All Chapters of My Brother's Best Friend's Secret Baby: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

Aiden's POV Jeffery was already at Rosie's when I arrived. I'd called ahead, and she'd told me to come. Unlike the previous few months, when every request to visit her apartment had required negotiation, advance notice, and a justification that fit within the terms of our agreement, this time she'd simply told me to come, and I had. Jeffery opened the door for me. He looked at me with the same expression he'd worn in the parking lot, an expression that wasn't forgiveness or hostility, but something somewhere in between. I'd come to understand it as the current state of their relationship. Functional. Present. Unresolved. He stepped aside and let me in. Lucy was at Mrs. Willow's for the evening. I'd asked permission before coming, and Rosie had said yes. She'd already made the arrangements, which meant she knew this conversation shouldn't happen in front of Lucy. Rosie was sitting at the kitchen table. She was wearing the same clothes she'd had on when she arrived at the dis

Rosalie's POV Monday arrived the way important days sometimes did. Normally. I made Lucy breakfast. I braided her hair. I walked her to school because, being on administrative leave, I wasn't going to the school myself, but it was still her school, and I didn't want to disrupt her routine. I held her hand as we crossed the intersection, wished her a good day, and watched her walk through the gate before heading back to the apartment. I didn't know exactly when Aiden would file. He'd said Monday morning. I believed him. I didn't need to know the exact time. I made coffee, sat at the kitchen table, opened the canvas I'd been working on, and didn't paint anything for forty minutes. I just sat there with my brushes, paints, and the quiet of the apartment. At 9:17 a.m., my phone rang. It was Richard, Aiden's attorney. I didn't have his number saved, but I recognized it from the custody proceedings. He told me the complaint had been filed simultaneously at nine that morning w

Rosalie's POV The official statement took two hours. I sat across from an investigator named Oswell in an intentionally unremarkable room, designed to keep the conversation discreet and professional rather than make it feel like the most important event in my life at that moment. There was a table, two chairs, a recorder, and a frosted-glass window that let in light without revealing anything beyond it. Investigator Oswell was thorough and patient. He asked questions in a way that encouraged understanding rather than simply collecting information. He started at the beginning and let me lay out the facts step by step without interrupting, which meant he'd read the documents Richard had provided and knew where he was going with his questions. He wanted to hear me develop the story rather than jump to conclusions. I started in a grocery store aisle. I described the encounter. The way she stared at Lucy for far too long. The smile that never quite reached her face. The name she a

Aiden's POV The call came on a Thursday morning. I'd been awake since five. Not because of the nightmare, which had become less frequent since the filings, since I'd gone from waiting to taking action. I was simply awake, the way I sometimes was, my body deciding it had had enough sleep before my mind had finished processing everything. I'd made coffee. I sat at the kitchen table facing The Return. The morning light at that hour came through the window at an angle that revealed the texture of the painting in a way the afternoon light couldn't. I looked at it for a while. I'd been cleared in the contract investigation two weeks earlier. The disruption to the business had been manageable. Marcus had kept operations running during my suspension, and the clients who had paused their work while waiting for the outcome had, with one exception, resumed their business relationships once the allegations became public. That client had sent a letter Richard described as legal prudence.

Rosalie's POV The plea deal was finalized on a Wednesday. Richard called me because Aiden had asked him to, a detail I'd noticed among all the details I'd been noticing for months. He'd asked his attorney to call me directly, without going through anyone else. He knew I needed to hear the information myself. Richard went over the terms. Elena had agreed to a plea deal that included guilty pleas to two of the three charges, harassment and stalking, while the charge of interference with custody rights would be held in abeyance until she complied with the other conditions. The agreement included a permanent protective order covering the same 500-foot radius as the emergency order, but now it was permanent and criminally enforceable rather than a civil order. She would have a criminal record. She would also be required to undergo therapy for a minimum of eighteen months. The military had conducted its own proceedings separately. A dishonorable discharge. The hearing had been br