Under the Mistletoe with my Ex's Brother のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 161 - チャプター 170

Scarlet's POV A week had passed since the custody hearing. Seven more days of living in this hotel room with Jace. Seven more days of not knowing what to do about Damian. I loved him. That was the problem. Even with that photograph burned into my brain, even with the lies about Jace's kidnapping, I still loved him. But love wasn't enough when trust was shattered. Jace was doing better. Therapy was helping. He still had nightmares but they were less frequent. He was talking more. Playing more. Starting to seem like himself again. Lucas hadn't tried to contact me since his threat at the courthouse. That should have been a relief. Instead it made me nervous. Lucas quiet was more dangerous than Lucas angry. Damian called every day and when I felt like it—,when I couldn't bare the tightness in my chest, I answer

Damian's Pov "France. I'd been moving money into offshore accounts for over a year, small amounts that wouldn't be noticed. It was enough to start over. I got new identification papers, a new passport. Eleanor Cole died in that bay and I became someone else," she said as she stood and looked over the window. I noticed how she had gotten slimmer, her usually brown hair was now darker with little grey streaks. Was this truly my mother?How could she leave us and not even try to communicate with her children for fifteen good years. "For fifteen years," I said, my voice hoarse and thick, the anger was starting to burn through the shock now. "You lived in France for fifteen years while Lucas and I thought you were dead.""I know what I did to you both—""Do you?" I surged to my feet, glass crunching under my shoes. "Do you have any idea what it was like? I was the one who had to identify your belongings. I was the one who had to tell Lucas that our mother was gone. I planned your memo

Lucas's POVThe county jail smelled like disinfectant and crime. I sat in the visiting area waiting for them to bring Victoria out, wondering if this was the stupidest idea I'd ever had or the most brilliant. Probably both. The plastic chair was uncomfortable and the fluorescent lights made everything look sickly and pale, which seemed appropriate given what I was about to do.A guard brought her in and for a second I almost didn't recognize her. The polished, beautiful woman who'd been all over the news had been replaced by someone harder. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she wore an orange jumpsuit that washed out her complexion, but her eyes were still sharp when she sat down across from me and picked up the phone on her side of the glass partition.I picked up mine."Lucas Cole," she said, and there was something like amusement in her voice. "Damian's brother. Why would Lucas Cole want to visit me?""Because we have a common enemy."She tilted her head, studying

Damian's POVEleanor showed up at my office unannounced with her lawyer in tow.I'd been avoiding her for three days since she appeared in my apartment like a ghost made flesh, but apparently she was done giving me space. Thomas tried to intercept them in the lobby but Eleanor had a way of moving through obstacles like they didn't exist, and before I knew it she was walking into my office with a tall woman in an expensive suit following behind her."We need to talk," Eleanor said without preamble. "This is Margaret Kale, one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Europe. She's agreed to help with Victoria's case."I looked between them, my hand still frozen over the keyboard where I'd been typing an email."I don't recall asking for help.""You didn't, but I'm giving it anyway." Eleanor sat down in one of the chairs across from my desk like she owned the place, and Margaret followed suit. "Margaret has been coordinating with the prosecutor handling Victoria's kidnapping case. We ha

SCARLET'S POV The nausea hit me halfway through morning rounds at the hospital, sudden and overwhelming enough that I had to excuse myself from Dr. Patterson's bedside explanation about his upcoming surgery and make it to the staff bathroom before I threw up.I'd been feeling off for weeks now, ever since the farmhouse really, but I kept telling myself it was stress. How could it be anything else? My son had been kidnapped and held at knifepoint. My husband had possibly cheated on me. My marriage was falling apart. My ex-husband was threatening revenge. Of course my body was rebelling.I splashed cold water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked tired, dark circles under my eyes that makeup couldn't quite hide, but otherwise normal. Maybe a little pale.When I came out of the bathroom, Dr. Sarah l was waiting in the hallway with her arms crossed and that knowing look she got when she'd figured something out before you had."You're pregnant," she said matter-of-factly