جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 90

*Bella's POV*My hand trembled around the pen I was holding, a faint tap-tap-tap against my notebook betraying the storm swirling inside me. The boardroom was filled with polished surfaces, calm voices, and the subtle scent of rich wood and old money. Everything was tidy and predictable.My heart was the only thing refusing to follow that order.Daniel sat at the head of the long table, flipping calmly through a set of printed projections, as though this morning were just another power negotiation. Meanwhile, my mind had become an ocean threatened by a familiar storm.King Holdings, that name sat on the agenda like a ghost, one I had spent years trying to bury.My breathing remained shallow, although I managed to conceal it well. On the outside, I was the composed attorney everyone expected. On the inside, I was a woman stitching herself together with shaking fingers."Bella," Daniel said gently.I lifted my gaze to him."Are you ready?"I nodded, even though the word barely made sen

* Bella's POV*I gripped Noah against my chest, feeling the tiny weight of his fear and the way his small body trembled beneath my fingers. The hospital room smelled faintly of antiseptic, carrying that sterile scent that constantly reminded me the world could hurt my children in ways I could never completely shield them from.The phone call had been brief. Daniel's voice had remained calm and steady as he asked where I was, and I had given him the hospital's name and ward in a single hurried breath. Now he was here, and only a few minutes had passed before he stepped into the room. Somehow, the air felt heavier, as though everything inside those four walls had become charged with emotions, waiting to break apart."Bella," he said softly.His eyes swept across the room, but they did not linger on Noah or the white bandage wrapped around his forehead. They settled on me instead, on the way I was carrying both terror and rage inside my shoulders, just as I had carried them ever since t

*Bella's POV *I felt the shift in the air before I even stepped into the boardroom. It was one of those subtle, electric changes that scraped along my nerves and made me wonder whether I had forgotten something vital.There was no reason for it. There was no obvious threat. There was only a quiet sense that something had changed.I shook it off.The legal folder tucked beneath my arm was perfectly organized. My presentation had been rehearsed until I could have delivered it in my sleep, and every argument I intended to make had been carefully prepared. "Ready?" Daniel murmured beside me, keeping his voice low enough that only I could hear him.I nodded."Always."He smiled, trusting me because everyone trusted Bella Hart. They believed I was unshakeable. They believed I was composed. They believed I was exceptional at my job.That was the version of me I allowed the world to know.We walked into the boardroom together, and the quiet conversations around the table faded as everyone s

*Bella's POV*The car felt unbearably quiet when Daniel started the engine.The warmth inside seemed almost suffocating, and the stillness settled over me like a heavy blanket. I rested my forehead lightly against the window, watching the city blur into streaks of gold and blue as dusk settled over the streets. My breath fogged the glass in soft, uneven clouds, and I left them there, unable to summon the energy to wipe them away.Daniel glanced at me once, then twice, and then again, lingering a little longer each time, as though he were trying to understand the silence wrapped so tightly around me."You haven't said a word," he murmured.I kept my gaze fixed on the window. "There's nothing to say."I knew I was lying.Too many words had gathered inside my chest, heavy and jagged, and I had no idea how to let them out without falling apart. I swallowed them back down instead.The tires hummed softly against the road, their steady rhythm filling the silence. The passing streetlights d

*Bella's POV*I heard the front door open before I saw Clara. I had been sitting on the edge of the couch since dawn with my elbows resting on my knees and my fingers pressed against my temples, as though I could somehow hold myself together if I pushed hard enough. Pale morning light filtered through the blinds in thin, colorless strips that exposed every corner of the room and every crack inside me.Clara stepped inside quietly, moving as though she already sensed the house was holding its breath."Bella," she murmured.She said only my name, softly and without pity. Thank God for that. Instead, her voice carried the warm, steady concern that only a friend who had witnessed every version of me could offer.I lifted my head without attempting a smile because my face felt too tight for one."Hey."Clara crossed the room, dropped her bag onto the armchair, and crouched in front of me."Daniel called."Of course he had.The thought barely stirred a reaction inside me."How bad is it?" s