Todos os capítulos de HIS SECRET HEIR : Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 20

The Devil’s ShadowLife tried to return to something that resembled normal. At least, that was what Isabella kept telling herself.The morning began like every other morning had for the past five years.She woke before dawn, long before Ethan’s alarm clock shaped like a little dinosaur began chirping. The apartment was still quiet as she moved through the kitchen, tying her hair into a loose ponytail while coffee brewed. The familiar routine usually calmed her, but lately even the smallest sounds seemed louder.She found herself glancing toward the window every few minutes.Old habits. Or perhaps new fears.She cracked two eggs into a frying pan while buttering slices of toast. Before she could finish, small footsteps padded down the hallway.“Morning, Mommy.”She turned just in time to see Ethan rubbing sleep from his eyes, his messy dark hair sticking up in every direction.“Good morning, sleepyhead.”He climbed onto his chair and yawned dramatically.“I’m starving.”She laughed sof

CracksIsabella stopped sleeping properly the night after the break-in.She moved Ethan’s small mattress into her own bedroom and kept him beside her every night. The arrangement was meant to comfort him after the nightmares that still came in waves. In truth, it comforted her more. She needed to feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing, needed the solid proof that he was still there, still safe, still within reach of her hands.Every sound in the apartment made her jump.The settling of old pipes. The distant slam of a car door. The soft creak of the building shifting in the wind. She lay awake for hours with one arm draped protectively across Ethan’s small body, listening to the quiet and waiting for the next wrong noise. When exhaustion finally dragged her under, the sleep was thin and broken. She woke at the slightest movement, heart already racing, eyes scanning the darkened room for shapes that did not belong.Morning brought no real relief.She packed Ethan’s lunch with t

The Missing Five MinutesIsabella arrived at the kindergarten five minutes earlier than usual.She had left the hospital the moment her final chart was signed, the residual tension from the previous night still coiled tightly beneath her ribs. The man outside the window. Alessandro’s arrival. The silver lighter left behind like a quiet signature. None of it had left her. She had slept even less than before, if that was possible, and the dark circles beneath her eyes had become impossible to hide.The parking lot was only half full. Parents were still dropping children off. She locked the car, smoothed her coat, and walked toward the main entrance with the practiced calm of someone who had spent years pretending everything was under control.Inside, the hallway smelled of crayons, cleaning solution, and the faint sweetness of the morning snack already being prepared. Miss Taylor’s classroom was the second door on the left. Isabella paused outside it, already smiling in anticipation of

Midnight VisitorPast midnight the apartment was quiet in the way only a place holding a sleeping child could be.Isabella had checked the locks twice after putting Ethan to bed. She had drawn the curtains fully, left a single low lamp burning in the living room, and finally allowed herself to sit on the edge of her own mattress with her back against the headboard. Ethan slept on the small mattress she still kept beside her bed, one arm flung above his head, breathing deep and even. The earlier confrontation at the kindergarten, the argument with Alessandro, the quiet way Ethan had accepted the tall man’s promise of safety, all of it still circled in her mind like unfinished business that refused to settle.She had replayed the afternoon more times than she could count. Alessandro’s voice when he said please. The way Ethan had looked at him and simply answered okay, Mister. Gabriel’s steady support of her decision. The convoy disappearing into traffic. None of it had brought clarity.

The Devil’s FortressMorning light filtered weakly through the thin hotel curtains.Isabella sat on the edge of the unfamiliar bed with Ethan still asleep beside her, one small hand curled loosely around the edge of her shirt. The room Gabriel had arranged was clean, anonymous, and temporary, exactly what it was meant to be. A place to pass the night after the fire. Nothing more.She had not slept.Every time she closed her eyes she saw the building burning. The rain mixing with ash. The coat Alessandro had settled around her shoulders without a word. The question he had left hanging in the wet dark remained unanswered until the first gray light of morning forced the truth into focus with no room left to hide from it.Her home was gone.Someone was hunting Ethan.There were no more locked doors she could trust. No more ordinary routines that would keep them safe. The tracking device under the bed. The break-in. The clown at the school. The fire that had taken every photograph, every p