All Chapters of The Heart Never Forgets: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Pierce wasn't just playing a game anymore; he was rewriting reality.He had erased my father from this room as if he were nothing more than a smudge on a windowpane."Daniel, we have to find him," I whispered, my voice sounding thin and brittle in the hollow silence of the ward. "He’s here. He has to be here. They couldn't have moved him far."Daniel didn't waste time with words. He grabbed my hand, his grip the only thing keeping me from spinning off the axis of the earth. We ran back into the hallway. The "silent floor" felt like a haunted house, every empty room a reminder of what we were losing.We reached the nurse’s station again. Daniel leaped over the counter, his fingers flying across the computer keyboard. His face was set in a mask of grim focus."The system is wiped," he growled, slamming his fist against the desk. "Room assignments, patient logs, and staff schedules – it’s all gone. He didn't just take your father, Jane. He took the whole wing offline.""The security moni

I looked at the steel handcuffs biting into Daniel’s wrists, the metal gleaming under the harsh, flickering fluorescent lights of the hospital.The detective’s words, premeditated murder, echoed in my mind, over and over, like a bell tolling for a funeral."That's a lie," I whispered, but my voice was so weak it barely carried across the bed.The detective didn't even look at me. He was busy reading Daniel his rights, a robotic, droning recitation that felt like a final nail being driven into a coffin. Daniel didn't struggle. He didn't shout. He stood there with his shoulders squared, his face a mask of cold, unyielding stone.But his eyes were fixed on mine, and in them, I saw a flicker of something I couldn't name. Was it guilt? Or was it the look of a man who had finally run out of moves?"Look at the files, Miss Riley," the detective said, gesturing to the folder he had tossed onto my lap. "Don't take my word for it. Read the paper trail."With trembling fingers, I opened the fold

A cold shiver ran down my spine, settling deep in my bones. The guests, people I had known my whole life, stared at us. Their faces were a blur of shock and judgment. I felt the weight of their eyes like stones being thrown at me. I wanted to disappear. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole so I wouldn't have to see that fake version of my father's face for one more second. I felt a small, relatable pang of longing for the days when a "big problem" was just a bad grade. Now, the world was watching me fall apart."Security," Pierce called out, his voice turning smooth and sweet, like honey poured over a sharpened blade. "Miss Riley is clearly unwell. She’s had a terrible shock. Please, help her out so she can get some rest. And take Mr. Logan into custody before he can cause any more harm."Four men in dark suits started walking toward us from the edges of the room. They didn't look like they wanted to help. They looked like they wanted to make us vanish. My heart began

The ballroom went from a roar of whispers to a silence so deep it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.That split-second image of Pierce’s office hung in the minds of everyone there. I could see the sweat beads on Pierce’s forehead now, glistening like oily diamonds under the stage lights. He wasn't the smooth, untouchable king anymore. He was a man watching his kingdom catch fire."It was a glitch!" Pierce shouted, his voice cracking as he grabbed the edge of the podium so hard his knuckles turned a ghostly white. "A technical error from the transmission! My office is secure! This is a stunt by a desperate criminal!"He looked toward the tech booth at the back of the hall, but the technicians were staring at their monitors in confusion. Daniel didn't look up from his device. His fingers were moving in a blur, his face illuminated by the blue light of the screen.Pierce’s eyes darted toward the row of news cameras. The reporters were no longer just standing there; they w

Daniel didn't slow down.He moved with a quiet, lethal grace, his hand constantly on the small of my back to guide me. We had managed to slip behind the stage during a loud, booming musical interlude – the kind of music Pierce played to drown out the sound of a crumbling empire.The guests were too busy arguing and crying to notice two people disappearing into the shadows."Stay low," Daniel whispered, his voice barely more than a breath. "Pierce’s 'cleaners' aren't security guards. They’re mercenaries. If they find us back here, there are no cameras to protect us."I nodded, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. My silk dress felt too heavy, the fabric rustling against the floor like a warning bell. I wanted to rip the hem off just so I could move faster.I thought about Arthur Sterling and the needle in his neck. My skin crawled with the memory. Pierce wasn't just hiding a crime anymore; he was cleaning house.We reached a heavy metal door labeled Utility Access. Dani