All Chapters of Claimed by his obsession : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Sophia's POVWinter came slowly that year, the way it always did in the city, the light shifting shorter and colder in careful increments until one morning I woke up and the trees outside the estate windows had gone completely bare.Life had settled into its own rhythm. Weekdays at the lab working through the second Meritus trial phase, weekends split between the estate and Enough, the small coastal office growing steadily, three more women added to Remy's wall since the opening.Damien's restructure at BCT had taken root properly by then, the new mentorship program producing its first cohort of junior engineers who spoke about their managers with something closer to respect than fear."Dr Park wants to expand the consulting partnership," he told me one evening, sitting across from me at the kitchen counter with his laptop open. "A permanent joint research position. Half BCT, half the aerospace program.""Take it," I said, without hesitation."You haven't heard the details," he said.

Sophia's POV Nobody slept much that night. I lay awake beside Damien, staring at the ceiling, thinking about a stranger who had watched us for years without saying a word. "What if they're dangerous?" I said quietly. Damien turned to look at me in the dark. "Then we'll be ready," he said. "Zane already has security watching the building. Dominic is coming too." "What if they're not dangerous?" I said. "What if they just want to be seen?" He was quiet for a moment. "Then we listen," he said. "Carefully. But we stay ready either way." I nodded slowly, though the fear didn't fully leave. Morning came grey and quiet. We arrived at Enough early, before it opened for regular visitors. The whole family came. Dominic. Remy. Elijah. Zane. Lena. Richard, standing a little apart, his face pale with worry. Mei arrived too, carrying coffee for everyone, though nobody drank much of it. We waited in the main room, the wall of photos behind us, twelve faces looking out at the empty space.

Sophia's POVTwo months passed, and June became part of the family the way water finds its way into every small crack, slowly and completely.She moved into a small cottage near Enough, close enough to visit often, far enough to keep her independence. Remy took it upon himself to introduce her to every bakery in the coastal town, one at a time, treating it like a serious project."You've had six bakeries this month," Elijah said one Sunday, watching Remy present June with yet another paper bag."Seven," Remy corrected. "There's a difference between quantity and quality, Elijah. I'm being thorough."June laughed, the sound easier now than it had been that first difficult morning."I approve of his methods," she said. "Every bakery has been excellent.""Thank you," Remy said, looking triumphantly at Elijah.Richard sat beside June at the table, more relaxed now, their relationship growing slowly but steadily. He had started teaching her the names of the stars, the same way he'd started

Sophia's POVThe morning sickness lasted longer than I expected, stretching into the twelfth week before finally easing.Damien adjusted his schedule without me asking, working from home more, making sure someone was always nearby when the sudden waves of nausea hit. He never made it feel like a burden. He just quietly rearranged his life around mine."You don't have to skip your meetings," I said one morning, watching him cancel something on his laptop."I want to," he said. "This matters more."I smiled and let him have his way, too tired to argue properly.By the fourteenth week, the sickness faded, and something new took its place. A strange, quiet contentment that settled over both of us, the kind that came from finally believing something good could last.We had our first proper ultrasound that week. The doctor's office was small and warm, and I gripped Damien's hand tightly as the screen came to life.A small shape appeared, blurry at first, then clearer."There's your baby," t

Sophia's POVBy the twenty-fourth week, my body had changed in ways I was still learning to accept.I stood in front of the mirror one morning, turning slightly to the side, watching the curve of my stomach catch the light."You look beautiful," Damien said from the doorway, watching me."I look like a completely different person," I said."You look like someone growing our child," he said, coming to stand behind me. He wrapped his arms around me gently, resting his hands over my stomach. "That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."I leaned back against him, letting his words settle over the uncertainty I'd been feeling."Sometimes I get scared," I said quietly."Of what?" he said."Of being enough," I said. "For this baby. I never had a real example of parenting past the age of nineteen. My mother died before she could teach me the harder parts."Damien turned me gently to face him."You have her journals," he said. "Every value she wanted to pass on, she wrote down carefully.