جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

Hailey’s POVThe tablet felt heavier than it should have in my hands.Clinic names. Dates. Codes I did not recognize but somehow knew were real. My name appeared more than once. Dylan’s appeared beside it. The room seemed to tilt, the city lights beyond the windows blurring as if my eyes were rejecting what they saw.“This can’t be right,” I whispered.Dylan took the tablet from me, scrolling with a precision that made my chest tighten. He was too controlled. Too quiet. That was always when he was most dangerous.“Lexa didn’t just lie,” he said. “She engineered a narrative.”I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold. “You’re saying she altered medical records.”“I’m saying she accessed them,” he replied. “Or someone did for her.”My breath came shallow. “Why would she do that?”He looked at me then. Really looked at me. The intensity of his gaze made my pulse jump for a reason that had nothing to do with fear.“Because the truth threatens her leverage,” he said. “And lies are eas

Hailey’s POVThe doors locked with a sound that echoed too loudly in my chest.Steel against steel. Final.My hand tightened around Dylan’s instinctively, my pulse racing so fast it felt like it might tear through my skin. The room smelled faintly of salt and metal, the harbor visible through the glass like a dark, endless mouth waiting to swallow us whole.Lexa watched us the way a predator watches prey that has finally realized it cannot run.“You always were predictable,” she said lightly. “Both of you.”“Open the doors,” Dylan said, his voice calm in a way that terrified me more than if he’d shouted.“Oh, I will,” she replied. “After the truth settles.”“What truth,” I snapped. “Your twisted version of events.”Lexa tilted her head, studying me. “You really don’t remember, do you.”My stomach dropped.“Remember what,” I asked.“The night you begged him not to leave,” she continued, eyes never leaving mine. “The night you clung to him like he was oxygen.”My breath hitched despite

Hailey’s POVThe drive to the hospital felt unreal.City lights streaked past the window, blurring into meaningless color as my thoughts spiraled. Dylan drove in silence, one hand tight on the wheel, the other resting on my thigh as if anchoring me to the present. The contact sent a constant pulse of warmth through me, grounding and distracting all at once.“They said the twins are stable,” he broke the silence finally. “No immediate danger.”“That’s not what scared you,” I replied quietly.His jaw flexed. “No.”The way he said it made my stomach knot.Inside the hospital, the air smelled sterile and sharp. Too clean for the chaos inside my chest. We were led into a private consultation room, the kind meant for conversations that altered lives. I sat, fingers twisting together, while Dylan stood behind me, his hands settling on my shoulders, firm and protective.The doctor entered with a file thicker than it should have been.“Mrs. Moore,” she began gently. “Mr. Moore.”I braced mysel

Hailey’s POVThe boardroom was a battlefield disguised as polished wood and glass.I felt it the moment Dylan and I walked in. The air was sharp with judgment, curiosity, and barely concealed hostility. Faces turned toward me, assessing, measuring, deciding whether I was worth the trouble I had caused. Dylan’s hand brushed mine briefly as we took our seats, a silent reminder that I wasn’t standing here alone.But I could feel it.They were waiting for me to crack.The chairman leaned forward first. “Mrs. Moore,” he said smoothly, “you’ve been at the center of a great deal of… instability.”I smiled faintly. “Instability tends to surface when lies are exposed.”A few brows lifted. Dylan’s knee brushed mine under the table, deliberate, grounding. The contact sent a ripple through me that had nothing to do with nerves. Even here, even now, my body was acutely aware of him. Of how close he was. Of how much history pressed between us.“You understand,” another board member said, “that Dyla

Hailey’s POVMorning arrived without mercy.The city hadn’t slept, and neither had I. Dawn seeped through the glass walls of the penthouse, pale and unforgiving, exposing the truth we had tried to hold back with warmth and closeness. Dylan stood at the edge of the room, jacket already on, phone pressed to his ear, his voice low and controlled as he issued instructions that sounded like orders before a war.I sat on the edge of the bed, sheet pulled tight around me, my skin still aware of him. Of us. The night had been filled with restrained heat, touches that promised more than they took, kisses that lingered long after they ended. It had reminded me that desire could coexist with fear, that intimacy didn’t erase danger but made it sharper.Dylan ended the call and turned to me.“They’ve scheduled the press release for noon,” he said. “Anonymous source. Paternity dispute. They’re framing it as concern for shareholders.”My throat tightened. “They want to humiliate us.”“They want to i