INICIAR SESIĂNGET OUT Emma had been fuming the whole time.She couldn't read Sarah's next move, and it was making her sick. The slap video had gone viral the way she wanted. Then it started disappearing. Quietly. Efficiently. She needed it up. She needed people to keep blaming Sarah. Even though she had nothing to do with the man who had claimed the children,she was beginning to understand what was actually happening."Emma." Her mother's voice was careful. "So you're telling me those kids could be Nathan's?"She didn't look surprised. That was the part that stung."Mom, what else do you want me to say? Tell me how Alex and that boy look that much alike. The girl too.""Then why isn't he the biological father?"The question knocked something loose inside her. She'd been turning it over herself. She thought about the day she'd seen Nathan taking the kids' hair. Was he hiding something? Nothing was adding up. The more she dug, the more tangled it got."Maybe someone tampered with the re
ARE YOU CHEATING ON EMMA It was Mrs. Reed.Sarah picked up the call and her heart went still."Ms. Irish, I'm coming to check on the pattern tomorrow."She could only get out one word."Okay."The call ended.She hadn't even looked at the sketch. She gathered her things and started the drive home, her mind somewhere else the whole way.Back at the house, Adin was already working.He was the one who had sent the information to Sophie anonymously. Now he was on the video, the one that had circulated about his mother. He hacked the main account, deleted it. Then moved on to the others.One by one.Across the city, Nathan hadn't said anything about the slap video.He was still angry about the DNA results. The kind of anger that had no clean reason behind it, which only made it worse. His phone lit up. He checked the name before picking up."Hi, Mom. If you're calling about the slap, I don't have anything to say.""Why don't you have anything to say when it's about your wife
The viral slap The post had over a hundred thousand shares by morning.Sarah sat in her car outside the office she scrolled through the comments, and felt something cold settle in her chest. Not panic. She had moved past panic somewhere around two in the morning when she had read the same comments enough times that they stopped landing.She knows who the father is and sheâs been hiding him.She slapped her own sister because she wants the man for herself.Irish or whatever her name is has been living a lie this whole time.She locked her phone and put it in her bag.The slap was out there now. Someone had recorded it on their phone through the glass wall and posted it before Emma had even reached the lift. Sixty seconds of footage, no sound, just Sarahâs hand and Emmaâs head turning and the whole office watching. The comments underneath it had written their own story. Sarah was jealous. Sarah was desperate. Sarah had always wanted what Emma had.She got out of the car and went to wo
The unexpected slap Sarah stared at the unknown number until it stopped ringing.Nathan was watching her. She could feel it. She set the phone face down on the table and looked up at him and said, âIâll deal with that later.âHe didnât push. He looked at her for a moment in the way he had been looking at her lately⊠like he was trying to work something out and wasnât quite there yet, and then he looked down at Alex who had gone completely slack against his arm, mouth slightly open, fully asleep.âI should get him home,â Nathan said.âYes,â Sarah said.He shifted carefully so he could lift Alex without waking him, stood with the boy draped over his shoulder the way fathers carried sleeping children, heavy and boneless and completely trusting. He picked up the backpack from the floor. And left.She closed the door after him and stood with her hand on it for a moment. Then she went and sat back down in the chair and picked her phone up and turned it over.The unknown number had not left
Chapter Twenty Two: Scandal Sarah didnât move.She stood in the middle of her sitting room and looked at the small boy on her sofa and felt the floor shift slightly underneath her.Then she approached him slowly.âNo, sweetheart,â she said finally, and her voice came out gentler than she expected. âIâm not your mummy. But youâre safe here.âSomething in his face shifted. Not disappointment exactly. More like a door closing quietly on something heâd been carrying a long time. He nodded once and looked down at the backpack in his lap.Madam Cassy appeared at Sarahâs shoulder. âIâll get him something to eat,â she said under her breath, and disappeared back to the kitchen before Sarah could respond.Adin had settled himself on the far end of the sofa with a book he wasnât reading, close enough to be present without making anything of it. Sarah looked at her son for a second and felt a quiet rush of something she didnât have a name for.She sat down in the chair across from Alex.âHow d
Chapter Twenty One: Issue Addressed Nathan was ready by one.He had spent the morning going over exactly what he was going to say, not because he needed to rehearse it but because he wanted it clean. No room for misinterpretation, no loose ends the press could pull at afterward. The DNA results were clear. The statement was simple. He was going to walk into that room at two oâclock, say what needed to be said, answer a few questions, and walk back out. Thirty minutes at most. Then it was done.He dressed carefully. Dark suit, no tie. He wanted to look like a man addressing a business matter, not performing a crisis. His assistant had called that morning to confirm the room was set and the right people had been notified. The financial press was present, two national outlets, three entertainment journalists who had been running the story hardest. Let them all be in the room when he shut it down.He knocked on Alexâs door at half past one.âIâll be back by four,â he said through the do
Chapter TwelveSarah was walking out of the building when her phone rang.She glanced at the screen-Sophie. She almost let it ring out. It had been a long day and all she wanted was to get to the school before the pickup rush, collect her kids, and just breathe. But Sophie didn't call unless it mat
Chapter Seven: Illegitimate SonNathan froze when he opened his phone and saw the photograph on the screen.Number one trending.Alex, his son, smiling as if the world was still the same as always, standing right beside Sarahâs child. The resemblance was so brutal it hurt to look at. Almost twins.
Chapter FourteenSarah walked slowly to the door. Her hands weren't shaking yet but something in her chest had already tightened, the way it always did when something was about to go wrong. She gripped the handle and pulled it open.The world stilled.Her mouth hung open.Standing at her doorstep w
Chapter ThirteenSarah's phone buzzed against the conference table.She had been mid-sentence when she felt it. She held up a finger, glanced at the screen and every other thought left her head.Mom, could you come to the school? Someone is following us.She knew her son. Adin did not send messages







