Lahat ng Kabanata ng Your dad is mine: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

CATHERINEThe cartoonish chatter spilling from Stacey’s TV slowly dulled beneath the buzz building up in my ears. My heartbeat was too loud, my blood freezing cold and the air in her living room seemed to disappear.My grip on the coffee cup tightened.“What?” I breathed.Stacey sat directly opposite me, her legs crossed on the sofa but her brows narrowed as she paused, her eyes piercing into my soul. Then slowly, they widened with realization.“Y-you didn’t know?” She asked slowly, shifting her weight. “It was all over the news for almost two weeks. People are convinced it was a homicide.” She shrugged weakly. “They haven’t found anything yet.”I forced myself to move, dropping the cup on the table with a loud thud before I would spill it. Stacey flinched from the sound, giving me a look. I didn’t mind her, my brain was still spinning, trying to make sense of what she had just told me.Jayden was dead.And apparently it’s been almost a month. The same time I disappeared from New York

CATHERINEI wrapped my arms around myself, shivering before I could stop it. The air in my living room seemed stale, Marcus’s gaze was hard on the detective, his hand steady on my thigh. My body still buzzed with leftover adrenaline, my cheek still tingled and my pulse wouldn’t stop hammering even as the danger had passed.It didn’t feel that way.The detective’s eyes flickered to where Marcus touched me, a flash of something close to amusement passing them.I cleared my throat, finally breaking the oppressive silence. “What’s a big shot detective doing in an assault arrest?”He tore his gaze slowly from my thigh, pulling out a notepad. “Attempted murder.” He corrected casually while popping open his pen.“You didn’t answer her question.” Marcus interjected, his fingers flexed against my skin. “Who are you and why are you interrogating her? Not the psycho bitch that tried to kill her?”“Take it easy Mr…”Marcus’s jaw ticked before he gritted out. “Marcus.”The detective nodded. “Mr Ma

RONALD The last hours of Jayden’s life played on repeat across the monitor. The clicking of the mouse filled my empty study as I paused, replayed, skipped. My eyes burned from watching the same footage but even then I didn’t stop.It was a routine.At seven pm, they went for dinner, an hour later, he was back, laying on his bunk, muttering something I couldn’t make out. He had no visitors during that time. I’d made sure he was kept in a seperate room, no roommates. The only people he made contact with was the ward.I’d gotten the names of every person on duty that night, traced their steps… nothing out of the ordinary. Frustration was steadily eating away at my sanity.A low growl escaped me as my fingers tapped the mouse, replaying the security footage. There was something I was missing. There had to be. From the footage, it looked like he just got up on his own, knelt beside his bed… then collapsed.The autopsy mentioned nothing of drugging so how was it possible?My mind wandered

CATHERINE “That’s never what I wanted.” Ronald said.“The bottom line is that you did, Ronald.” I whispered, scared that my own voice would fail me.I couldn’t stand him coming here, I couldn’t stand him looking at me like I was tearing his entire world apart. A tired sigh escaped me as I took a step back, creating more distance between us.“You should go.” I finally said. “Don’t come back.”Ronald shook his head almost instantly, his jaw clenching. “I can’t do that Catherine.” He said roughly. “You know I can’t. Not after being away from you, wondering what was happening, almost losing my mind.”My heart tripped over itself and the next time he stepped forward, I didn’t run. My feet were planted to the floor as he closed the distance enough that I could smell him. I stopped myself from breathing, from thinking. The last thing I needed was to let my already thin restraint slip.“Catherine,” he started softly, the smoke still lingered on his breath, his gaze hovered on my face, like h

I stared blankly at the stranger's hand stretched out before me but made no move to take it. Then, slowly, I dragged my gaze back to his eyes.His blue orbs waited patiently, like he already knew how this would end and I wasn’t mistaken, there was a twinkle of excitement in them.My eyes narrowed on him, my hands still on the door. “What are you talking about?”The stranger opened his mouth to speak but Marcus’s voice cut through before words could form. His footsteps came in behind me, stopping only when I could feel his warmth pressing on my back. My pulse stuttered, not knowing what to expect from him. Marcus had made it abundantly clear that I was way in over my head.“And you are?” His annoyed tone didn’t surprise me, but his next action did.“Josh.” The stranger said easily. His eyes were no longer on me, they were now on Marcus that I had no doubt was glaring.Marcus pulled me behind him, making sure to stand between me and the stranger… Josh. He crossed his arms over his che