All Chapters of I HEARD HIM SAY " DADDY": Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

123 Chapters

Under the Atelier Lights

ANNALISE I walked into the atelier, my heels clicking against the polished marble floor, each step echoing with a confidence I didn’t feel but was determined to project. Aiden followed close behind me, his presence a constant, unspoken weight at my back. I could feel his eyes on me, tracking my movements like a hawk surveying its prey. “You should call the design team,” I said, forcing my voice to carry authority, even as my stomach fluttered nervously. “After this, I want an announcement.” A faint scoff escaped Damian’s lips, though he didn’t bother turning to face me. “Really?” he said, voice laced with disbelief. “You want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone?” I tilted my chin slightly, letting a small, deliberate smile curve my lips. “No,” I said calmly, letting each word hang in the air between us. “I want a grand announcement. Not just for the Blackwood Conglomerate… but maybe it’s time for the marriage announcement, too.” The words seemed to hang in the room, h

The challenge begins

ANNALISE / LISA “What is this about?” Tala asked, her voice sliced cleanly through the room—sharp, impatient, unmistakably irritated. She didn’t bother hiding it. There was no polite curiosity, no corporate smile to soften the edge. Her heels were planted firmly against the polished marble floor, arms crossed over her chest like armor. Perfectly manicured fingers tapped against her sleeve, the rhythm controlled but betraying her annoyance. I felt the weight of her stare before I even looked at her. When I finally did, her eyes locked onto mine, assessing, calculating—already defensive. I couldn’t blame her. I was coming for her job. Who wouldn't act the way she was acting? The realization didn’t fill me with guilt the way I thought it might. Instead, it settled heavy and solid in my chest, grounding me. This wasn’t personal. Or maybe it was. Either way, I had crossed the point where politeness mattered more than survival. I had lost too much already. This—this moment—was my

Against the odds.

AIDEN I saw Lisa’s face—or maybe it was Annalise—freeze the moment I announced that she would be competing against Tala, our own Head of Design. The shock was subtle, fleeting, but it was there. I didn’t expect it either, honestly, but that didn’t matter. I thought, how better to put her in her place than this? By the time Tala beat her, she would slink home quietly, never make another request, never push back again. And even if I had to marry her, it would be a quiet wedding, a mere formality, and in thirty days, everything would be over. I had the perfect plan. Tala hadn’t expected the competition either, I could tell from the tiny lift of her eyebrow, but she smiled regardless. There was a fire in her expression, that hunger to prove herself, and I admired it—not that I would ever tell her that. She was precise, calculating, and confident. All the qualities Lisa lacked, at least right now. The crowd in the atelier erupted as Tala stepped out, and they were all cheering her o

Thread of defiance

ANNALISE / LISA I stood frozen for longer than I wanted, my eyes tracing the blank expanse of the worktable in front of me. The atelier, once familiar and comforting, now felt alien—as though the walls themselves had inched closer, pressing down on me. The unexpected twist of Aiden’s announcement still clung to my skin like a second layer, heavy and suffocating. I needed time to breathe, to think, to figure out what I was going to do next. But there was no time. “Isn’t she going to do something?” someone barked from the audience, loud and impatient. A laugh followed, sharp and cruel. “She’s definitely going to lose.” The words should have stung, and part of me wanted them to. Part of me wanted to explode, to throw everything in sight and shout that I was not nothing, that I was not some stepping stone in their game. But instead, my mind drifted. I didn’t hear the whispers, the scoffs, the judgmental eyes. I only heard Sam. His voice, etched into my memory with the precision of

Beyond the Atelier

AIDEN After watching Lisa barely find her way around the competition, I found the whole thing mildly entertaining. Her hesitation, the slight tremor in her hands, the way she fumbled before forcing herself to move—it was exactly what I had expected. Every misstep she made seemed to confirm my predictions, and a small, almost imperceptible smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. Meanwhile, Tala moved through the room with flawless, effortless precision. Confident, untouchable, untiring—she was a storm that didn’t need to announce itself. Nothing about the situation suggested the outcome would change. Lisa’s stubbornness was almost admirable, in a frustrating sort of way, but it wouldn’t save her. Not today. Then my phone vibrated, slicing through the background noise of clattering tools and faint murmurs. I glanced down at the screen and smirked. Davis. My lawyer. My best friend. He was in the area and had come with the contract I asked him for. Perfect timing. I cast one last gla

