Lahat ng Kabanata ng Reclaiming Her Love: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

Slyvia The ticking clock on my office wall sounded louder than usual, like it was mocking me.Each second dragged, stretching into the next.Tick.Tock.Still no breakthrough.The air in my office felt thick, as though even the oxygen had grown heavy. Papers lay scattered across my desk, reports, letters, board memos, their corners curling slightly from the weight of my elbows leaning against them for hours. Violet’s application letter sat right on top, the paper crinkled where my fingers had gripped it earlier. I’d been staring at the same sentence for at least five minutes now, but I wasn’t reading anymore.I was thinking.Or rather… overthinking.The board had made their decision three days ago. There was no appeal, no loophole, no chance of revisiting the vote. They had all agreed, unanimously, that the only person who could approve Violet’s appointment now was Logan Benson.Logan.The name was enough to bring a dull heaviness to my chest. Not because I hated him, I didn’t. Hatre

Sylvia My desk looked like a war zone.Stacks of patient files, invoices, and renovation blueprints leaned precariously against my half-empty coffee mug, which had gone cold an hour ago. One wrong nudge and the entire arrangement would collapse in an avalanche of paper and ceramic shards. The scent of the coffee had long since turned bitter, mingling with the faint trace of ink and hospital antiseptic that clung to everything in this wing.The laptop in front of me glowed faintly, its light casting pale shadows across the scattered documents. The cursor blinked at the edge of an unfinished report, steady and unbothered, as though mocking me for my delay. My pen tapped absently against the margin of a budget sheet, forming a rhythm that was the only sound in the room. Controlled. Predictable. Almost hypnotic.Outside, the muffled murmur of the reception floated in, voices blending into one indistinguishable hum. Somewhere in the distance, a printer whirred to life, spitting out report

Sylvia The automatic doors slid open with a sharp hiss, spilling us into the glaring white brightness of Rhodes Clinical Hospital. The air inside smelled of antiseptic and cold air-conditioning, sharp enough to sting my nose.The stretcher wheeled past me in a blur, its metallic legs clattering over the tiled floor as the paramedics shouted for clearance. I ran beside them, my heels clattering, my pulse hammering louder than their voices. I didn’t care that my dress was stained, or that my hair clung damply to my face. All I cared about was that fragile little body lying on the stretcher, her breaths shallow, her lips pale.Logan was on the other side of the gurney, his shirt drenched in blood. His hands were smeared red, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might snap. He looked nothing like the man I had fought against in boardrooms, nothing like the arrogant investor whose name the directors worshipped. No, this was a man stripped bare, terror painted into every line of his face

Sylvia Monday morning arrived brighter than I expected.The sun spilled through my curtains in soft gold streaks, painting the walls in a glow I hadn’t seen in a while.For the first time in weeks, I felt rested. My body had finally surrendered to sleep over the weekend, sinking deep into hours of silence. Just the sound of my own breathing, steady and even, filling the emptiness of my apartment.It has done me good. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until now, when I woke up feeling lighter, as though the heaviness clamped to my chest for weeks had loosened just a little.Still, something inside me refused to stay still.I got up earlier than usual, my bare feet brushing against the cool floor as I moved across the room. I wasn’t in a rush for the hospital work waiting on my desk. I wasn’t thinking about the board meeting later in the week either. None of those were what pulled me from bed before the alarm.It was her.The little girl.Logan’s child.The thought made me pause h

Sylvia The sun was already sinking low when I stepped out of the hospital that evening, but I didn’t even notice the beauty of it. The gold streaks across the sky, the way the air smelled like rain, it was all lost on me. My thoughts were heavy, pressing against me like weights I couldn’t drop.I clutched Violet’s appointment letter in my bag like it was treasure and poison at the same time. Treasure, because it was what I had fought for all these weeks. Poison, because of the price I had just paid.Dad’s name. His legacy. The cancer ward that he had dreamed of seeing open one day would now bear Maryanne’s name. Just thinking of it twisted my stomach, but what choice did I have? Andrea needed Violet. And if giving up that name was the only way, then so be it.Still, my heart ached. For Dad. For me.I pushed the thoughts down as I got into my car. This wasn’t the time to cry over what was lost. Tonight, someone deserved to celebrate. Tonight, Violet deserved to know her fight wasn’t i