All Chapters of FAMILY SECRET: CLAIMING MY FATHER'S TOY: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

I backed against the wall, my mind racing through options. Run? Fight? Talk my way out?"I think," I said slowly, "that killing me would be stupid. Silas paid. You got what you wanted. Why make this worse?""Worse for who? Him or you?" Dante stepped into the small room. "See, the thing is, I don't actually need the money. I'm worth three times what Silas is. This was never about cash.""Then what was it about?""Making him feel helpless. Making him know that all his power, all his control, couldn't protect the one thing he actually values." Dante's smile was cold. "And now I'm deciding if the look on his face when he finds your body is worth more than the look when I let you walk out of here.""You're insane.""I'm pragmatic. There's a difference." He raised the gun, pointed it at my chest. "Any last words? Message for Silas? For Julian?"Before I could answer, an explosion rocked the building.The lights went out.Dante swore, turned toward the door.In the darkness, I heard shouting

I stared at the frozen image. Mom's face, clear as day, looking directly at one of the cameras she was installing.No. No no no."There has to be a mistake," I said. My voice sounded wrong. Distant. "That's not... she wouldn't--""The timestamp is from three weeks ago," Thomas said. "The night before your mother was officially hired. Dante gave her access to plant surveillance equipment throughout the house.""Why?" The word came out strangled. "Why would she do that?"Silas leaned back against his desk, watching me. "Money. Leverage. Revenge. Take your pick. People betray for all sorts of reasons.""She's my mother. She brought me here. She--" I stopped. Replayed everything in my head.Mom insisting we take this job. Mom pushing me to sign those papers that first night. Mom being conveniently absent whenever things got dangerous. Mom always at the office, always busy, never around when Silas and Julian were with me.Oh God."She set me up," I whispered. "From the beginning. This whol

Dinner was set for seven.I spent way too long picking out what to wear. Ridiculous, really. Like the right dress would somehow make me feel less like I was playing dress-up in someone else's life.I settled on the black dress Silas had bought me. The one that made me look older. More sophisticated. Less like a nineteen-year-old college student and more like someone who belonged at a table discussing criminal enterprise.Jeez.When did I become this person?Downstairs, the dining room was set up formally. Three place settings. Wine already poured. Silas and Julian were already there, both in suits, looking like they'd just walked out of a board meeting.Which, I guess, they had."Elena." Silas pulled out my chair. "You look beautiful.""Thanks." I sat down, smoothed my dress. "So what's this about? You said we need to discuss next steps.""We do. But first, let's eat." He gestured and staff appeared with the first course. "We can talk business over food."Julian reached under the tabl

Morning sunlight spilled across the marble floors of the Kingston house as I walked down the long hallway. The light turned the polished surface into a ribbon of gold and shadow beneath my feet. I slowed slightly as I approached the dining room, the quiet murmur of voices drifting toward me before I even reached the doorway.The house was usually calm in the mornings, but today felt different. Not chaotic though, not tense in the obvious sense. Focused, more of. Prepared.I stepped inside and stopped for a moment.The dining room no longer looked like a place where people sat down for breakfast. The large table that normally held flowers and neatly arranged tableware had been transformed overnight into something else entirely. Files covered most of the surface, along with tablets, printed maps, photographs, and small markers placed across different locations. On the wall opposite the windows, several large screens displayed images of the Rosewood Hotel from multiple angles.Entrances.

By the time we left the Kingston house, the morning had fully settled into that quiet, steady rhythm the city seemed to wear during weekdays.Traffic had thickened just enough to fill the streets with movement without turning everything into chaos. People hurried across sidewalks with coffee cups in their hands, taxis drifted through intersections, and the air carried that familiar blend of engines, conversation, and distant construction.Normal life.Which felt strangely disconnected from what we were actually about to do.I sat in the back seat of the car beside Silas, watching the city slide past the tinted windows while the steady hum of the engine filled the silence between us.Across from us, Julian leaned back slightly in his seat, one arm resting along the edge of the door as his eyes moved between the street outside and the rearview mirror.He had barely spoken since we left the house.Not that I blamed him.Today was