Semua Bab Pregnant With My Twin Sister’s Fiancé’s Baby: Bab 81 - Bab 90

The morning after Marcus cancelled the wedding, the sidewalk outside my building looked less like a residential entrance and more like a war zone.News vans blocked the street. Paparazzi swarmed the lobby doors like ants on sugar. The headline on the Post was brutal: THE OTHER SISTER: BILLIONAIRE FIANCÉ DUMPS SOCIALITE FOR PREGNANT TWIN?It was messy. It was loud. It was exactly what I had spent my entire career avoiding.But as I stood by the penthouse window, looking down at the chaos, I didn't feel the familiar urge to run or hide. I felt a cold, steely resolve."They're loud," Aria said, walking up beside me.She was wearing one of my oversized sweaters, her hand resting on the seven-month curve of her stomach. She looked tired—the dark circles under her eyes spoke of a sleepless night—but she didn't look afraid."They're vultures," I corrected, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her away from the window. "And we're going to starve them.""How?""By controlling the n

The conference room at the FBI’s New York field office didn't have the sleek, glass-walled aesthetic of NeXus. It was beige, windowless, and smelled of stale coffee and federal bureaucracy.But the people sitting across the metal table weren't bureaucrats. They were sharks in cheap suits."Let's review the timeline," Special Agent Miller said, tapping a thick file folder. "Corporate espionage is a federal crime, Mr. West. But to make a RICO case stick, we need to prove a pattern of racketeering activity. Based on what you've brought us... we have that."I sat next to Marcus. He was staring at the table, his face a mask of grim determination. Benjamin Ross, our lawyer, sat to my right."The pattern is clear," I said, my voice steady. "Data leaks coinciding with bid submissions. Financial transfers to offshore accounts. And unauthorized access to secure servers.""We've identified the paymaster," Miller confirmed. He slid a sheet of paper across the table. "The money didn't just come fr

The text from Richard Stone was brief, professional, and entirely unexpected.Richard: Noah. I’d like to buy you a coffee. Man to man. Are you free at 10?I stared at the screen. My relationship with Aria’s father had been... complicated. He was a titan of industry, a man I respected in the boardroom but had loathed in the living room for his passivity. For twenty-six years, he had watched his wife systematically dismantle his daughter’s self-esteem, and he had done nothing.But last night, at that dinner table, something had shifted. The titan had woken up."Who is it?" Aria asked, looking up from her laptop where she was browsing crib sheets."Your dad," I said. "He wants to meet."Aria froze. "Is he changing his mind? Is he going back to her?""I don't think so," I said, remembering the look on Richard’s face when he told Elena to leave. It wasn't the look of a man bargaining. It was the look of a man burning the bridge while he was still standing on it. "I think he wants to clear

The conference room at the District Attorney's office was beige, windowless, and stifling. It was the complete opposite of the sleek glass walls of NeXus or the polished wood of the civil law firm we had been in days ago."We need to go back," Assistant District Attorney Miller said, tapping her pen against a yellow legal pad. "Further back than the masquerade. Further back than the data theft."I shifted in my chair, trying to find a comfortable position for my eight-month-pregnant body. My back ached constantly now, a dull thrum of discomfort that matched the anxiety in my chest."How far back?" I asked."Childhood," Miller said. "To prove malice—to prove that this wasn't just a crime of opportunity or financial desperation, but a calculated attempt to destroy you—we need to establish a pattern of behavior."I looked at Noah. He was sitting next to me, his hand resting on the back of my chair. He looked ready to fight the entire justice system if I gave the word."Do I have to?" I w

The federal courthouse smelled of floor wax and old decisions. It was a smell I would associate forever with the dismantling of my family.I sat in the second row, my hands resting on the immense curve of my stomach. At thirty-eight weeks pregnant, sitting on a wooden bench was torture, but I wouldn't have been anywhere else.Noah sat beside me, his thigh pressing against mine, a solid anchor in a room that felt like it was tilting."All rise," the bailiff announced.Judge Hawthorne entered. He was an older man with a face carved from granite and eyes that had seen too many people throw their lives away for money or pride.He looked down at the defense table.Sienna stood up.She wasn't wearing the designer armor she usually donned for battle. She wore a simple navy dress and flats. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. Without the makeup, without the diamonds, without the sneer... she looked exactly like me.She looked terrified."Ms. Stone," Judge Hawthorne said, his voice boo