tightened around Shannon’s fingers.She looked towards the hallway. A guard stood outside the sitting room. Shannon motioned to him, keeping her voice low. “Get my father. Now.”The man left immediately.Silas heard something move at Sean’s end. “You’re not alone.”“I’m inside a house. There are people in it.”“Then be careful what you tell them.”“Let me hear my mother.”The door opened again. Mrs. Vale ente
Edward watched him approach. Each slow step made it harder to keep his wife behind him. “Whatever you think I did,” Edward said, “she did not give Sean the address.”Silas stopped. “There it is.”Edward went silent.“You finally said something useful.”His wife looked at him.Silas’s smile returned, but without warmth. “Sean’s men searched the building shortly after your guards brought you to safety. You were the only person outside my organization who had been invited there.”“Sean already knew about the clinic.”“I am not speaking about the clinic.”Edward lowered his gaze. He had no answer.Silas waited another moment, allowing him time to search for one. Then he said, “Look at me.”Edward obeyed.“You know what is in store for you. Don’t insult us both by pretending you can talk your way out of it.”Mrs. Vale made a small sound.Edward felt her fingers slipping from his as she began to shake. He held on tighter.Silas looked down at their joined hands. “Now you want to protect som
Downstairs, Harris’s phone lay beneath his outstretched hand. A message from one of Sean’s other team leaders had appeared on the lock screen. 'Any requirements for the afternoon shift?'There would be no reply.The men moved Edward and his wife through the hallway.Mrs. Vale saw Harris beside the entrance and stopped so abruptly that the man behind her nearly collided with her. “Oh God.”Edward followed her gaze.Harris had stood between them and the men who came to their house. He had brought them safely here.This morning, Edward had thanked him for a shirt and now he lay motionless a few feet from the front door.Mrs. Vale began crying.Darius moved into her line of sight. “Keep walking.”“He has a family,” she said.Darius did not answer.Edward pulled her gently towards him.Outside, a vehicle waited near the entrance.Edward searched the grounds. No guard at the gate, no movement beside the garage, no one coming.His wife leaned closer. “Sean will know,” she whispered.Edward l
When Sean returned to the study, Kennedy lowered his phone. “What did you say?”“That my father cheated you, you went after what belonged to you, and someone is trying very hard to make everyone forget the first part.”Shannon’s shoulders eased.Kennedy studied him. “You didn’t have to do that.”Sean slipped his phone into his pocket. “I wasn’t going to let them use my silence against you.”“Edward is still your father.”“Yes. That doesn’t make the story they’re telling true.”Shannon reached for his hand when he came beside her. “Thank you,” she whispered.He squeezed her fingers.Not long after, on the laptop the broadcast changed. Sean’s photograph appeared beside Kennedy’s.SEAN VALE DEFENDS KENNEDY MILES: ‘MY FATHER’S CRIMES BROUGHT THE COMPANY DOWN.’Kennedy read it without speaking. Then his gaze shifted towards Sean.There had been a time when he would have searched those words for an ulterior motive. This morning, he simply said, “Thank you.”Silas watched the statement appea
Shannon sighed and leaned back against the sofa. “My father finally agrees, and now you’re the difficult one.”“I’ve always been difficult. You were distracted by my face.”She gave him a look.He kept her hand in his. “Let’s plan it,” he said.She looked at him again. “The small ceremony?”“If that’s what you want.”“The garden?”“Yes.”“No business guests.”“Agreed.”“And you don’t get to turn this into an engagement that lasts five years.”“We’ll choose a date together. We won’t choose it tonight because you’re frightened or because someone thinks a pregnant woman ought to hurry.”Shannon considered him for a long moment then she nodded. “All right.”“Are you sure?”“I’m allowed to be disappointed and still understand.”His expression softened. “Yes, you are.”She moved closer and settled beneath his arm. After a moment, she said, “We can still look at dresses.”Sean looked down at her. “You have already looked at dresses.”“I’m a designer. Looking is research.”“How many?”“That f
Sean took her outstretched hand. “What question?”Shannon glanced towards the doorway Kennedy had disappeared through. “Close the door first.”His eyebrows lifted. “Should I be worried?”“Probably.”Sean closed it, then returned to her. She was still standing beside the window, smiling in a way that made him forget the questions waiting on his phone. He rested his hands at her waist. “What have you and your father agreed to without me?”“Nothing. He told me to ask you.”“That sounds worse.”Shannon smoothed the front of his shirt, taking longer than necessary.Sean caught her fingers. “Sweetheart.”“I want us to get married.”His expression softened. “We are getting married.”“Before the baby comes.”His hands became still.Shannon watched him carefully. “Nothing big,” she continued. “Just a small ceremony. Our family, someone to marry us, dinner afterwards. We could do it here.”“Here?”“The garden is beautiful.”“And your father agreed?”“He said if you wanted it too, then it was fi
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
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







