All Chapters of Owned By My Father's Rival: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 22: The CemeteryThe cemetery gates were locked.Not surprising. It was two in the morning, and even the dead needed their peace. But the lock was new. Shiny. A heavy padlock that hadn't been there the last time I'd visited my mother's grave.Daniel's doing.He didn't want company.Lucien pulled out a pair of bolt cutters. He'd brought them for something else—the warehouse, maybe, or the factory—but they worked just fine on the lock. It snapped open with a crack that echoed through the empty street."Anyone inside will have heard that," he said."Good."I pushed open the gate.The cemetery stretched before us, dark and silent. Headstones glowed pale in the moonlight. Trees cast twisted shadows across the grass. Somewhere, an owl hooted, and somewhere else, something small and furry rustled through the underbrush.My mother's grave was in the back.I knew the way.I'd walked it a hundred times.---We didn't use flashlights.Too easy to see. Too easy to follow. We walked by mem

Chapter 24: The GrandmotherMargaret answered the door like she'd been expecting us.Same tired eyes. Same gold tooth. Same floral dress she'd been wearing at the hotel, like she hadn't changed clothes in days. Maybe she hadn't. Maybe she'd been waiting. Watching. Wondering when we'd figure it out."Come in," she said.Lucien pushed past her. Gun drawn. Clearing the rooms while I stood in the doorway, staring at the woman who'd murdered my mother."You killed her," I said.Margaret didn't deny it."She was going to ruin everything. The empire. The family. Your future." She stepped aside. Let me in. "I did what I had to do.""You poisoned her.""I gave her a choice. Pills or the truth." Margaret closed the door. "She chose the pills. She was always choosing the easy way out."My hands curled into fists."Where's Daniel?" Lucien asked, coming back from the bedroom."Gone. He left this morning. Didn't tell me where." Margaret walked to the kitchen. Poured herself a glass of water. "He's

Chapter 26: The ChoiceThe gun sat on the coffee table between us.Black. Small. Easy to pick up. Easy to use. Daniel had put it there like an offering, like a test, like a question he didn't want to ask out loud."You're not going to shoot me," I said."No.""You're not going to shoot yourself either."Daniel smiled. That same hollow smile from the cemetery. "How do you know?""Because you're a coward." I walked past him. Sat on the couch. Picked up the gun. Checked the chamber like he'd done. One bullet. Just one. "You've always been a coward. You hide behind other people. My father. Your mother. The girls you trafficked.""I never hid from you.""You hid from everyone." I set the gun back down. "You let me believe Elias was my father. You let me mourn a man who wanted me dead. You let me grow up thinking I was alone.""You weren't alone.""I was alone every single day of my life." My voice cracked. "My mother was sick. My father was cold. And you—you were just a photograph. A name.

Chapter 28: The Teeth of the SnakeThe diner air turned cold the moment Viktor Sokolov leaned back in his booth.Not because the temperature changed. Because something in his face shifted. The mask of the weary old man slid away, and underneath was something younger. Sharper. Hungry.He had been playing me.The pancakes in front of him were untouched not because he lacked appetite. Because he had never intended to eat them. They were a prop. A costume. Everything about him was a costume."You're not dying," I said.Viktor's smile widened. "Clever girl.""The cancer. The confession. The guilt." I stood up from the booth. Lucien's hand caught my wrist, but I shook him off. "It was all a lie.""Not all of it." Viktor reached for his coffee. Drank it slowly. Deliberately. "Your mother was a trafficker. That part is true. She recruited girls. She drugged them. She watched them die.""And you?""I watched her watch them." He set the cup down. "There's a difference."Lucien was on his feet n

Chapter 30: The Ghost's HandThe interrogation room went silent.Not the silence of waiting. The silence of a held breath. Of a truth too heavy to speak aloud. Of a name that should have stayed buried."Mira," I repeated. "Lucien's mother."Viktor nodded. His good hand tapped the metal table. Nervous. Fidgety. The man who had never shown fear was now trembling."She flew in from Costa Rica that morning. Used a fake passport. False name. She was wearing a wig and glasses, but I recognized her. You don't spend twenty years in business with someone without learning to see through their disguises.""Why didn't you stop her?""Because I didn't know what she was going to do." His voice cracked. "I thought she was there to say goodbye. Isabella was dying anyway. The guilt was eating her alive. Mira just wanted closure.""Instead, she handed her the pills.""I don't know that for certain. I wasn't in the room. But I saw Mira leave. I saw the look on her face. And twenty minutes later, Isabell