Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 161 - Chapitre 170

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWOThe day moved faster than Genevieve expected.By late afternoon, the Winchester estate had transformed completely. What had been a quiet, imposing mansion that morning was now filled with the sounds of arriving guests, soft music drifting through the halls, and the occasional hurried footsteps of staff members making sure every detail was exactly where it belonged.The gardens had been prepared for the evening celebration, with elegant arrangements placed along the walkways and tables set beneath a large canopy. The engagement itself would take place inside the main reception hall, while the guests would later be entertained outdoors.Everything looked beautiful.Everything looked expensive.Everything looked like the beginning of the life Genevieve had spent years imagining.She stood before the full-length mirror in the room she had been given to prepare, staring at her reflection as one of the stylists made a final adjustment to her hair. Her dress

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOURShe looked uncomfortable. "Into Andrew."The words landed heavily. Damon's gaze moved to his uncle. Andrew looked away. His wife continued, perhaps realizing that there was no point stopping now."I suspected Andrew was having an affair at the time. I hired someone to look into it."Damon's heart gave a strange, heavy beat. "You suspected him of cheating? And Katelyn was involved?""Not in the way you think."Damon went completely still. His uncle's wife looked at him carefully. "I saw Katelyn with Andrew once. Maybe twice. That was why I became suspicious. The investigator took photographs."Damon swallowed. "The photographs I was shown were of Katelyn and Andrew.""I know.""Then what are you saying?"She frowned. "I'm saying that the photographs I received were not proof of an affair."Damon stared at her."Why?""Because there was nothing intimate about them. They were photographs of them talking. Standing together. Once, they were outside a rest

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX“I can explain.”The voice came from behind him.Damon slowly turned.Genevieve stood in the doorway, one hand still resting against the frame. The confidence she had carried through the engagement ceremony only minutes ago was gone. Her face had lost its color, and for the first time since Damon had known her, she looked as though she had no carefully prepared response waiting behind her lips.Sarah remained seated.She looked from Genevieve to Damon, and something in her expression changed.Not fear exactly.Recognition.Damon understood then that Genevieve had heard enough.He stared at her for several seconds. A few minutes earlier, he had entered that room believing there was one betrayal he needed to understand. Now he was looking at the woman who had stood beside him throughout the engagement celebration while knowing that the foundation of everything he had believed about his first marriage had been deliberately constructed.“You gave them to

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHTThe morning after the engagement that was supposed to mark the beginning of Damon Winchester's new life arrived with none of the excitement that had filled the Winchester mansion only hours before.There were no congratulations. No excited voices discussing wedding arrangements. No guests lingering over breakfast while they talked about the beautiful ceremony they had witnessed.Instead, the house had fallen into an uncomfortable silence.The flowers that had been carefully arranged throughout the rooms the previous day were being removed one arrangement at a time. The champagne glasses had disappeared from the tables, the decorative candles had been extinguished, and the elegant pieces of fabric that had been draped across the entrance hall were being taken down by staff who had learned better than to ask questions.It was as though the house itself was trying to erase the evening. Damon had not slept much. He had spent most of the night awake, si

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTYFor several seconds, Damon could do nothing but stare at the paper in his hands.The words were there. Clear. Official. Impossible to misunderstand. Yet his mind seemed incapable of accepting what his eyes had already understood.Avery Hart.His gaze moved down the page again, stopping at the result.Probability of paternity: 99.99%.His fingers tightened around the edge of the report. Avery. The little girl he had seen at Bright Horizons. The child whose name had once meant nothing more to him than another name among the many children he had encountered through the foundation.The little girl who had looked at him without fear. The little girl he had spoken to. The little girl whose face had somehow remained in his memory even when he had never given himself a reason to remember it.His daughter. The thought came quietly. Almost too quietly for something that had just turned his entire world upside down. Damon lowered himself slowly into the chair behi