All Chapters of Never Mine To Love: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

River's Pov.My stomach was still in knots when Noah told me he wanted to go see Ethan alone. He said it like it was nothing, like it made sense, but it didn’t sit right with me.“You’re not going without me,” I told him flat out. My voice cracked a little, but I meant it.Noah’s hand tightened on his car keys, his jaw set the way it always did when he was trying to hold his ground. “River, maybe it’s better if I go first. Just to talk to him, to figure out what’s going on. You’ve been through enough already.”I shook my head before he could finish. “No. We go together. I want to know what’s happening, Noah. I’m not going to sit around waiting for you to come back and tell me half of it. Not this time.”His eyes softened, but I saw the hesitation there, too. “River…”“I’m serious,” I cut him off. “If you walk out that door without me, don’t bother coming back.”That got him. His shoulders dropped, and he let out a long breath. “Alright.”Relief washed over me, though my chest was stil

Daniel’s POVThe call with Karden had ended hours ago, but his voice was still in my head. Arrogant, smug, dripping with the kind of confidence only someone too young to understand the world could carry. He thought he could use me like a chess piece, like I was too weak to push back. He was wrong.I sat in my office, the lamp burning low. My desk was cluttered with papers I had stopped grading, my pen lying across the page. I stared at my phone, the recording app open, the file saved neatly. Karden’s voice was clear in it, threatening me, trying to control me.For a long moment, I debated. I wasn’t the type to drag anyone into my mess. I had kept silent about too many things, things I should have spoken up about sooner. But Karden had crossed the line. He wasn’t just destroying me, he was playing with other people’s lives.I scrolled through my contacts until I landed on a name I hadn’t touched in years. Christian Hale.I hesitated only once before pressing call.The line rang, then a

Daniel’s POVChristian glanced at me once as we walked to his car as we left the restaurant, his expression unreadable in the dim light. “You look like you haven’t slept in days,” he said finally.“I haven’t,” I admitted. My voice came out rougher than I wanted. “Not properly. Not since all this started. Every time I close my eyes, I see River’s face. I hear Karden’s voice, and I keep wondering if he’s already sent those pictures somewhere I can’t stop them from spreading.”Christian didn’t respond right away. He unlocked his car, slid inside, and waited until I did the same before speaking. “We’ll find something, Daniel. But you need to be prepared. People like Karden don’t make mistakes easily. If he’s bold enough to threaten you, then he’s already convinced he covered his tracks.”I clenched my fists against my knees, trying to keep my breathing steady. “There has to be something. Nobody’s that careful.”Christian started the engine. “That’s what we’re going to test.”We drove in s

Daniel’s POVThe morning light slipped through the blinds, drawing thin lines across the pale hospital wall. The room was quiet except for the steady hum of the air vent and the slow drip of the IV beside the bed. I hadn’t slept much. The chair I had sat on all night left a deep stiffness in my shoulders, but I hadn’t moved far from Olivia’s side. I couldn’t. Every small shift she made in her sleep pulled me alert, like my body was wired to wait for something else to go wrong.I had watched her all night, her chest rising and falling in shallow rhythm, her lips parting every so often as if she were about to speak but didn’t. Her face looked pale, too pale for someone who always carried herself with such stubborn strength. It unsettled me more than I cared to admit.She stirred once, rolling slightly on the bed. Her hand twitched near the blanket but she didn’t wake. The IV drip kept its rhythm, steady and slow, a sound that had started to sink into me like a reminder that she was stil

River's Pov.The kitchen was quiet, too quiet for the morning. The sun was already creeping in through the blinds, spilling long lines of light across the tiled floor, but nothing about it felt warm. My feet kept moving back and forth, bare soles against the cold tiles, the sound of them almost matching the pounding in my head. I hadn’t slept. Every time I tried, my mind kept dragging me back to the same place, the same thought, the same face.Karden.The name itself had begun to sound heavy, like a stone pressing down on me. I kept pacing because if I stopped, I would have to sit with that weight. I didn’t want to, but it was there anyway. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Last night I had tried to convince myself that maybe it was coincidence, maybe the pieces didn’t fit the way I thought. But they did. They fit too well.Ethan’s words echoed in my head like they had been carved into the walls. He didn’t say it directly, but he didn’t need to. The look in his eyes had been enough. He wa