Library

Search

Home / MM Romance / Sweet Unhappy Heart / Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

All Chapters of Sweet Unhappy Heart: Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

200 Chapters

151

Third Person's POVSix weeks after Avery's disappearance, the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan buzzed with an energy that felt almost electric. Media trucks lined the streets. Protesters held signs. Security was tripled because this wasn't just another trial.This was the reckoning of Astor Sinclair.Inside Courtroom 4B, every seat was filled. Journalists with notebooks. Sketch artists with charcoal. Members of the public who'd camped out overnight just to witness history.At the prosecution table sat Barrister Michael Sullivan with his team of three assistant prosecutors. Files stacked neatly. Evidence organized. Years of preparation distilled into this moment.At the defense table sat Marcus Wright with two associates. Expensive suits. Confident postures. The look of men who'd defended the indefensible before and won.And at the defendant's table, wearing an orange jumpsuit that looked obscene on someone who'd spent his life in custom tailoring, sat Astor Sinclair. Handcuffed. Guarde

152

The New Unlisted Witness Third Person's POVThe trial had been proceeding for eight days when everything changed.Vincent Caruso had testified for two full days, recounting in meticulous detail every job Astor Sinclair had hired him for. The dates. The payments. The methods. He'd been cross-examined ruthlessly by Marcus Wright, who'd tried to paint him as a liar desperate to reduce his sentence. But Caruso hadn't wavered. Just told the truth in that flat, emotionless voice that made it somehow more believable.Financial experts had testified about the money trail. Shell companies. Offshore accounts. Payments that coincided exactly with the deaths Caruso described. Wright had objected repeatedly, claiming the transactions were legitimate business expenses, but the timeline was damning.Officer Mackenzie had walked the jury through the investigation. The evidence. The connections. The pattern of violence that stretched back fifteen years.And then, on day nine, Sullivan stood before Ju

153

Third Person's POVThree days after Astor Sinclair was sentenced to die in prison, Liam sat in a coffee shop near the hospital with Margaret, trying to process everything that had happened. The media circus had finally died down. The reporters had moved on to the next scandal. And for the first time in months, Liam could breathe without feeling like the world was watching."I have a son," Margaret said quietly, stirring her coffee without drinking it. "Your cousin. Daniel. He's seventeen. He doesn't know about any of this. I kept him away from it all. Raised him in Hong Kong, far from the Sinclair name and everything that came with it."Liam looked up, surprised. "I have a cousin?""You do. And he's been asking questions. Saw the trial coverage despite my best efforts to shield him. He wants to meet you. I want to understand his family history." Margaret finally met Liam's eyes. "I told him I'd ask if you were ready for that. If you wanted to meet him. I'd understand if you needed tim

154

Third Person's POVRichard Maddox sat in his car in the prison parking lot, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles had gone white. The engine was running but he hadn't put the car in gear yet. He was still processing what had just happened. What he'd learned. What Astor had confirmed.His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. Marcus Liu. His private investigator. The man he'd hired three weeks ago to do what the FBI hadn't been able to do yet.Find Avery.Richard answered, putting the call on speaker. "Tell me you have something.""I do. Not a location yet, but I'm getting close." Marcus's voice was calm, professional. "I tracked her initial movements. She got on a boat in New York. Landed in Tijuana. From there, she went south. I have confirmed sightings in three different coastal towns in Mexico over the past six weeks. Each time, she stayed two to three weeks then moved on.""She's running scared. Doesn't want to be found." Richard pulled out of the parking l

155

Third Person's POVLiam woke to sunlight streaming through the bedroom windows, the city already buzzing with morning traffic three floors below. He turned his head carefully, not wanting to disturb Jackson, who was still asleep beside him, his face peaceful in a way it hadn't been since before the accident.Jackson's breathing was steady. Deep. The kind of sleep that came from feeling safe. From being home.Liam slipped out of bed quietly, pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, and padded to the kitchen. He'd stopped at the grocery store yesterday, stocked the fridge with actual food instead of the bachelor staples he'd been surviving on. Now he had a chance to use it.He started coffee first. The good stuff Jackson loved, the beans from that roaster in Brooklyn that Jackson swore made the best brew in the city. While it percolated, Liam pulled out eggs, cheese, vegetables. Made an omelet the way his mother used to make them, with fresh herbs and a technique she'd taught him when he was

