جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

Teresa's POV Evelyn stood. She turned to Valentino first, squeezing his hand. "It'll be okay," she said softly.Then she turned to me.Her eyes held mine for a long moment. There was nothing soft in them now. Nothing fragile. She smiled, just slightly, and then she followed the doctor through the door.---The first part of the evaluation took two hours.I sat in the waiting room with Valentino. He did not speak much. He stared at the floor, his hands clasped between his knees. Anthony stood near the door, watching the hallway.When the door opened again, Evelyn came out with the doctor. She looked composed. Her eyes were dry. She walked to Valentino and sat down beside him without speaking.The doctor looked at both of us. "We'd like to continue with the physical assessment. It's standard procedure. Evelyn has agreed."Valentino nodded.Evelyn looked at me. "Will you come with us?"The question hung in the air.Valentino glanced at me. "If you're comfortable."I stood. "Yes."We wal

Teresa's Pov That hit harder than anything else he had said.He wanted to believe she was helpless. Because that made his role clear. It made his loyalty feel justified."What about the report?" I asked. "The one from the doctors."His face tightened."It is detailed," he said. "Very detailed."He reached into his folder and pulled out a document. He did not hand it to me immediately. He just looked at it for a second, like he did not want to let go."They found a pattern," he said. "Consistent behavior over years. Not random. Not reactive. Planned."He finally slid the paper across the table.I did not pick it up."Go on," I said.He exhaled slowly and began to speak."When she was fourteen," he said, "there was a girl named Sarah. She was my friend. We had known each other since we were young. Sarah and I were close."He paused."Evelyn started telling our parents that Sarah was a bad influence. That she was encouraging me to do things I should not do. She said Sarah was trying to

Teresa's Pov My phone started ringing before I was fully awake.It was loud. Repeated. Persistent. The sound cut through the heavy silence of the hotel room, bouncing off the walls. I groaned and reached for it blindly, my eyes still half closed. My hand patted the nightstand twice before finding the device. The screen was too bright. I squinted against the white light.Unknown number.I almost declined it. My thumb hovered over the button. Then something in my chest tightened, and I answered."Hello?""Is this Teresa?" a woman's voice asked quickly. She spoke fast, like she was reading from a script."Yes. Who is this?""We're calling for a comment regarding the allegations—"I pulled the phone away from my ear. "What allegations?""The claims about your past involving—"I ended the call.My heart was already racing. I could feel it beating against my ribs, fast and hard. I sat up in bed, the sheet falling away from my shoulders. The room was still dark. The curtains were drawn tigh

Teresa's Pov I did not think my hands would shake.Not after everything I had already survived. Not after all the years I spent pretending I was fine. I had practiced this moment in my head more times than I could count. I had written and rewritten the statement. I had read it aloud in my hotel room until the words became routine, familiar, almost boring.But as I stood in that room, holding the printed pages of my statement, my fingers trembled so badly the paper made a faint rustling sound.Everyone heard it.The room was the main conference room in the Carson Hotel's legal department. It was smaller than I expected. A long table in the center, polished dark wood. Eight chairs around it, though only half were occupied. The walls were beige. There were no windows. The overhead lights hummed quietly, a low sound that seemed to vibrate under my skin.Nathan sat across from me, calm, composed, like he belonged here. Like he was not the reason I had spent years trying to forget my own l

Teresa's Pov Evelyn was gone.That was the only clear victory in everything that had happened over the past weeks. No more sudden appearances in hallways. No more strange messages. No more scenes meant to humiliate me. No more cold eyes watching from across the room.Valentino had taken her away quietly. No announcements. No explanations. Just gone. One day she was there, and the next day she was not. The facility was somewhere upstate. I did not ask for details. I did not want them. Knowing where she was felt like giving her space in my mind that she did not deserve.People whispered about it at first. In the break room. By the elevators. In hushed conversations that stopped when I walked past. But the whispers faded quickly. There was always something else to talk about. Someone else to speculate about. The business moved on. The city moved on. Evelyn became a footnote in conversations that no longer included me.Nathan did not fade.He was still everywhere in this city. In meeting