登入Isabella's POVI didn't know why I woke up crying.There was no sudden nightmare to shake me awake, no jarring noise cutting through the stillness of the room, no conscious memory rising up to haunt me. Just silent, heavy tears tracking down my cheeks before my eyes had even adjusted to the soft morning light filtering through the sheer curtains.For a long minute, I lay completely still, staring up at the intricate crown molding of the ceiling. The world was quiet. The sun cast long, warm ribbons of gold across the hardwood floor. Everything around me suggested peace.Yet, an unbearable, suffocating heaviness had settled over my chest.Without thinking, my hand drifted down, resting gently over my lower stomach. It was becoming an instinct—a quiet, desperate physical reflex. The tiny, fragile life growing inside me couldn't hear me yet, but my heart pounded so loudly against my ribs that I felt as though the child must feel every vibration.I closed my eyes, my throat tighteni
Richard Blackwood's POVRichard Blackwood hated surprises.To him, a surprise was not an accident; it was a symptom of incompetence. He had built an empire spanning continents by ensuring that the future was always bought, paid for, and entirely predictable. Every meeting was choreographed weeks in advance. Every hostile takeover had three layers of contingency. Every enemy was meticulously profiled long before they even realized they were standing in his crosshairs.Control was the oxygen he breathed.Which was why the sudden, chaotic existence of Isabella Morrison irritated him more than he cared to admit. It was a variable he hadn't accounted for, a loose thread in a tapestry he had woven perfectly twenty-eight years ago.He stood before the floor-to-ceiling glass of Blackwood Tower, one hand resting casually in his pocket. Below him, the New York skyline stretched out like a grid of circuit boards—vast, cold, and entirely under his thumb.Behind him, a boardroom filled with
Isabella's POVThe silence in the room stretched so thin I could hear the rhythmic, heavy brass pendulum of the grandfather clock in the corner.Tick.Tick.Tick.Five pairs of eyes—each a different shade of Morrison steel—remained locked on me.Daniel was the first to break the quiet. His voice didn't rise, but it carried the weight of an absolute decree."No."I blinked, holding his gaze. "...You don't even know the plan yet.""I don't need to." He leaned back, his expression entirely calm, though the muscles in his jaw were wound tight. "If it involves Richard Blackwood, and it involves you taking a single step toward him, the answer is an unconditional no.""I agree," Sebastian chimed in instantly, his fingers tapping a sharp, impatient rhythm against his coffee mug.Nathan didn't speak, but his slow, solemn nod was deafening.In the corner, Julian folded his arms across his chest, his usual playful smirk completely gone. Even my grandfather, sitting at the head of the
Isabella's POVThe second my eyes landed on the message, my stomach twisted so violently that I nearly dropped my phone.THE BABY SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEADFor a brief moment, the room around me disappeared.The voices faded.The television screens blurred.All I could think about was the threat.Not against me.Against my child.A sharp wave of nausea crashed into me without warning.I shot to my feet so suddenly that my chair scraped loudly against the floor, drawing everyone's attention."Isabella?" Daniel called immediately.I didn't answer.My hand flew to my mouth as another wave hit me.Without another word, I turned and rushed out of the breakfast room.I could hear my family calling after me as I hurried down the hallway, but I didn't stop.The nausea kept building until it became impossible to ignore.By the time I reached the nearest bathroom, I was already pushing the door open with trembling hands.I barely made it to the toilet before I threw up.My entire body shook as I gr
Isabella's POVBy seven in the morning, the entire Morrison estate had transformed into a war room.Lawyers moved through the hallways carrying stacks of documents like waiters at cocktail parties. I didn't even know you could have more than one lawyer.Security personnel stood at every entrance.Phones rang nonstop. It was like I was in a telecommunications office.Televisions played news coverage from every major network.And every single screen was talking about Richard Blackwood.I walked into the breakfast room and found all four brothers already there.Nathan was staring at six computer screens at once.Sebastian was reading financial reports, Julian was scrolling through social media, and Daniel was on a conference call.None of them looked happy which was strange because they always looked happy."Good morning?" I said carefully, scanning their faces again.Nathan looked up. "No."“Not a good morning?”“Not at all.” Julian was the one that spoke."That bad?”"Worse than bad.” N
Isabella's POV The morning after the gala, my face was on every news site and social media platform in the country. "The Lost Morrison Heiress Found." "Billionaire's Long-Lost Granddaughter Revealed." But my favorite headline was from a gossip blog: "Marcus Wei's Biggest Mistake: He Divorced a Morrison." I read that one three times before I started making calls. It was time to stop playing defense. Time to attack.I woke up in my bedroom at the Morrison estate to my phone vibrating nonstop. Notifications flooded my screen faster than I could read them. News alerts, social media mentions, interview requests from every major outlet in the country. My Instagram had gone from three hundred followers to three million overnight. People I hadn't spoken to since the orphanage were suddenly messaging me saying they always knew I was special.The business world was even more intense. My assistant sent me a list of meeting requests that was twenty pages long. Every venture capital firm wan
Isabella's POV I walked into that ballroom on my grandfather's arm wearing a dress that cost more than my old apartment and every head turned. But the only faces I cared about were frozen in shock at a table near the back. Marcus. Catherine. Vivian. Elena. They were staring at me like they'd see
Isabella's POV Two months can change everything. Two months ago, I was nobody begging for scraps from a man who didn't love me. Today, I sat across from three startup founders who were practically begging me to take their company. The best part? They had no idea who I really was. Yet.Two months
Isabella’s POV There are moments in life when everything changes. When the person you were dies and someone new is born. For me, that moment was walking into the Morrison estate and locking eyes with four men who looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. I'd spent three years
Isabella’s POVThe pregnancy test sat on the bathroom counter, the two pink lines staring back at me. In the next room, my husband was laughing – not with me, never with me – but with her. The woman he actually loved.My hands shook as I picked up the test and stared at it again. Pregnant. I was







