Semua Bab His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim : Bab 21 - Bab 30

The harassment starts small.A week after Harper's revelation, I wake to find my social media flooded with tagged photos. Not the old ones from the school scandal. New ones. Me and Lucian leaving the hotel. Grainy, taken from a distance, but unmistakably us.The caption makes my blood run cold: Still playing house while Mommy's locked up? Some daughters are so ungrateful. #AbandonedHer #FakeLove #GoldDiggerGonnaGoldDigTiffany's account. Posted two hours ago. Already seventeen thousand likes."Lucian." I shake him awake. "Look at this."He reads it, and his expression goes dark. "She's following us.""Or having us followed." I scroll through the comments. They're vicious. Creative in their cruelty. People I've never met have opinions about my character, my choices, my mother.If my mom was in a psych ward I'd be helping her not playing stepsibling romanceThis is what happens when trash marries moneyAdrian Hayes deserves better than these ungrateful leechesMy hands shake. "She's tur

Brandon arrives on day five with news we don't want to hear."There's a charity gala," he says, spreading photos across the cabin's small table. "Hayes Industries annual fundraiser. Adrian's making an appearance. First time since the Plaza.""So?" Lucian doesn't look up from the laptop where he's reading his mother's journal for the third time."So your mother is going to be there."My head snaps up. "What?""Evelyn. Adrian's bringing her. As his date." Brandon pulls up a press release on his phone. "He's framing it as a show of family unity. Devoted husband supporting his recovering wife. Look."The photo makes my blood run cold. Mom in an elegant gown, standing beside Adrian, smiling. But her eyes are empty. Glazed. The smile doesn't reach them."She's drugged," I whisper."Heavily medicated at minimum." Brandon zooms in. "But she's there. In public. Which means we can get to her.""It's a trap," Lucian says flatly."Of course it's a trap." Brandon sits back. "Adrian knows we're loo

Brandon arrives the next morning with three burner phones and a stack of files."These are the people," he says, spreading documents across the kitchen table. "Everyone Adrian's screwed over in the last decade. Business partners he bankrupted. Employees he destroyed. Competitors he crushed through illegal means."I scan the names. Dozens of them. Each with a story of betrayal, manipulation, loss."How many will talk?" Lucian asks."Most are too scared. Adrian has dirt on everyone. That's how he operates. Mutual destruction as insurance." Brandon taps one file. "But this guy. Marcus Reeves. Former CFO of Hayes Industries. Adrian fired him three years ago, accused him of embezzlement. Ruined his reputation.""Did he embezzle?" I ask."No. But Adrian planted evidence to cover up his own fraud." Brandon opens the file. "Reeves has been trying to clear his name ever since. He has documents. Proof of Adrian's accounting tricks. But no one would listen because Adrian's lawyers buried him.""

The first news alert hits three minutes after Brandon presses send.BREAKING: Hayes Industries CEO Accused of Murder, Fraud, and ConspiracyThen another.Billionaire Adrian Hayes Faces Multiple Criminal AllegationsThen another. And another. And another.Within ten minutes, every major news outlet in the country is running the story. Within twenty, it's gone international.We watch it unfold on Brandon's laptop from the back of the van as he drives us to a location he won't name. Just says it's safe. That we need to disappear before Adrian's people find us.But I can't look away from the screen.CNN has the journal. They're reading excerpts on air. Margaret's words, describing her fear. Describing Adrian's threats. Describing how she knew about Diana's murder and stayed silent to protect Lucian."He told me if I spoke, our son would have an accident. Just like Diana. Just like anyone who defies him. I'm writing this in case something happens to me. In case my silence isn't enough. Som

Everything happens at once.Adrian raises the gun. Aims at Lucian. His finger moves toward the trigger.The mate bond screams.I'm moving before I think. Throwing myself in front of Lucian. Hearing my own voice yell "No!"The gunshot is deafening.But the bullet doesn't hit me.Garrett's sniper got Adrian first. The shot came from the treeline, precise, professional. Adrian's shoulder explodes in red. His gun clatters to the porch.He stumbles back, shock on his face. "You brought an army.""Did you expect anything less?" Lucian pulls me behind him, even though I just threw myself in front of him. The bond pulses with his terror and rage. "You taught me to always have a backup plan."Adrian laughs. Blood seeps through his shirt. "So did I."The lodge doors burst open. Six men pour out. Armed. Trained. Moving in formation."Down!" Garrett's voice screams through the earpiece.We drop. Bullets spray overhead. Wood splinters from the porch railing. Glass shatters.Garrett's team returns