Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Bride he never wanted : Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Eva didn't sleep that night.She sat beside the bedroom window at Blackwood Estate, staring into the darkness while the photograph lay on the table in front of her.Her mother.Alive.The date on the photograph was impossible to ignore.August 14, 2026.Only weeks ago.Eva picked it up again.The woman in the picture stood inside an old clinic, looking directly at the camera.She looked older.Her hair was darker in some places and gray in others. Her face had changed.But Eva knew those eyes.She had seen them in childhood photographs.She had spent twenty years trying to remember them.And now she had proof that the woman she'd mourned her entire life might still be alive.A knock came at the door.Eva didn't answer.The door opened anyway.Adrian stepped inside.“You haven't slept.”Neither had he.His tie was gone, his sleeves were rolled up, and his expression carried the same exhaustion she'd seen in his eyes earlier.Eva looked back at the photograph.“I keep thinking there's g

Eva couldn't take her eyes off the photograph.Richard Blackwood.Standing beside her mother.Alive.Calm.As if nothing about the situation was strange.As if he hadn't spent years allowing everyone to believe Margaret Hart was dead.Eva looked at Adrian.“Did your father know?”Adrian didn't answer immediately.His eyes remained fixed on the photograph.“I don't know.”“You've been telling me your father was trying to protect my family.”“He was.”“Then why is he with my mother?”“I don't know, Eva.”She stepped back.For the first time, uncertainty entered her eyes.“What else haven't you told me?”Adrian looked at her.“Nothing.”“You're sure?”“Yes.”His answer was firm.Eva wanted to believe him.She did.But the evidence kept piling up.The Circle.The archive.Her father's disappearance.Her mother's twenty-year absence.Samuel's betrayal.And now Richard.Daniel cleared his throat.“There’s something else.”Eva turned.He held out a second photograph.“This was taken from a d

Eva stared at the address on Adrian's phone.She knew that place.The old Blackwood warehouse.It had been abandoned for years.It was also where her father had once kept records for his business.Before the fire.Before everything fell apart.“They have Noah,” Eva whispered.Adrian shook his head.“We don't know that.”“I saw him.”“You saw a video.”“Of Noah.”“I know.”Adrian's voice remained calm, but Eva could see the anger building behind his eyes.Daniel stepped closer.“I traced the signal.”“And?”“It bounced through three different locations.”Adrian frowned.“They're hiding the real location.”Daniel nodded.“But the final signal originated from the warehouse.”Eva looked at Adrian.“We have to go.”“We will.”“Now.”“Yes.”He reached for his phone.“Daniel, get the team ready.”Daniel nodded.Eva turned toward her mother.“Stay here.”Margaret shook her head.“No.”“Mom—”“I've spent twenty years hiding while other people paid the price.”She picked up her coat.“I'm comin

For several seconds, Eva couldn't move.Her eyes remained fixed on the three people standing at the end of the corridor.Her mother.Her father.Noah.Alive.Together.After everything she had been told, everything she had believed, seeing them standing in front of her felt almost unreal.“Noah…”Her brother's face broke into a smile.“Eva.”He started toward her.Eva ran.She pulled him into her arms so tightly that he laughed against her shoulder.“You're okay,” she whispered.“I'm okay.”She pulled back, touching his face as if she needed to make sure he was real.“Are you hurt?”“No.”“Did they hurt you?”“No, Eva.”Noah smiled.“I'm fine.”Eva closed her eyes for a moment.All the fear she'd carried for days seemed to crash over her at once.Then she looked up.Her mother was crying.Eva slowly stood.For a moment, neither of them moved.Then her mother whispered,“My baby.”Eva's breath caught.She crossed the distance between them.Her mother wrapped her arms around her.And Ev

Eva couldn't take her eyes off the photograph.Amelia stood outside Blackwood Tower, her face turned slightly toward the camera.She looked older than the girl in the childhood photograph, of course.But there was no mistaking the resemblance.The same eyes.The same sharp jawline.The same small mark beneath her left eye that Eva had always thought was unique to her.Her mother was shaking.“No.”Eva turned toward her.“You said she was dead.”Her mother looked at the photograph.“I believed she was.”“That isn't what I asked.”Her mother's eyes filled with tears.“You were too young to understand.”“I was a baby.”“You were six months old.”Eva froze.Her mother took a shaky breath.“Amelia disappeared shortly after you were born.”Nathan stepped closer.“We searched for her.”“For how long?”“Years.”“And then?”Nathan didn't answer.Eva looked at him.“You stopped looking.”“We were told she was dead.”“By who?”Silence.That silence told Eva everything.“Thomas,” she whispered.N