TIED TO MY FATHER'S MURDERER のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

“After you,” Kevin said, his hand still holding the elevator door open, his smile easy like this was a normal end to a normal workday and not the exact moment Isabella felt every nerve in her body pull tight at once.“Thank you,” Isabella replied, stepping in without hesitating because hesitating would look like something was wrong and she refused to let that message turn her into someone obvious.The doors slid shut behind them and the quiet inside the elevator felt heavier than it should have, the hum of the descent too loud in her ears, and Kevin moved to stand beside her instead of across, close enough that she could smell his cologne, close enough that her mind immediately dragged the words back up again whether she wanted them or not.The last woman who got close to Kevin Zacchaeous did not get to walk away from it.She kept her eyes on the numbers lighting up as they passed each floor and told herself to breathe normally and not read into proximity, not read into coincidence, n

“You asked to see me,” Isabella said as she stepped into the study, her voice low and careful, already aware of how quiet the room was and how Victor was standing with his back to her, looking out at the city like she was not there yet.He did not answer right away.She waited.After a few seconds that stretched long enough for her to notice the sound of traffic far below and the faint hum of something electrical in the walls, Victor lifted one hand slightly without turning and gestured toward the chair across from his desk.“Sit,” he said.She did, smoothing her skirt as she lowered herself into the chair, her posture straight, her hands folding together in her lap, her eyes steady on his back without trying to rush him.Victor stayed where he was for several more moments, his shoulders still, his head angled toward the window, and if he noticed how calmly she waited he did not comment on it.Finally he turned.He leaned back against the edge of the desk instead of sitting, his arms

“ I do not understand,” Isabella said, her voice shaking harder than she wanted it to, her eyes locked on Victor.Victor did not move from the doorway immediately.“I am serious,” she added, stepping back slightly as if the photographs themselves were closing in on her, “you cannot just say something like that and expect it to make sense.”“It is not meant to make sense all at once,” Victor replied, finally stepping into the room, his voice controlled but lower than usual, like he was speaking carefully around something sharp.Isabella shook her head. “No, you are going to explain it now.”He stopped a few steps inside, looking at the walls once before looking back at her. “The man in those photographs is Felix Hart.”The name hit the air and stayed there.Isabella blinked once. “Hart,” she repeated, almost quietly, like she was testing it.“Yes,” Victor said.“My mother is Valeria Hart,” she said slowly, watching him closely now, “that is not a coincidence.”“It is not,” he replied.

“I cannot keep doing this in my head alone,” Isabella said under her breath as she shut her bedroom door behind her and leaned against it for a second like the wood itself might steady her thoughts.She walked a few steps in and stopped because sitting felt like admitting she was falling apart, and standing felt like she could still control something, even if that control was thin and temporary.Her phone was already in her hand before she fully decided to use it.Jason’s contact was there like it always had been, like a small anchor that did not care what storm she was in.She tapped call.He picked up quickly.“Isabella, you are finally remembering I exist,” Jason said immediately, his voice light like he was already smiling.“I always remember you exist,” she replied, and her voice came out softer than she expected.“Then explain your disappearance,” he said, still joking, “because I am starting to think you moved countries and changed identity without telling me.”“I did not chang

“Why does Kevin matter to you this much when you barely say his name without your jaw locking like that,” Isabella said, her voice already tired.Victor did not answer immediately.“I asked you a question,” Isabella said again, softer this time, “and I am done pretending I do not notice when your entire body reacts to one name.”“You notice too much,” Victor said finally, not looking at her, his hands resting uselessly at his sides like he had forgotten what they were meant for, “and sometimes I wish you would stop.”She laughed once without humor and leaned back against the table, “You dragged me into a life built on secrets and landmines and you want me to stop noticing, do you hear yourself when you talk.”He turned to her then, really turned, and the look on his face made her chest tighten before she could stop it.“You never denied it,” he said quietly, “every time Kevin’s name comes up you deflect, you get careful, you watch me like I am going to pull a knife, so tell me now and