156

Third person's POV Outside the Regency Hotel, Mr. Maddox sat in his Lincoln Continental with the engine idling and the wipers on intermittent. Rain spotted the windshield in fat drops that caught the glow from the streetlights and turned them into tiny amber explosions. He had been sitting there for twenty minutes, phone in hand, trying to work up the nerve to call his son.A couple walked past his car, the woman laughing at something the man said, both of them huddled under a shared umbrella. Maddox watched them disappear around the corner and wondered when he had stopped being the kind of man anyone would want to huddle close to.He pressed Jackson's number.The phone rang four times. Maddox counted each one like a punch to the gut. On the fifth ring, Jackson picked up."You coming or what?" Maddox said, trying to sound casual and missing by a mile."You called me," Jackson said. His voice had that flat quality it always did these days, like he was talking to a telemarketer instead

157

Ten Years AgoAstor Sinclair stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of his corner office on the forty-second floor and watched the city spread out below him like a circuit board. From up here, the people looked like ants. From up here, everything looked manageable.His secretary buzzed through on the intercom. "Mr. Kellerman is here to see you.""Send him in."Paul Kellerman entered without knocking, which was typical. He was Sinclair's fixer, the man who handled problems that could not be solved with lawyers or accountants. He wore a gray suit that probably cost three thousand dollars and carried a leather portfolio under one arm. He works for the West ark contract..it is actually a situation that need more attention to. And the people behind this are beyond measures."We have a situation," Kellerman said without preamble.Sinclair turned from the window. "Which situation? We have several.""The Finn situation."That got Sinclair's attention. He moved to his desk, a massive slab of ma

158

Third person's POV The city lights bled together through Liam Sinclair's windshield as he sat in late evening traffic on Morrison Boulevard. His Mercedes idled in a sea of brake lights, the air conditioning struggling against the August heat that pressed down on the city like a physical weight. Outside, pedestrians hurried along the sidewalks, their faces drawn and exhausted in the dying light. A homeless man pushed a shopping cart past the intersection, and Liam watched him disappear into the lengthening shadows between buildings.His phone buzzed in the center console. Jackson's name lit up the screen.Liam hit the answer button and switched to the speaker. "Hey babe.""Where are you?" Jackson's voice filled the car, warm and familiar, cutting through the isolation of the traffic jam."Stuck on Morrison. This city's parking lot never ends." Liam drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Ahead of him, the light cycled from red to green and back to red without the traffic moving mor

159

Third person's POV The music in The Velvet Cat had shifted to something with a minor key that sounded like a warning. The bass line crawled under Liam's skin, making his pulse quicken in ways that had nothing to do with the rhythm. Around them, the club pulsed with manufactured euphoria, but up here in The Cat booth, the atmosphere felt suffocating, like the air before a thunderstorm.Morgana Prescott set her martini glass down with deliberate precision, the crystal making a soft clink against the lacquered table. The sound somehow cut through the music, sharp and final."Then your father got caught for murdering, which you know about, and he went to jail." Her voice dropped lower, forcing Liam to lean in to hear her over the throbbing bass. "But he didn't unwound the wounded surface because he understood the system. He understood what happened to those who wanted to open the name to the air. They have all died."Liam felt his jaw tighten. Below them, the dance floor writhed like a l

160

Chapter 160Liam held Jackson tight in the living room, arms wrapped around him like he was afraid Jackson might vanish if he let go. The apartment was quiet except for the low hum of the city outside the windows. Jackson's warmth grounded him, but Liam's heart still raced from the night before.Jackson pulled back first. He cupped Liam's face with both hands, thumbs brushing over his cheeks. "Babe, look at me. You are shaking. Tell me what happened. All of it."Liam nodded. He led Jackson to the couch and they sat close, thighs pressed together. Liam took a deep breath. "I met Morgana Prescott at The Velvet Cat. She works for the people my father was involved with."Jackson's eyes narrowed. "The money laundering thing? West Ark?""Yes." Liam's voice was low. "She said my father went to jail for the murders which we already know, killed my mother and her girlfriend and tried to kill you, we all know that was the reason he was there in jail, but she goes on saying that my father never

PREV

...

...

NEXT

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP

DMCA.com Protection Status