All Chapters of Bound by Deception : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Helen had always believed there were people who were meant to run, and people who were meant to be chased. She had never imagined that one day she would belong to the former.The car hummed beneath her like a restless animal, its old engine rattling every time she pushed the speed just a little too far. She kept one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror, half-expecting red and blue lights to bloom out of the darkness behind them. Every passing set of headlights made her chest tighten. Every truck that drove too close set her nerves alight.Diana slept, or pretended to in the passenger seat. Her head leaned against the window, her swollen belly rising and falling visibly under her jacket. Helen could tell by the way her fists tightened and loosened that she wasn’t truly asleep. She was counting breaths the same way Helen was counting mile markers.The city they had fled lay far behind them now, reduced to a cluster of distant lights swallowed by the night. They were some

Dakota stood frozen in the middle of Helen’s office, the brown envelope clutched in her hand like it might burn her if she loosened her grip even slightly. The air around her felt too quiet, too heavy, as if the room itself was holding its breath with her. She had expected to find something. A hidden bank account. Fraudulent documents. Something that would prove Helen’s misuse of power in the company. She had prepared herself for corruption, greed, selfishness because that was Helen. But this? This felt like a different kind of betrayal entirely, one that reached into a deeper wound she didn’t even know she had. She lowered herself slowly into Helen’s leather chair, the envelope trembling in her hands. She didn’t want to open it again. She had already seen the nightmare it contained but her mind needed to confirm that she hadn’t imagined it. That her eyes hadn’t played tricks on her. That she hadn’t misread the name printed clearly on the stark white paper. Probability of pate

The house felt quieter than usual that night. Not the peaceful kind of quiet. Not the comforting kind either. This one sat heavy in the air, like unfinished sentences and unspoken truths pressed against the walls. Dakota could feel it in the way her shoulders refused to relax. In the way her fingers trembled faintly where they rested against the edge of the kitchen counter. In the way her stomach knotted every time she thought about what she had seen inside that brown envelope. DNA test results. Ink on cold paper. A truth that had no business being buried for so many years. Diana wasn’t Richard’s daughter. Helen had known. And Richard had known too. She heard Elias’ footsteps before she saw him. She always did now. The steady, familiar weight of him moving through the house like he belonged there. Like he belonged with her. He leaned against the doorway silently for a few seconds, watching her stare into nothing. “You’ve been quiet,” he said softly. She didn’t turn

The call came just after noon. Elias had been standing at the kitchen counter, staring at nothing, coffee forgotten and cold in his hand. He hadn’t slept properly in days. Even now that Dakota was home and safe, his mind stayed half-alert, like it was waiting for something else to go wrong. The phone vibrated on the marble counter. Detective Ramos. He picked up immediately. “Persson,” Elias said, voice already tense. “We found them,” Ramos said. Two words. That was all it took. Elias’ grip tightened around the phone. “Where?” “New Rochelle. The property you told us about.” A pause. “They didn’t make it easy. Helen tried to make a run for it.” Elias exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Did she?” “No,” Ramos said. “We got her. Both of them are in custody now.” Elias closed his eyes. Thank God. “They’re being held separately. We haven’t started formal questioning yet.” Ramos’ tone turned firm. “If you and your wife want to come down, now’s

The cell smelled like metal, disinfectant, and something stale. Diana sat on the narrow prison bed, her back pressed against the cold concrete wall, her swollen belly stretching the thin prison-issued fabric of her uniform. The fluorescent light above flickered endlessly, casting a nauseating shadow over everything. She hated the smell. She hated the narrow bed. Hated the thin mattress that did nothing for her aching back. Hated the way the cold crept into her bones no matter how tightly she wrapped her arms around herself. And most of all, she hated the way the baby shifted inside her. Too low. Too heavy. Too alive. She groaned and pressed a hand to the underside of her belly as a slow, dull wave of pain rolled through her. It wasn’t sharp enough yet to scream. Not strong enough to panic. But it was there. A warning. A reminder. A threat. You did this to yourself, her mind whispered cruelly. She leaned back against the cold concrete wall and closed her eyes. She had never w