Hiding the Billionaire's Heir のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Thirty Days LaterThe sun hung high over the jungle as Katya stood in the lodge’s garden, watching Clyde chase butterflies with a group of village children. His laughter echoed across the clearing – pure, unburdened. She’d spent every day of the past month preparing: consulting lawyers in three countries, gathering evidence of Clyde’s stable life here, even documenting every moment of his growth in journals and photos.Ethan walked up beside her, holding two cups of coffee. “They’re here,” he said quietly.Katya didn’t need to ask who. She’d seen the helicopters circling overhead an hour ago – not Rodrigo’s usual SUVs, but something bigger, more formal.“Did he bring the whole legal team?” she asked.“More than that,” Ethan replied. “Diether and Lianna are with him. They wanted to see Clyde for themselves.”Katya nodded, taking a slow sip of coffee. “Let them see. Let them understand why we’re fighting this.”They walked back to the lodge to find Rodrigo waiting on the porch, flanked

The months that followed became the most punishing season of Katya Arzeus’s life. From the outside, she looked untouchable. Magazine covers praised her as the elegant heiress who had stepped into power without hesitation. Financial networks admired her intelligence, discipline, and poise. Society columns obsessed over the way she carried herself—sharp suits, steady gaze, effortless authority. Headlines called her the iron daughter, the woman rebuilding an empire, the successor who never stumbled. But headlines were written by people who only saw her in daylight. They never saw her after midnight. They never saw the woman sitting alone in the boardroom with aching shoulders and tired eyes, rereading the same contract because exhaustion had made every paragraph blur together. They never saw her standing barefoot in her penthouse kitchen at three in the morning, too tired to eat, too restless to sleep. They never saw her remove diamonds from her ears with trembling fingers because s

There was no sudden calm, no immediate return to normal life, no magical silence after the storm. Instead, the days that followed Katya Arzeus were some of the most intense and demanding she had ever endured, because the accusation against Arzeus Holdings did not fade quietly—it spread aggressively, like fire catching dry paper in a crowded room. News outlets repeated the allegations without pause, looping them across screens in dramatic headlines that turned suspicion into spectacle. Analysts began dissecting Rodrigo’s entire legacy as if it had always been fragile. Shareholders panicked openly, board members whispered in private corridors, stock projections swung unpredictably, and rival corporations took immediate advantage of even the smallest hint of instability, circling the company like predators sensing weakness. For a brief and frightening moment, it genuinely felt as if an entire empire built over decades could collapse not because it was weak, but because doubt had been all

The moment did not break after Clyde’s words. Instead, it softened further, like something fragile being handled with care by unseen hands.Katya still had her arm around him, but her grip eased slightly, as if she was finally allowing herself to believe that this scene—this ordinary, imperfect, quietly extraordinary moment—was not going to be taken away from her.Ethan remained crouched in front of Clyde, but his attention drifted for a brief second toward Katya. There was something in his eyes now that hadn’t been there before. Not uncertainty. Not hesitation. But a kind of settled relief, like a man who had carried a long decision alone and finally set it down.Clyde, oblivious to the depth of what had just shifted between the adults, tilted his head.“So… does this mean Daddy Ethan is like… official now?” he asked, the word “official” sounding too serious for his sleepy voice.Katya blinked at him, then let out a small breath that almost turned into laughter.“Official?” she repea

The days that followed didn’t transform their lives into something smooth.They simply made it shared.And shared things—Katya was learning—were never perfectly calm.It started with small friction, the kind that didn’t announce itself as conflict until it had already taken shape.Clyde noticed it first.Not in words, but in behavior.Ethan began staying more often than not. His shoes by the door became normal. His presence at breakfast stopped being something Clyde reacted to and started becoming something Clyde expected.But expectation, in a child’s world, quickly turned into ownership.One morning, Clyde frowned at Ethan across the table.“You sat in my seat,” he said.Ethan blinked once. “I didn’t know it was assigned.”“It is,” Clyde replied seriously.Katya, pouring coffee, paused for a second—then continued as if she hadn’t heard the negotiation unfolding beside her.Ethan glanced at her.Katya didn’t intervene.This was hers to watch.He shifted seats without protest.Clyde a