All Chapters of After He Took It All: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

162 Chapters

The Line Is Crossed

Axel’s POVThe stinging on my cheek was nothing compared to the phantom burn in my chest.She slapped me. Brielle slapped me, and honestly, she should have done it sooner. Maybe it would have knocked some sense into my head.She walked out, just pushed past me like I was a piece of furniture, and every word she threw at me was still echoing, loudly in my head. You’re just like Jason.It was the worst thing she could have said. It tore through every delusion I’d clung to, every excuse I’d made up about how my control was protection, how my planning was love.She saw past the tailored suit and the nice apartment and the baby announcement, and she saw the ugly truth: I was trying to own her. Just in a more sophisticated, legally sound way than Jason.I just stood there, breathing in the cold, sterile air of that guest suite. I couldn't follow her. Not immediately.The moment she said that, everything inside me went rigid. If I went after her then, I wouldn't be able to talk. I’d just gr

The Escape Route

Brielle's POVThe documents in Axel's office lay scattered, with each page a fresh wound, but they didn’t sting anymore. They were too cold for that.They just felt like a heavy, terrible confirmation of something I already knew but desperately tried to ignore.I stared down at the timestamps: Brielle’s location verified, 7:00 AM, West Wing guest suite. The subject appears to be restless.Heh, I scoffed. Subject. I was just referred to as a fucking subject. Another page: Unanswered incoming messages from the CEO were observed. No outgoing communication detected.Dates, times, locations – my life, meticulously cataloged, observed, and controlled. The whole stupid thing was right there.Every phone call, every panicked movement, everything I did while I was locked in that room. The "protection" Axel offered wasn’t a fucking shield like he'd said; it was nothing more than a gilded cage built on deceit, and he was the one holding the key.The realization hit me with a chilling clarity: I

This Is The First Hour Of Our Freedom

Brielle's POVThe taxi had the smell of old coffee and wet wool. I didn't dare look back, not even once. My neck was practically fused into a straight line, staring forward through the smeared rear window. The city lights just dissolved into streaks of yellow and red because of the rain.Everything was moving too fast and too slow all at once. It felt like I was riding on a wave of pure panic.It had been barely one hour since I slammed that door and heard the lock click. One hour since I looked at those papers and everything I thought was real crumbled into a pile of ash.Axel. God, Axel. The very sound of his name in my head made my stomach twist up again, that acidic burn coming back.The cab driver, a guy with a serious beard and a radio playing some kind of smooth jazz, glanced at me in the rearview mirror once. I must have looked like a wild animal that'd been cornered.My eyes were wide, my breathing was shallow, and I was clutching the small backpack to my chest so tight like

The Flight Is Wheels-up. Gone.

Axel's POVThe office door was still ajar. Sure, I’d told Marcus to leave it open, but I hadn’t expected the silence to feel like a physical blow. The moment I stepped over the threshold, before my eyes even registered the mess I’d left on the desk, I knew. Something was fundamentally, catastrophically wrong.I walked straight to the safe behind the bookshelf. It wasn't the lock that bothered me; I’d never bothered to truly lock it when I knew Brielle was in the apartment. It was the way the heavy steel door was slightly ajar, just enough to catch the light from the lamp.I pulled it open. Empty.The stack of clinic documents, the ones I had promised myself I would deal with later, were gone. They were the ones that held the answers to Brielle’s father and therefore the answers to my whole leverage over her. Just gone.My blood turned to ice. It wasn't the documents themselves; I had copies, and the facility was secure. It was the implication.She had seen them. She had read them.A

I Was A Kite Cut Loose In A Storm

Brielle's POVThe air here was damp and cold. It was heavy with the smell of diesel and something foreign—something green and woodsy, even at the airport. It wasn’t just the smell that was foreign; it was everything.The signs, the quick, clipped cadence of the German language that tumbled around me—it was all a wall. I felt the exhaustion of the flight, the lack of sleep, the sheer terror of the past twenty-four hours, just crashing down on me. I was a kite cut loose in a storm.I managed to fumble my way onto a train heading toward the city center. I had no idea where I was going, but I figured I needed to be central and anonymous.My resources were pitiful: a backpack, maybe three thousand euros left, and the clothes on my back. And those papers.Finding a place was a nightmare. I couldn't risk anything that took my ID or required a credit card. After walking for what felt like hours, hauling the backpack, I found a terrible little hostel near the train station. It smelled like old

I Am Carrying Your Grandchild, Dad.