Stitched for Victory

TALA She won’t win. The thought slipped from my lips in a low murmur as I leaned over my table, adjusting the final seam of my design. My fingers moved with instinctive precision, guided by years of repetition, practice, and obsession. Each stitch fell exactly where it was meant to, each fold perfectly aligned. There was no hesitation, no second-guessing. I could feel the structure of the piece in my hands as clearly as if it had already been finished, already displayed on the runway. This design was flawless, and I knew it. It has clean lines, bold angles and controlled elegance. Exactly what Mr. Aiden admired. Exactly what he had praised. I still remembered the way his eyes had lingered on my sketch weeks ago, scanning it with that rare, careful attention. His nod had been slow, measured, deliberate. A faint smile had tugged at his lips—the kind that only came when he was genuinely impressed. This, he had said, is the kind of innovation I expect from you, Tala. That single s

The Illusion of Defeat

ANNALISE / LISA “Time’s up.” Aiden’s voice cut through the room like ice, sharp and precise, carrying that rare combination of authority and calm that made every motion in the room pause. The click of scissors, the rustle of fabric, even the soft murmur of whispered instructions—all of it seemed to halt midair. My chest tightened for a brief second, not from fear, but anticipation. My pulse surged, not in panic, but in a quiet, thrilling awareness that the moment I’d been waiting for had arrived. I didn’t flinch or twitch. I didn’t make a single unnecessary motion. Because I already knew. I lifted my head slowly, deliberately, drawing out the movement, letting the subtle drama linger. My gaze swept across the room—the judges, the other designers, the low, tense hum of expectation that had settled over everyone like a cloud of smoke. And then it found her. Tala, my opponent and head of design of the Blackwood Conglomerate. She stood there, all polished confidence, posture poise

The Perfect Impefection

AIDEN I watched Annalise stand by her design piece, keeping my expression deliberately neutral. It wasn’t difficult. Years of boardrooms, high-stakes negotiations, and hostile meetings had trained me to conceal reactions. People read too much into faces, always hunting for weakness, and I gave them nothing. Calm, detached, interested, at most. That was enough. Yet my attention kept drifting back to her. She looked calm, almost unnervingly so, even though the timer had run out. Her posture was straight, poised, but her gaze—her gaze was steady. I found myself glancing at her table again, curiosity tugging at me despite my effort to remain composed. There was a quiet confidence about her, the kind that didn’t demand attention, didn’t try to manipulate it. It just existed, and I couldn’t decide whether that made me admire her or irritate me. Perhaps both. She stared outward as people do when they aren’t aware they are being observed—or when they simply don’t care. That lack o

The Spotlight

ANNALISE/ LISA “She must have stolen it,” Tala muttered under her breath, but the words carried through the room like a whispering wind, just loud enough for me to hear. Her disbelief was sharp, almost tangible. “I mean… her work was a complete mess just moments ago. There’s no way she could have pulled this off.” No one paid her the slightest mind. If they heard her, they pretended not to. All eyes were on me. Every single head in the room was turned, every camera phone lifted, every lens pointed as if the room itself had decided I was the center of the universe. The collective energy buzzed, tangible and electric, as murmurs and whispers danced through the air like static clinging to a magnet. “How did she do this?” someone whispered, barely audible above the rising hum of anticipation, a note of reverence lacing the words. I let the attention wash over me. I felt it seep into every fiber of me, that raw, unfiltered thrill of being the epicenter of admiration, envy, and disbelie

When she said " Wedding."

AIDEN I watched her closely, every instinct honed on her like a blade drawn halfway from its sheath. Lisa had a way of standing still while everything around her shifted, as if she were the eye of a storm she’d created deliberately. Her posture was relaxed, her expression composed, but there was something alert beneath it—a sharpness that told me she was calculating her next move. Davis stood beside me, silent, his presence a constant pressure at my shoulder. I didn’t need to look at him to know he was confused. I could feel it in the way his weight shifted, in the brief pauses between his breaths. His gaze flicked toward me more than once, a wordless question hanging in his eyes. Why did you bring me here? What is this all about? The meeting had already gone off the rails. Whatever purpose it had originally served had been buried under Lisa’s theatrics, and I had no intention of explaining myself to Davis now. Not here. Not in front of her. I kept my eyes forward and ignored

...

3 4 5 6 7

...

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP