All Chapters of Bound by Deception : Chapter 81 - Chapter 89

The room was too white. Too bright. Too clean. It was nothing like the narrow, suffocating cell she had been trapped in for the last two weeks, yet somehow it felt even more unreal. Diana lay there, propped up against stiff hospital pillows with her hair plastered to her forehead, her skin pale and clammy, and her entire body trembling with exhaustion. But despite the aching in her limbs and the dryness in her throat, her eyes refused to leave the tiny sleeping face resting in her arms. Her daughter. Her baby. A baby she never wanted. A baby she swore she resented. A pregnancy she cursed every night in her cell as the walls closed in around her. But none of that mattered now, not when she was staring at the tiny, perfect creature lying against her chest. Dark lashes like soft strokes of paint. A button nose. A faint pout on her lips. She looked nothing like Ryan. At least not yet. But she also didn’t look like Diana. Not yet. Newborns rarely did. Her skin was still flushed from

The walk out of Diana’s hospital room felt longer than it truly was. Dakota kept replaying everything she had just heard, each sentence Diana had spoken clinging stubbornly to her mind. The hallway lights hummed overhead, too bright and too white, and the antiseptic smell clung to her nose. Elias walked beside her in silence, matching her pace, his hand brushing the back of hers occasionally. Never grabbing, never rushing her, just keeping himself close enough that she knew she wasn’t alone.They didn’t speak until they reached the end of the corridor, and even then, Dakota needed a moment to breathe. She stopped, leaning lightly against a row of chairs outside the maternity wing. She wasn’t crying, but she looked emotionally wrung out, her face tight, her chest rising and falling in measured, shaky breaths.Elias stood directly across from her, his eyes gentle, silently waiting.Dakota finally exhaled. “She actually wants me to take her baby,” she said, almost to herself. “Me.”Elia

Sleep became a luxury Dakota learned to stop expecting. It came in fragments now. Short, shallow pockets that dissolved the moment Wren whimpered or stirred or simply shifted in her crib. Nights no longer belonged to silence or rest. They belonged to soft cries, warm bottles, pacing footsteps, and the quiet hum of the house staying awake with them. Sometimes Dakota wasn’t even sure if she had truly slept at all or if she had simply closed her eyes long enough to pretend. Wren was small. Smaller than Dakota had imagined newborns to be. Fragile in a way that made Dakota’s chest tighten every time she held her, like one wrong movement could break something sacred. Her tiny fingers curled instinctively around Dakota’s thumb, her grip weak but determined, as though even in sleep she was afraid of being left behind. The first night home, Dakota sat on the edge of the bed with Wren pressed to her chest, afraid to put her down. Elias had watched her quietly, leaning against the doorframe,

The day of the trial arrived quietly, without ceremony, without warning bells, without the kind of drama Dakota had once imagined justice would come wrapped in. There were no thunderstorms, no sudden downpour, no ominous signs in the sky. The morning was ordinary, almost cruelly so. The sun rose like it always did. Traffic moved. People went to work. Somewhere, someone passing by laughed. Somewhere else, someone complained about the weather.She stood in front of the bathroom mirror longer than usual, adjusting the collar of her blouse even though it already sat neatly on her shoulders. Her hands trembled slightly as she reached for her bag. She told herself that she wanted to see justice served today. She told herself that this was necessary. That everything that had happened had led to this moment.Still, there was a knot in her stomach that refused to loosen.Elias watched her quietly from the doorway. He did not rush her. He had learned that some moments needed patience. When she

EPILOGUE THREE YEARS LATER Dakota sometimes stood still in the middle of her living room and wondered how life could change so completely and yet feel so right. The house was filled with sound. Not noise exactly, but life. The soft thud of little feet racing across polished floors. A high, breathless laugh that always made Dakota smile before she even realized she was smiling. The faint hum of music playing somewhere in the background because Elias believed silence was meant to be filled with warmth. Dakota stood by the wide living room window, one hand pressed to the small of her aching back, the other resting protectively on her swollen belly. The late afternoon sun streamed in, warm and golden, casting long shadows across the space. Outside, the garden Elias had insisted on planting was in full bloom. He had said he wanted their children to grow up knowing what it meant to nurture something and watch it thrive. Behind her, Wren was in constant motion. At three years old, Wre