Semua Bab His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim : Bab 41 - Bab 50

Day seven of testing, and I'm starting to understand what Dad meant about trust.Dr. Chen meets us in the facility lobby with someone new. A man in his early thirties, sandy hair, kind eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. He extends his hand."Aria, Lucian. I'm Dr. Marcus Walsh. Neuropsychologist." His smile is genuine. "I'll be conducting today's sessions.""What happened to Dr. Chen?" Lucian asks, immediately suspicious."Still here. But we thought a different perspective might be valuable." Dr. Walsh leads us to a new room. Smaller. More intimate. Two chairs facing each other, sensors and monitors lining the walls. "Today we're exploring the psychological aspects of the bond. How you communicate. How you process emotions together.""You want us to talk," I say."I want you to be yourselves. No performance. No guards up." He gestures to the chairs. "Sit. Face each other. And just exist together while we monitor."It sounds simple. It's not.Because sitting across from Lucian, knees almo

Day nine brings unexpected visitors.I'm mid-breakfast when Harper bursts through the warehouse door, breathless."Tiffany Monroe is giving interviews," she says without preamble. "About you. About Lucian. About everything that happened at school."My coffee goes cold in my hands. "What?"Brandon pulls up a video on his laptop. Tiffany sits on a talk show couch, perfectly coiffed, tears glistening artfully in her eyes."I tried to warn Aria," she says to the sympathetic host. "Tried to tell her that Lucian was dangerous. Unstable. But she wouldn't listen. She was so desperate for his attention, for his family's money…"Lucian slams his fist on the table. The laptop jumps."She's rewriting history," he says, voice tight with rage. "Making herself the victim."“…and now they're being paraded around as some romantic ideal," Tiffany continues, dabbing her eyes. "But no one's talking about how they destroyed his relationship with his father. How they tore a family apart. It's not a love st

Day eleven is chaos in the best possible way.The warehouse transforms into a war room. Brandon's computers multiply across every surface. Harper's phone never stops ringing. Documents pile up like fortifications.And in the middle of it all, Lucian and I prepare to tell the world everything."Start from the beginning," Harper says, recording on her phone. "When did you first meet?"We're doing practice interviews. Getting our story straight. Not rehearsed…Harper insists authenticity is crucial…but coherent. Consistent."The day Mom married Adrian," I say. "I walked into that mansion and felt it immediately. Like something fundamental shifted.""I was trying to hate her," Lucian adds. "Trying to see her as an intruder. But the moment our eyes met, I knew. I just knew."Harper nods, making notes. "Good. That's real. That's what people need to hear." She looks up. "Now the hard part. Talk about Adrian. What he did. Why you ran."The next hour is brutal. Reliving Adrian's manipulation. H

The testing room feels different with the weight of the world watching.Dr. Walsh tries to maintain normalcy. Baseline measurements. Heart rate monitoring. The usual protocols. But his hands shake slightly as he attaches sensors."Ignore the noise outside," he says. "Focus on each other. That's all that matters right now."Easy to say. Harder to do when we can hear reporters shouting questions through the walls."Your heart rates are synchronized," Dr. Walsh observes. "Even more than usual. The external stress is strengthening the bond's defensive response.""We're circling the wagons," Lucian says."Biologically speaking, yes." Dr. Walsh makes notes. "It's fascinating. The bond recognizes threat and compensates by tightening the connection between you. Making you harder to separate, mentally and emotionally."Through the observation window, I see other researchers gathering. Watching us. Some with scientific curiosity. Others with something that looks like awe."They're treating us l

Day seventeen. Mom's interview airs at 8 AM.We watch from the warehouse, all of us gathered around Brandon's largest monitor. Mom sitting across from a CBS anchor, composed in a way I've never seen her. Not the broken woman who married Adrian out of desperation. Not the victim who stood by while her daughter was manipulated.This is Evelyn Bennett. Robert's widow. Aria's mother. A woman with nothing left to lose and everything to say."Mrs. Hayes…or should I say Mrs. Bennett?" the anchor begins carefully."Bennett," Mom says firmly. "I'm divorcing Adrian. Reclaiming my name. The name of the man I actually loved.""Let's talk about your late husband, Robert Bennett. What was he working on when he died?"Mom takes a breath. "Robert was a genetic researcher. Brilliant. Ahead of his time. He discovered the biological markers for mate bonds years before anyone else. He documented the science behind human connection that most people dismissed as fantasy.""And Adrian Hayes knew about this