All Chapters of The Surrogate Virgin : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

The city felt wrong that night, was too quiet in some places and loud in others. A siren wailed blocks away, a dog barked at shadows, a neon sign buzzed faintly above a shuttered liquor store but all of it blended into one sound in my head, the rush of blood in my ears.Noah kept my hand tight in his as we walked, his other arm brushing the inside of his jacket where the gun sat. He hadn’t said much since we left the safehouse. He didn’t need to, every movement of his body screamed ready.Desmond limped slightly behind us, the rhythm of his steps uneven. I wanted to tell him to stop, to rest, to let us find another way, but I didn’t. I already knew the answer in his eyes, he was going no matter what it cost him.We turned a corner. Two figures melted out of the shadows ahead of us. My heart seized until Noah’s grip on my hand tightened, steady, like a signal. His posture eased just enough for me to know these weren’t Vivienne’s men.One of them was tall, dark jacket and, military cut

From the crack in the warehouse’s filthy window, I could see Catherine. She stood in the lot like she belonged there, her posture stiff, her knuckles white around the megaphone in her hand. Even from this distance, I could tell it felt heavy to her, her arm sagged for a moment before she lifted it again, forcing herself into the role Vivienne had carved for her.The light from the SUVs behind her painted her in harsh beams, throwing her shadow long and thin across the gravel. Men with rifles shifted at her back, restless, waiting. She barked orders, her voice sharp enough to carry inside,“Surround the exits, nobody leaves unless Vivienne says so.”My stomach tightened. They were sealing every door, every sliver of escape.The megaphone lifted again, the screech of it cutting the night. “Grace! Noah!” Her voice boomed, brittle with false authority. “We’ve got you surrounded, don’t make this harder on yourselves.”The echo rattled in the hollow warehouse and settled into my bones. I pr

The sirens were close now, their wails slicing through the smoke and the crackle of fire. Red and blue strobes flickered faintly against the haze at the edge of the horizon. Vivienne’s head whipped toward the sound, her jaw tightening, her face twisting into something feral.“No,” she hissed, spitting the word like venom. “You think sirens will save you? You think the law is stronger than me?”Her voice rose, shrill, echoing across the dirt lot. “I built this family. I buried its secrets. I decide who lives and who rots!”I held Nova tighter, her small face buried against my neck. My heart hammered, but I forced my voice steady. “It’s over, Vivienne. You can’t outrun what you’ve done.”Vivienne’s laugh broke the air high, brittle, and dangerous. “You naive little girl. You think this is about outrunning?” She snapped her gaze to Catherine, who stood just behind her, eyes flicking nervously between the gun on the ground and the rising blaze. “Catherine now.”And just like that, Catheri

The courthouse lobby was colder than I expected, all stone and steel, the kind of place designed to strip you of warmth the moment you stepped inside. My arms tightened around Nova as though my body alone could shield her from everything, the draft in the air, the stares that followed us, and the weight of what we were walking into.Noah was beside me, his hand on the small of my back. The pressure was steady, protective. He hadn’t said much since the raid on the warehouse, but he didn’t have to. Every bruise on his jaw, every shallow breath that caught in his ribs, was its own language. He was hurting, and still, he was the one holding me up.Desmond should have been here too. The ache of his absence pressed against me like a second skin. The last look he’d given me, the rasp of his voice when he’d shoved me toward safety, haunted the silence between Noah and me. He had chosen to stay behind so we could run. And now the world had shrunk to this, a courthouse, a city that suddenly fel

The house smelled of fresh paint and pinewood, the kind of smell that promised beginnings. Light poured through the wide kitchen windows, spilling across the hardwood floors where Nova and her sister, her twin were chasing each other in circles, laughter bouncing off the walls like bells.It had only been three weeks since the courtroom, two weeks since Charleston, but it felt like an entire lifetime had shifted.We had chosen this place deliberately, not too big, not too close to the city, quiet enough that nights were filled with crickets instead of sirens. A home that was ours, not stained by Vivienne’s shadow.I leaned against the counter, coffee mug warm in my hands, watching the twins collapse into a heap of giggles on the rug. They were different, but they were whole together Nova, bold and mischievous with her sister, thoughtful, always watching first before jumping in. Two halves of a story Vivienne had tried to steal from us, now knit back together in the most ordinary, extr