All Chapters of After He Let Me Fall : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

NYLAMy father's voice came through again, steadier this time, he'd taken a breath before speaking.*"The condition is this. Before you walk into that boardroom and claim what is yours, you will tell them the truth. All of it. About your mother, about the money that changed hands, about the agreement that was made to keep her quiet and keep you in that house. I know it will cost you. I know it feels like handing them a weapon. But the truth told by you is not a weapon, Nyla. It's armor. Don't let anyone be the one to tell your story. You tell it first."*Then the recording stopped. For real this time.Nobody spoke for a while.I sat there with my father's voice still echoing in my ears and I didn't move. Kael's hand was still on mine and I was grateful for the comfort of it because everything else felt slightly untethered.Adler broke the quiet first. "He believed that coming forward on your own terms would strip Jason of everything he planned to use against you. If you say it first,

NYLAI looked at Jason for a moment before I answered him.It was just the first time I'd ever had to say it to him, and that felt kind of strange."He was a great father," Then I paused. "He wasn't perfect. He made mistakes that I'm still learning the full weight of. But when it came to showing up, he showed up."Jason didn't say anything. He just stood there absorbing it, he didn't try to hide how my words made him feel. Just a quiet, private kind of pain that had nowhere left to go."He cared about people," I added, and I meant it plainly. "Even the ones he didn't always know how to reach."Jason nodded once. Then he put his hands back in his pockets, turned around, and walked away down the street without another word. I stood at my driveway and watched him go, and the feeling in my chest wasn't satisfaction. It was much sadder than I thought.Kael appeared beside me. "You okay?""I think so."He looked at me sideways. "You sure you're alright sleeping alone tonight? I can stay."

KAELWe got back to her house.Nyla dropped her bag by the door and stood in the middle of her living room while I closed the door behind us and watched her."Say what's in your head," I said."I don't know where to start."She pressed her fingers to her forehead. "I keep thinking about her. Courtney." She stopped. "I don't know what to do with that because I already had a mother and—" She froze mid sentence. Her expression turned heavier. "This is my fault."“I have never met anyone that takes all the blame for literally everyone, like the way you do.""No, listen to me. Her being in danger is because of me. Because I started looking. If I had just left it alone she would be living her life and Grimes would have no reason to go anywhere near her."I crossed the room and stood in front of her. "Courtney got away.""You don't know that for sure. What if she's hiding away somewhere, living in constant fear?""I know she left that neighborhood years ago and nobody has been able to pin do

NYLAEvery person in that room stared at Jason. Including me."Where did you get that?" Adler asked, and there was an edge in his voice I hadn't heard before."It's a long story. Someone swapped the drive last night," Jason said. "I found out this morning. I'm returning what was taken." He slid it across the table toward me. "I'm not here to win like this."The room was so alert I could feel it. Every board member leaning slightly forward, every pen abandoned on their desk. I looked at the drive sitting in front of me and then I looked at Jason and I couldn't find a single dishonest thing in his face.I picked it up, walked back to the front, and plugged it in.I pressed play.My father's voice filled the room.*"My name is Richard Leclair. I'm recording this in the presence of my oldest friend, Bernard Adler, as a formal witness. If this recording is being played, then the succession of my company is being contested and I have things to say that this board needs to hear."*Nobody mov

KAELI drove for forty minutes without a destination.That was the honest truth of it. I just drove aimlessly with my music off, nothing to fill the space except the sound of my father's name in the Leclair's boardroom, full of strangers and the look on Nyla's face when I said what I said.I did regret saying it. I didn't mean every word and I shouldn't have said a single word. I should have lied and said I was fine."Get everything ready, I'll be paying my sister a visit." I instructed my assistant. A while later, I ended up outside Caitlyn's building without fully deciding to go there. I sat in the car for a moment, looked at the door I knew was hers, and then got out.She opened the door before I knocked twice, which meant she'd seen me pull up from the window, she'd been watching for exactly the kind of unannounced visit that only happened when something had gone wrong."Did you come to infuriate me further?" she asked. "Because I had a perfectly acceptable morning before you sho