All Chapters of Father's Secret, Daughter's Ruin: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

30 Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY- ONE

The vibe in the press conference hall was absolutely suffocating. It smelled like expensive floor wax, over-brewed coffee, and the kind of nervous sweat that only comes when a billionaire knows he’s about to lie through his teeth. This was supposed to be Greg’s "Main Character" moment—the big clean-up where he’d tell the world the DNA scandal was just a glitch in the system. He stood at the podium, adjusting his silk tie with a smug look that basically said, “I’m too rich to stay in trouble.”I wasn't on that stage. I didn't want to be a prop in his fake-family aesthetic. Instead, I stayed low-key in the crowd, sitting in the fourth row between Marie and James. I was wearing a simple black blazer and dark shades, looking like a background character, but I was the one holding the remote. Greg’s eyes skimmed over me without a flicker of suspicion. He thought I was there as his "supportive daughter." He had zero clue that the Meta glasses I’d worn at Elsa’s villa—the ones he thought were

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The press conference hall was a literal crime scene. FBI agents were bagging laptops, journalists were screaming into their microphones, and the energy was pure, unadulterated chaos. But as the crowd surged toward the exit to catch a glimpse of Greg being shoved into a black SUV, I felt a strange, cold stillness. The big boss was down, but there was still one more snake slithering around the garden."Kassy, we need to go," Marie said, grabbing my arm. She looked like she’d just won a marathon—exhausted but glowing with the thrill of the takedown. "The press is going to descend on us in T-minus two minutes.""I’m not leaving yet," I said, my eyes scanning the room. "Where is he?"I didn't have to look far. Jamal was huddled in a corner near the emergency exit, looking like he wanted to phase through the wall. He was frantic, his thumbs flying across his phone screen, probably trying to call a lawyer or delete his search history. He looked small. Without Greg’s shadow to hide in, he was

CHAPTER TWENTY - THREE

The late afternoon sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, casting long, golden shadows across the designer furniture. Seven months had passed since the Greg empire had imploded in a firestorm of federal indictments and viral livestreams. The world had moved on to newer scandals, but inside these walls, time felt like it was moving through honey.Lily sat on the velvet chaise lounge, her hand resting habitually on the swell of her stomach. She was eight months along now. In the beginning, the pregnancy had felt like a ticking time bomb—a constant, physical reminder of her betrayal with Jamal and the mess she had helped create. But the chaos of Greg’s arrest and the subsequent fallout had done something unexpected. It had stripped away the pretenses.Across the room, Ethan was pouring two glasses of sparkling cider. He moved with a quiet grace that Lily had finally started to truly notice. For months, their marriage had been a business transaction, a merger

CHAPTER TWENTY - FOUR

The knock on the door wasn't the polite, rhythmic tap of a concierge. It was a sharp, demanding series of raps that sounded like a countdown to an explosion. Lily, shifting her weight as the baby gave another uncomfortable shove against her ribs, sighed and looked at Ethan. He was already halfway to the kitchen to refill his cider, his back turned."I’ll get it," Lily muttered, pulling herself up from the chaise lounge with a groan. "It’s probably the laundry service. They always forget the gate code and get aggressive."She smoothed her silk robe over her eight-month bump and walked toward the foyer. Her feet were swollen, her back ached, and she was in no mood for incompetence. She pulled the heavy oak door open, ready to snap at whatever delivery person stood on the other side.Instead, she was met with a woman who looked like she had been carved out of ice and dipped in Chanel. She was in her late fifties, with a bob so sharp it could draw blood and eyes the color of a winter stor

CHAPTER TWENTY - FIVE

The sirens of the private ambulance were a frantic, high-pitched scream that mirrored the pulsing agony in Lily’s abdomen. Every bump in the road felt like a jagged blade twisting in her gut. Beside her, Ethan held her hand, but his grip was clammy, his eyes darting toward the partition as if he expected his mother to phase through the glass. Eleanor wasn't in the ambulance—she was trailing behind in a black Maybach—but her presence was a suffocating shroud that covered the entire city.By the time they reached St. Jude’s Private Wing, the "Eleanor Vance Effect" was already in full swing."Out of the way!" a head nurse barked, flanking the gurney as Lily was wheeled through the sliding glass doors. But before the medical team could even reach the elevator, a sharp, rhythmic clicking of heels silenced the ER foyer.Eleanor walked in, her

