All Chapters of Four Babies and a Billion Dollar Lie: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Vanishing ShadowsThe storm did not calm. If anything, it grew stronger.Days after, the internet was still boiling. Hashtags trended nonstop across every platform:#JusticeForAres#FreeChloe#KidsDeserveBetterEvery news outlet replayed clips of Ares walking out of court hollow eyed, his voice declaring that he would never stop protecting his children. That clip alone had been viewed millions of times. His pain had become the world’s anthem, his heartbreak transformed into a weapon the public wielded against Tessa.Comment sections overflowed with rage. Strangers united in their fury, denouncing Tessa as selfish, greedy, and unfit. The mall humiliation had only made it worse; footage of her being pelted with eggs was replayed mercilessly, stitched into mocking edits, laughed at by influencers.For every word of hate, there was sympathy for Ares. People called him a father wronged, a man stripped of what was his. Even Chloe, despite her prison sentence, had a small wave of supporters

Good lovingThe night had been a blur of desperation and want, grief and need twined so tightly that neither Ares nor Tessa could tell where one ended and the other began. When the first pale hints of dawn crept through the curtains, they were still entangled, bodies dripping with sweat, hearts beating in fear.Tessa stirred first, her lashes fluttering against her cheeks. For a moment, she looked around in dazed confusion, as though waking from a dream. Then her gaze fell on Ares, stretched beside her, his strong arm draped protectively across her waist, and the reality of what they’d done hit her like a jolt.She should have pushed him away. She should have remembered that their children were missing, that she had no right to find comfort in the man who had once been her undoing. But the truth was undeniable: last night, in his arms, she hadn’t felt like a grieving mother or a woman hunted by the world. She had simply felt loved and needed.Ares shifted, blinking awake. His gaze la

Hold on…Ayisha’s hands trembled on the steering wheel as she drove back, her knuckles bone white against the leather. The hum of the engine drowned beneath the roar of her pulse. Every time she blinked, she saw Damien’s smile, his wife’s soft eyes, the little children clinging to his legs. The picture perfect family. The lie she had walked into with open arms.“Bianca,” she hissed under her breath, her teeth grinding. The betrayal tasted metallic on her tongue. She should have known. Lady Bianca’s fingerprints were everywhere. The sweet, flirtatious jogging partner who just “happened” to appear at the right time, the sudden attention when she felt most vulnerable. Every word Damien had said, every late night call, every smile..it had all been a carefully constructed script.And she had fallen for it.By the time she pulled up outside the house, her rage was boiling, ready to spill. She slammed the door and stormed inside, her voice carrying through the halls.“Tessa!”Her friend app

New plansThe screen glowed in the dim study, the only light in Ares’s mansion at that hour. Midnight wrapped itself around the house like a shroud, but Ares sat upright behind his mahogany desk, his sharp eyes fixed on the video call connecting. The signal was strong, crisp.Then Julian’s face appeared—bronzed, relaxed, the faint murmur of waves rolling from somewhere in the background. He was leaning back on a terrace chair, the twinkling Dubai skyline glittering behind him like a thousand promises.“Brother,” Julian greeted, his grin casual but edged with the weight of the secret they carried. “Your little angels are asleep. They ate too much ice cream, played in the pool until sunset, and then passed out like kittens. Dubai suits them.”Ares exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair. His jaw unclenched slightly at the news. They’re safe. They’re happy. That’s all that matters.“I trust you’re keeping them away from the cameras,” Ares said, his voice a low command rather than a qu

Empty HandsThe late autumn wind rattled against the windows of the house as though it too sensed the storm closing in on Tessa and Ayisha’s lives. In the living room, Ayisha sat hunched over the glass coffee table, staring blankly at her phone screen.Her hands trembled as she scrolled through email after email, each one worse than the last. The “congratulations on your approved loan” message from the bank still sat at the top of her inbox like a cruel joke. Beneath it were the follow up notifications—the wired funds, the transaction receipts, the withdrawal confirmations. And at the very bottom, the email from her supposed “business consultant,” a man named Trent Rivers, who had promised them investment opportunities and marketing expansion for their beauty line. The last line of his message burned into her eyes every time she looked at it: Funds secured. Trust me, you won’t regret this.Now, just three weeks later, his number was disconnected, his office a ghost space in downtown M