All Chapters of I HEARD HIM SAY " DADDY": Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

AIDEN I drove back to the hotel where I was staying, the silence inside the car pressing heavily against my thoughts. Maybe Mum had asked Sophia to call me. Maybe there was something important waiting for me. But whatever it was, I was clearly not interested in dealing with it right now. I had left everything behind because I needed peace and quiet, and I intended to have it—at least for tonight. Just as I was heading upstairs toward my room, I noticed Sara and her husband stepping out as if they were on their way somewhere. She saw me first. “Hi, Aiden,” she said warmly. “Hi,” I replied, forcing a polite response even though all I wanted was to disappear behind the safety of my door. “If you aren’t busy, you should join us, you know,” Sara added, her tone light and inviting. “Nah, I’ll pass. I’ve got work to do,” I said quickly, hoping that would end the conversation. “Really, you should come. Have some fun for once,” she insisted, smiling in that persistent way that

AIDEN I stormed furiously into the room, and my chest rose and fell with restrained anger that felt too large to remain contained within me. Every breath burned as it moved through my lungs, sharp and uneven, as though even the air resisted my presence. There had been no emergency, nothing urgent, and nothing important, yet she had still called me home as if my time meant nothing and as if I were some obedient child expected to appear the moment my name was spoken. It was almost midnight, for crying out loud. The house was quiet in that heavy and unnatural way that comes long after everyone should have been asleep. Even the walls seemed to listen. The faint ticking of a distant clock pressed against my nerves, and each passing second reminded me of the time I had wasted coming back here for absolutely nothing. When Mum asked what the emergency was in response to my question, she replied almost immediately. “It is nothing, Mum,” she said sharply, cutting through the tension in the

SAM “Elena!” I screamed the moment I stepped into the house, my voice tearing through the quiet like something wild and uncontrollable. The sound echoed off the walls and came back to me louder, harsher, almost accusing. For a brief second, I stood frozen at the entrance, my chest heaving, my heartbeat pounding so violently it felt as though it might break through my ribs. From the kitchen came the soft clatter of metal against ceramic, the ordinary sound of someone trying to continue with life as if nothing was falling apart. Then she appeared. Elena stepped out slowly, a hand towel clutched in her fingers. She had just returned from the hospital where our son was lying weak and fragile in a bed far too big for his small body. The exhaustion on her face was impossible to miss. Dark shadows rested beneath her eyes, and her lips were dry, slightly parted as if even breathing required effort. Her shoulders sagged under an invisible weight, yet she was still trying—still cooking,

SAM “Who were you talking to on the phone, Elena?” I froze for a split second, the question hanging like a cold draft in the kitchen. My fingers tightened around the handle of the pot. I could feel the heat from the stove warming my arms, but it didn’t reach the cold tension building between us. “I already told you, it’s none of your business,” she said, her voice calm but edged with something sharper than steel. She turned off the stove with deliberate slowness, as if savoring the control she had over this moment, and began dishing the food into plates. I watched her carefully, every movement precise, almost meticulous. My chest throbbed—not just from anger but from the sting of betrayal, confusion, and that unrelenting sense of being shut out. “I am talking to you,” I said, stepping forward. My words were firm, but there was a tremor beneath, a hint of desperation I couldn’t hide. I reached out instinctively, wanting some form of connection, some clarity, but the second my han

SOPHIA “Sophia!” Selina’s voice echoed behind me, but it felt far away, like I was underwater and everything above the surface sounded distorted. My thoughts were louder than anything else. They collided violently, refusing to settle into something I could control. I had not expected that. I had prepared myself for an apology at most, maybe an awkward conversation filled with half-finished sentences and uncomfortable pauses. I had not prepared myself for a public declaration. I had not prepared myself to feel cornered by hope. “Emmh… Nicholas, I…” My voice had betrayed me. It trembled. It cracked. I hated that it did. I hated that after everything, he could still make me feel like the uncertain version of myself I thought I had outgrown. I looked at Selina, silently begging her to intervene, to say something that would buy me time. She looked just as stunned as I felt. Then I looked back at Nicholas. He looked certain. Certain about us. Certain about what he wanted. Certain tha