جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

A MOTHER AND HER DAUGHTERThe afternoon sun filtered lazily through the heavy curtains of the Grant residence. Jada sat cross-legged on her bed, a notebook in her lap that she wasn’t writing in. Every time her pen touched paper, all she could see were the fragments of medical records she had stumbled upon in her mother’s drawer, her own name scribbled across them, tied to something she wasn’t even allowed to decide for herself.Mia, the maid, hovered near the window, quietly folding clothes. She kept glancing at Jada, worry etched in her face. She had been the one who lent Jada her phone, the one who knew too much.“You can’t keep bottling this up,” Mia said softly, breaking the silence. “It’s eating at you.”Jada’s grip on the pen tightened. “And what do you suggest, Mia? Should I confront her? That I look my mother in the eye and ask why she gets to play God with my life?”Mia’s lips pressed into a line. Before she could respond, the door opened.Celia stepped in, her perfume hitt

SHE CRACKEDZayn found Javyn leaning against the hood of his car later that night, the field air heavy with the scent of earth and dusk. Javyn had that restless edge in his posture again, like he’d been pacing before Zayn showed up.“You look like you haven’t slept in days,” Zayn muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.“I’ll sleep when she’s safe,” Javyn replied flatly. His eyes flicked over Zayn, searching. “How is she?”Zayn hesitated. He wasn’t supposed to be the soft one in this. But he couldn’t ignore what he’d seen, Savannah breaking apart behind her forced smile at dinner, her silence too brittle to be anything but pain.“She’s… cracking,” Zayn admitted, his tone quieter than he meant it to be. “She hides it well around the Kents, but I saw it tonight. Something’s gnawing at her. She isn’t just scared of you messing with her father. She’s… haunted.”Javyn’s jaw tightened. He straightened slowly, that dangerous mix of protectiveness and frustration flashing in his eyes.

DANIEL’S DILEMMA{NAIROBI, KENYA}The dim backroom of a Nairobi club smelled of stale whiskey and old smoke. Tyson leaned across the table, his jaw tight, eyes burning with the kind of ambition that turned men ruthless.Across from him sat Victor Maoni, a sharp-tongued, younger politician with clean suits, a dangerous smile, and just enough hunger to make him reckless.“Grant’s name is in the mud,” Tyson said, voice low, almost like a growl.“Deported. Beaten. His enemies are circling, and his allies… weak.” He swirled the amber drink in his glass, then set it down with a soft thud. “This is our chance.”Victor smirked, leaning back in his chair. “And why should I believe you? You were once his golden boy, Tyson. His adopted heir, his shadow. Some people still see you as nothing more than his leftover.”Tyson’s fist slammed the table, making the glass rattle.“I was his pawn. His bargaining chip. He promised me Savannah as payment, and then he let her slip away. He made me nothing when

THEY STRIKE AT LASTThe tension between them was thick enough to choke on. Savannah stood with her arms folded, her eyes flashing as Javyn tried to reach for her.“So it was you,” she said, voice trembling, “you sent Zayn with that phone. You—” she swallowed hard, anger burning through her fear.“You’ve been pulling strings behind my back again. This isn’t Australia anymore! How am I sure you didn’t send him here in the first place?!”Javyn didn’t flinch. “Because you won’t listen. Because you keep pretending you’re safe when you’re not. I didn’t send him her, but God was I glad when he found you.”“You don’t get to decide what’s safe for me,” she snapped, stepping back, though her body shook with the effort to keep her distance. “You don’t get to play savior and make choices I didn’t ask for!”His jaw clenched, his voice dropping low. “Then tell me you don’t feel the walls closing in. Tell me, Tyson, your father, someone— isn’t circling you like wolves. Tell me you don’t wake up ever

SWIFT ESCAPESavannah was still holding the cup to Javyn’s lips when the door banged open.Mr. Kent strode in, his face grim, shotgun still clutched in one weathered hand. The lines on his forehead seemed deeper than usual, his eyes dark.Savannah’s heart lurched. “What is it?”He shut the door behind him with a snap, his gaze darting toward the window before lowering his voice. “Tracks. Fresh ones. Leading up close to the edge of the field, then back toward the road.”Zayn shot to his feet, all trace of weariness gone. “They came back?”Mr. Kent nodded tightly. “Looks like they lingered after the fight. Maybe watching to see if we’d let our guard down.” His eyes flicked to Javyn, pale but conscious on the table.“They know they’re here now. They’ll tell whoever sent them.”Savannah’s stomach dropped, the fragile relief she’d felt moments earlier collapsing into cold dread. She gripped Javyn’s hand tighter, as if holding him could keep him from slipping away again.Javyn coughed, his v