Brielle's POVThe air in Section C was different. It smelled cleaner, sharper, like hospital disinfectant and old paper. Dr. Hoffmann had given me clear directions, and when I stopped outside the door marked 309, my hand was shaking so badly I almost couldn’t push it open.I took a deep breath. Remember why you’re here. This is not a reunion.I pushed the door inward.The room was large but sparse. A single bed, a couple of machines blinking silently, and the huge window showing nothing but gray German sky. And him.Henri Julliard. My father.He looked impossibly small in the high hospital bed. The man I remembered—the one who filled every room he entered, loud, sharp, always impeccably dressed—was gone. His face was thin, pale, and one side of his body looked completely slack, trapped by the paralysis. He had a stubble and his hair was messy. He looked defeated.When he saw me, his eyes—still that piercing, familiar blue—flickered wide. A sound escaped his throat, something between a

Mommy Is Learning To Be A Shark Now

Brielle's POVWow. The new apartment I was to start living in was small, sterile, and furnished with the kind of bland, beige furniture that screams, "I am transient." But it had a sturdy lock, a functional kitchen, and it was a fifteen-minute walk from St. Johannis Klinik.After the grimy stench of the hostel, this felt like a bunker. A safe, clean space where I could finally, truly breathe.I paid the landlord—a silent, stout man who preferred cash and zero questions—for six months upfront. It drained the last of my panic cash, but I didn't care.Now, with Dad's signature secured and the first emergency transfer made from his one remaining functional account, I had resources again. Not Axel money, not world-shaking billions, but enough to establish a foothold. Enough to fight.The first few days were a blur of administrative hell. It was like I’d opened a spigot of paperwork, drowning me in German legal forms and corporate jargon.I spent twelve hours a day either at the hospital—s

The Morning Appointment

Brielle's POVThis hospital room was pretty much home now. That felt both safe and totally sad. I’d fallen asleep in that ugly vinyl armchair by Dad’s bed. I woke up every two hours to check the machines and tell him something new about corporate finance. It sounds crazy, I know, but I felt like if I just kept talking about his life, his brain would remember how to fight again. The light this morning was that washed-out gray kind that makes you feel forever tired. I had a huge day: meeting Herr Richter, the crusty lawyer, and then formally starting to challenge Linda’s guardianship. I had to move fast, faster than ever, because every day I waited was a day Jason and Linda had to steal more of Dad’s empire.I leaned over Dad’s bedside, trying to be quick. He was asleep, or maybe just resting—it was hard to tell, but his breathing was steady.“I’ll be back,” I whispered, giving him a fast, firm kiss on his forehead. “I’m going to go talk to the shark now. You just focus on physical th

The Alley Trap

Brielle's POVI screamed. That’s all I remember doing for the first few seconds. Just this loud, animal sound that echoed off the damp brick walls. My whole body was ready for him to grab me, ready to kick and bite and use my nails. I didn’t care if I got caught; I just cared that he didn't take the documents, and he didn’t find out about the baby.The man in the overcoat—Axel’s guy, I was completely sure—took another slow step. His face was still blank, completely without human emotion, and he looked like he was about to put his hands on me.“What do you want?” I shrieked, backing further against the fence, the wire cutting slightly into my coat. “Tell Axel I won’t go back! Tell him I have the papers! I know what he did! I swear to God, if you touch me, I will find a way to ruin him!”I was yelling in English, pure, desperate fury fueling every word, and the noise felt huge in the tiny alley.Then, the man did the most bizarre thing. He stopped. He didn’t reach for a gun or a taser

Dismissed By Richter

Brielle's POV“He knows,” I whispered to myself, pulling my coat tighter. “If anybody knows I’m in Germany, then Axel does too. He knows I have the papers. He knows I went to the clinic.”I started panicking. The kind of panic that makes you want to crawl under a rock and never come out. My mind raced through options, and every single one ended badly.I should just leave. I should ditch Richter, ditch the apartment, and get on the next train to Scandinavia. They found me once; they’ll find me again. If they can get a note to me, they can get to Dad.The thought of moving Dad was paralyzing. He couldn't travel. The slightest stress could set him back. They knew that. That was the whole point of the threat. They had me cornered, and my only mistake was thinking I could play their game without getting spotted.No. I can’t run. If I run, I lose Dad forever. Linda and Jason win. And I end up raising this child on the run, relying on three thousand euros of savings and a fake passport. That

...

3 4 5 6 7

...

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP