جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

The scandal explodes on a Tuesday morning.I'm sitting on the porch of the house we rented on the outskirts of Boston, drinking tea that's already gone cold. The baby moved twice today. Declan is in the kitchen on the phone with someone from the company. Harvey is upstairs, probably on the computer, as he's been almost every day since we returned from Glenfinnan.It was Harvey who leaked everything.Not all at once. He did it calmly, as always. He chose the right journalists. Chose the right documents. Chose the perfect timing. Three days after Richard died, the first anonymous emails started arriving at media outlets in several countries. Then came the physical packages with evidence. Then the access to accounts and documents no one should have.In less than forty-eight hours, the name Ashford was on every news channel in the world.The first story came out in the New York Times.The headline was direct:"Ashford Empire Built on Corruption, Influence Peddling, and Memory Manipulation

We returned to Dublin almost three weeks ago.The old house in the Highlands no longer exists. Glenfinnan Castle turned to ashes and international news. Richard Ashford is dead. Maeve's father too. The main names in the corruption network were eliminated or are being hunted. The entire Irish underworld is still digesting what happened.And now Declan decided it was time to do something no one expected.He wants to officially make Harvey part of the Callahan family.Publicly.In the underworld.When he first said it, I almost dropped my glass.We were in the kitchen of the house we rented in Dublin. Claire was upstairs, sleeping. The baby moved gently in my belly. Harvey was leaning against the counter, drinking black coffee. Declan walked in, took off his jacket, and spoke directly, as he always does when he's already decided something."I'm going to officially make Harvey part of the family," he said. "Publicly. With witnesses. With the entire underworld watching."Harvey stopped wit

We came to the lake house in Galway without telling anyone.It wasn't an escape. It wasn't a work trip. It was just... us. For the first time in fourteen years, Declan and I were completely alone. No Claire. No Harvey. No underworld. No threats. No ghosts.The house was small and old, made of dark wood, built right on the edge of the lake. It had a porch that faced the water and a wooden deck where we could sit and hear only the wind and the gentle waves lapping at the shore. Declan bought the place years ago, but almost never came. He said it was a place he kept for when he needed to disappear. I'd never been here before.When we arrived, it was late afternoon. The sky was painted orange and purple. Declan brought in the bags while I opened the windows to let the fresh air in. The smell of pine and lake water filled the house immediately.Neither of us spoke much.We didn't need to.After everything we'd been through—after Richard, after the castle, after the war—words seemed too sma

We three sat in the living room of the house in Dublin on a cold December night. The fireplace was lit. Claire was already asleep upstairs. The baby moved gently in my belly. Outside, the rain tapped lightly against the windows.None of us had planned this conversation. It just happened.After everything, it became clear that we needed to stop living on autopilot. We needed to define what we were. What we wanted to be. And how we were going to make this work without hurting each other more.Declan sat in the large armchair, his elbows on his knees. Harvey sat on the sofa, his hands clasped together. I sat between them, in the middle of the sofa, my legs folded under me.For a few minutes, no one spoke.It was Declan who broke the silence."We need to talk," he said, direct as always. "For real. No war. No threats. No one being taken away. We need to decide how this is going to work from now on."Harvey nodded slowly."I agree. We've lived in chaos for too long. Now that the worst is o

The twins arrived in the world on a cold February morning.I remember everything about that day. The way the hospital room smelled like antiseptic and something floral. The way Declan's hand almost crushed mine during the final contractions. The way Harvey stood on my other side, his jaw tight with barely contained fear.When the first baby came—the boy—I heard him cry before I saw him. His voice was strong and indignant, as if the world had already offended him by existing. I laughed through the exhaustion when they placed him on my chest. He had a full head of dark hair, just like Declan. His fingers were impossibly tiny, but he gripped my thumb with surprising strength.The second baby—the girl—came just a few minutes later. She was quieter. More patient. When they placed her on my chest next to her brother, she blinked up at me with eyes that were still unfocused but somehow already knowing.They were small. Perfect. Two lives that had grown inside me for nine months are finally h