جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

Upstairs, completely unaware of the storm she had just unleashed, Shannon sat beside the window staring out at the estate gates waiting for Sean, waiting for rescue, waiting for answers.While downstairs, her father sat alone with tears streaming down his face, trying to figure out how he was supposed to walk into that room and tell her the truth.Knock, knock, knock.The knock on the door came unexpectedly. Shannon immediately sat upright on the bed as her heart skipped.Ever since arriving at the estate, every sound made her nervous. Every footstep, every door opening, every voice outside. She still didn't understand what was happening and somehow that made everything worse.Slowly the door opened.Kennedy stepped inside. Behind him came a maid carrying a silver tray.The smell of food immediately filled the room. Fresh food, juice and tea. Enough to feed three people.The maid carefully placed everything on the small sitting table before quietly stepping back.Shannon didn't move,

Shannon couldn't stay there another second. If she did, she thought she might actually break so she turned and walked past him straight toward the door."Shannon."She didn't stop."Shannon."Still she kept walking.The photograph remained in her hand, her mother's photograph. The first thing she had ever owned that connected her to her past and somehow that hurt most of all.Kennedy hurried after her, not grabbing her, not forcing her, just following desperately because he could feel her slipping away. Just like twenty seven years ago.The difference was that this time he knew she existed, this time he knew her name and he couldn't bear losing her again.By the time Shannon reached the main entrance, tears were streaming freely down her face.The staff scattered immediately. Nobody dared interfere, nobody dared speak.Meanwhile Kennedy followed several steps behind. "Please."His voice sounded broken. "Please let me explain."Shannon kept walking.The massive front doors opened, sunl

Shannon didn't know how long she walked. At some point she stopped crying, then started again, then stopped, then cried harder. Because honestly what exactly was she supposed to do with what she had just learned?Her father, her actual father, not some imaginary person she'd created in her head growing up, not some faceless figure she'd wondered about during lonely nights at the orphanage. A real person, a living person, a ridiculously rich person apparently and somehow that only made everything worse because it raised even more questions.Shannon slowed her steps as she wandered down one of the estate roads. The afternoon breeze brushed against her face. Normally it would've felt peaceful, today it felt empty.Her mind replayed the conversation over and over again."I am your father."The words still sounded ridiculous, absurd, iImpossible and yet that photograph.Shannon pulled it from where she'd tucked it under her arm and stared at it again. The woman smiled back at her. Beautif

Kennedy closed his eyes briefly then nodded.Immediately Shannon looked away because now memories were flooding her mind. Sean cooking, Sean driving her to work, Sean calling her his woman, Sean carrying her when she cried, Sean promising he'd always be there.Sean.Sean.Sean.And now somehow she was being told that Sean's family had destroyed hers. Destroyed her father's life, destroyed her mother's future, destroyed everything. How?How was she supposed to fit those two realities together?Her hand moved to her chest because suddenly breathing felt difficult. "If what you're saying is true..." Her voice trembled. "...then I should hate him."Kennedy didn't answer because that wasn't a question he could answer for her.Meanwhile Shannon laughed, a broken laugh one filled with disbelief. "Hate him?"Another laugh followed then tears because that was the problem. She couldn't. God help her. She couldn't, not even now. Not even after hearing all of this, not even after learning what h

Evelyn laid the documents in front of him.Rowan barely glanced at them, his mind was somewhere else entirely. Probably wondering whether Shannon had eaten, whether she was safe, whether she was scared, whether she needed him.The company wasn't even on his priority list anymore.Evelyn slid a pen toward him. "I already marked where you need to sign."Rowan rubbed his forehead then glanced at the first page. The words blurred together, legal language, clauses, corporate terminology. He didn't have the patience or the energy. Not today, not when Shannon was still missing. Without reading further, he signed. One signature, then another, then another. Each stroke of the pen making Evelyn's heart beat faster because this wasn't authorization not really. This was ownership disguised as assistance.The final page contained the clause she'd spent months preparing. A clause written carefully enough to pass legal review and dangerous enough to destroy him.Effective immediately, the appointed