All Chapters of Daddy's Little Secret : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Jamal's POVThe underground room was absolutely silent, broken only by the hum of stabilizing generators. Jamal was still, drops of sweat adhering to his back beneath his tight shirt. Blue light on either side of the walls hummed with soft, indicating sealed systems and at the far end of the room, a glass capsule slid silently open with a soft hiss.Inside it was Melissa's mother, Eleanor Kingsley.Not a recording, not a clone and not a mimic.Alive.Her eyes fluttered open like it was just another morning.Melissa remained frozen, one hand over her chest like to still her own heartbeat. Jamal stepped forward instinctively, unsure whether to shield her or hold her back.“Eleanor?” he said, almost breathless.She blinked slowly, lifting her head with practiced composure “You’re late”Jamal's muscles went rigid. He hadn't heard that voice in over a decade. Not in person. It sounded the same. Cold, calculating and in control."How did you arrive?" Melissa's voice cracked.Eleanor didn't

MelissaI couldn't remember the last time my heart had felt so heavy even as the city lights blurred outside the colored car windows, my brain would still not calm and my hands were clenched in my lap, fists tight and fingernails digging into my palms until they ached as Jamal sat beside me silent and his eyes fixed forward, jaw clenched in that way which showed he was keeping his emotions on a very tight leash.We had just walked out of the penthouse after the meeting with his father and everything inside me still trembled under the weight of what had been said.The Sinclair deal, the merger and the strings attached that sounded less like opportunity and more like chains around both our necks.I could feel Jamal’s warmth beside me, the power in his presence but also the distance. He wasn’t shutting me out not exactly but there was a wall between us tonight. One we’d built together without realizing.The car curved the lengthy driveway to the estate and every time i came back here, i

MelissaThe echo of the gunshot still lingered within my head like the sound had been seared into the walls of my brain as it was not a memory that lingered, resonating through my bones and searing my nerves.Jamal's body covered mine with a shield of flesh and his weight was heavy yet strangely centering as i could sense his chest move against me and his heart pounding in rhythm with my own and he smelled of leather, smoke and something else like a smoky darkness that i'd come to enjoy without even realizing it.Somewhere in the chaos outside, someone was screaming and tires were squealing as the black sedan that had delivered the threat sped away but i could not see anything except him and his hand jamming against my head and his ragged breathing against my ear as we huddled like that for what seemed like an eternity and my hands were flat against his chest, warmed by the heat of him through his clothing and the pounding beat of his heart. He didn't stir until the sirens in the dist

MelissaI couldn't stop shaking.It wasn't the chill cos Jamal's penthouse was hot and almost stifling but the words still rings in my ears of the confession and the truth he'd kept concealed for months, maybe more and it had cracked the ground beneath me and now each step forward felt like walking on shattered glass.I stood in front of the big window, looking down at the lights of the city as they looked like stars from up here, sparkling across the expanse beautiful but unattainable. My face in the glass was that of a stranger like the girl who had first met Jamal, who thought she could keep her heart padlocked, was long gone.Behind me, i could hear him pacing. His footsteps were heavy and his breathing irregular. Jamal wasn't the kind of man who lost control but tonight, i could sense the edges of him fraying. "Melissa" his voice was low and a warning almost. I didn't turn around "You should have told me" "I didn't because i wanted to protect you""Protect me?" I laughed, a co

MelissaThe night wind cut razor-sharp against my skin but it wasn't the chill that was speeding my heart along like it would burst my ribs wide apart. It was Jamal standing there with his wrists bound behind him and the ropes biting into his skin and his broad shoulders tensing as though he could weather all this and still come to me if i needed him.God, i had to run to him.God, i couldn't.```Rashid's voice drifted into the space between us easy and leisurely as though inviting me to tea."Well, Melissa? Do we have a deal?" he asked.The deal, his deal. The one i didn't even know the terms of yet but could already choose the poison on.I did not answer back as i looked into Jamal's eyes instead because i understood these might be the last minutes i'd ever have to just look at him. His eyes told me not to and his entire face was telling me and begging me not to move towards whatever threat Rashid had set out but his life hinged on it.“You’re stalling” Rashid said and there was a