Semua Bab FAT, BARREN, AND REJECTED: Bab 101 - Bab 110

JASON’S POVClaudia’s sudden disappearance left us with troubling questions rather than the additional clarity we’d hoped her continued cooperation might eventually provide, though the information she’d already shared about the ancestral shares demanded immediate, thorough investigation regardless of whatever incomplete truth remained unresolved about her own motivations.I spent the following days working alongside our family’s legal counsel and historical archivists, digging through documentation considerably older and more obscure than anything we’d previously needed to examine throughout this entire ordeal, tracing the complicated legal history of Silvermoon’s foundational ownership structure back through multiple generations.“The ancestral shares represent something considerably more significant than I initially understood,” our senior legal counsel explained, spreading centuries-old documentation across my study’s expansive desk with careful, methodical attention. “They predate

JASON’S POVI kept my distance from my grandmother over the following days, unable to fully reconcile the complicated tangle of understanding and betrayal her confession had left me carrying.I understood, intellectually, the impossible calculation she’d faced decades earlier—weighing uncertain justice against genuine danger to a young, vulnerable grandson. But understanding the reasoning didn’t fully quiet the deeper, more painful hurt of realizing my entire childhood had been shaped by a secret I’d never known existed, my father’s memory carrying an unresolved question I’d never even been given the opportunity to properly grieve or investigate.“You’re avoiding her,” Ella observed one evening, watching me carefully as I continued working through legal documentation rather than joining the family dinner Vivienne had specifically arranged in what I understood was an attempt at reconciliation.“I’m not ready,” I admitted, setting aside the papers I’d been using as convenient distractio

JASON’S POVI held each of them individually over the following hours, the neonatal team’s careful supervision allowing brief, precious opportunities to properly meet the four small lives Ella had fought so desperately to protect throughout this entire difficult pregnancy.I started with our eldest daughter, her tiny form remarkably strong despite her premature arrival, dark hair already visible beneath the careful medical monitoring surrounding her. She gripped my finger with surprising strength when I offered it, and I felt something in my chest completely reorganize itself around this small, fierce presence, an overwhelming love considerably more absolute than anything I’d previously experienced, even accounting for everything I already felt for Ella.“Hello,” I whispered, my voice carrying an emotion I made no effort to fully control. “I’m your father. I promise you, whatever it takes, I’m going to protect you and your siblings from every single danger currently threatening this f

JASON’S POVI interrogated the captured operative myself, understanding all too well from our previous experience exactly how quickly crucial information could be silenced if I relied entirely on standard procedure rather than direct, personal involvement.“Full security detail on this room,” I instructed my guards before beginning, my voice carrying absolute, unwavering authority. “No one enters without my direct authorization, and I want continuous monitoring against exactly the kind of silencing tactic Cross’s people already demonstrated once before.”The man sat restrained across from me, his earlier composed professionalism visibly cracking under the weight of capture and whatever consequences he clearly understood awaited him now that his infiltration attempt had failed.“You already know I’m not going to simply volunteer information easily,” he said, though his voice carried considerably less confidence than his predecessor’s calm certainty during our earlier interrogation.“I

JASON’S POVThe interrogation with Miriam proved considerably more emotionally complicated than our previous encounters with Cross’s operatives, her genuine tears and evident anguish over her own betrayal carrying a rawness that made maintaining professional detachment considerably more difficult than I’d anticipated.“I never wanted to hurt them,” she said, her voice breaking with obvious, genuine distress. “I love those children, Alpha. Whatever I’ve done, please understand that my affection for them was never false, whatever else I’ve been forced into by circumstances I couldn’t otherwise manage.”“Explain your circumstances,” I said, keeping my voice carefully controlled despite my own continued fury at her betrayal, understanding that genuine information mattered more right now than simply venting my anger at her regardless of however justified that anger actually felt.She described a devastating tale of medical debt, a grandson diagnosed with a rare, expensive condition that he