CHAPTER TWENTY - SIX

The morning air in Marie’s small apartment felt unusually heavy, like the atmosphere right before a tropical storm breaks. She was standing in her tiny kitchen, packing a lunch box for her daughter, Lyra. It was a mundane task—cutting the crusts off sandwiches, peeling an orange—but today, Marie’s hands wouldn't stop shaking.Ever since the Greg empire had crumbled, Marie had felt a strange sense of relief, but also a lingering paranoia. She had helped Kassy take down a giant, but she knew that when giants fall, they leave massive craters.Her phone vibrated on the laminate countertop. It was a text from Kassy.“Heads up. Ethan’s mother is in town. She just turned the hospital into a war zone. Lily had a scare last night. Eleanor Vance is officially back.”

CHAPTER TWENTY - SEVEN

The air inside the maximum-security visiting hall smelled like industrial floor wax and stale despair. It was a sharp, depressing contrast to the high-end air purifiers and Jo Malone candles that usually scented the Greg mansion. Kassy adjusted the strap of her designer bag, feeling the weight of the phone in her pocket. Beside her, Elena walked with a rigid grace, her face a mask of cold composure. This was the first time they had seen Greg since the FBI had hauled him away in front of 4.9 million live viewers."You don't have to do this, Mom," Kassy whispered as they approached the bulletproof glass partition. "We can just turn around. We’ve already won."Elena didn't blink. "I need to see the ghost, Kassy. I need to see him in the light so I can stop dreaming about him in the dark."Then, the heavy steel door on the other side opened.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The news from the prison had given Marie a temporary high. Seeing the text from Kassy about Greg’s total meltdown behind bars felt like a win for every person he had ever stepped on. It was a rare moment of justice in a world that usually let men like him buy their way out of hell. Marie finished her shift at the high-end boutique in Victoria Island, humming to herself as she folded the last of the silk scarves. She was already planning a special dinner for Maya, maybe even a stop at the toy shop on the way home. The air in Lagos felt lighter, as if a heavy fog had finally lifted.But as she reached her apartment and slid her key into the lock, the lightness vanished. The door wasn't just unlocked; it was slightly ajar.Marie’s breath hitched. Her first thought went to a common robbery, but the silence coming from inside was too heavy, too deliberate. She pushed the door open slowly, her eyes scanning the small living area. Nothing was overturned. No electronics were missing. Everythi

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The North VIP wing of St. Jude’s had been transformed into a high-tech fortress. Since the scare with the Braxton Hicks, Eleanor had effectively staged a coup of the hospital floor. Private security stood at the elevators, and the nursing staff had been replaced by a team of stone-faced professionals who reported directly to the Vance matriarch. Inside her room, Lily felt less like a patient and more like a high-value prisoner. The air was perpetually cold, and the silence was only broken by the rhythmic hum of the fetal monitor, a sound that now felt like a ticking clock.Lily sat propped up against the pillows, her eyes fixed on the door. Ethan was sitting in the corner, his head in his hands. The tension between them had moved past the point of romance; they were two people trapped in a sinking ship, looking for a single life jacket.She’s going to do it, Lily whispered, her voi

CHAPTER THIRTY

The atmosphere in the delivery room was a far cry from the serene, soft-lit experience promised in the hospital’s luxury brochures. Under Eleanor’s command, the room had been stripped of its warmth and replaced with the cold, efficient glare of a high-stakes interrogation. The medical staff moved like robots, their eyes darting toward the woman in the cream suit who stood in the corner, her arms crossed, watching the monitors as if they were stock tickers.Lily’s contractions were now a relentless tide, pulling her under every few minutes. She gripped the side rails of the bed, her knuckles white, her breath hitching in a jagged rhythm. Every time the pain subsided, she looked at Ethan, but he was a hollow shell. He stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the parking lot, his mind clearly miles away—likely back in that nursery with Marie and a secret that was now a ticking time bomb.You’re being very dramatic, Lily, Eleanor said, her voice cutting through the hiss of the oxygen machin

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