Semua Bab FAT, BARREN, AND REJECTED: Bab 71 - Bab 80

JASON’S POVI’d faced Sherwood’s cruelty without flinching. I’d faced my grandmother’s exposed scheme, Chloe’s furious betrayal, and now Damian Cross’s calculated assault on everything my family had spent generations building, and through all of it, I’d managed to maintain some version of composed, focused resolve.Nothing had prepared me for the particular terror of watching Ella describe Dr. Marsh’s findings, her voice carefully controlled though I could see the fear she was trying valiantly to manage beneath it.“One of them is measuring smaller,” she said, her hand instinctively resting against her stomach the way it always did when discussing the pregnancy. “Dr. Marsh wants to monitor it closely. She says it could resolve on its own, or it could indicate something more serious.”I felt something cold and absolute settle into my chest, considerably sharper than anything Cross’s business assault had managed to inspire. Business could be rebuilt. Political standing could be recovere

JASON’S POVI reached Ella’s quarters with four guards flanking me, Aldric already coordinating with the rest of the security detail through a earpiece as we moved, his voice carrying clipped, urgent updates as the situation developed.“The breach occurred at the eastern perimeter wall,” he reported, his voice tight with focused concentration. “One intruder confirmed, evading initial contact. Security is converging from three directions to cut off his escape routes.”“Any indication of his target?” I asked, though I already suspected the answer with sick, certain dread.“He’s moving toward the private residential wing,” Aldric confirmed. “Toward Ella’s quarters, specifically, based on his current trajectory.”I felt fury and fear tangle together so completely that I barely registered the distance we covered, my chair moving faster than I’d pushed it in longer than I could remember, guards struggling slightly to maintain pace beside me.We caught him less than fifty yards from Ella’s d

JASON’S POVThe old records Vivienne provided arrived at Aldric’s office within the hour, exactly as promised, though sorting through decades of accumulated documentation would clearly take considerably longer than the urgency of our current situation comfortably allowed.I found myself, that evening, unable to shake a nagging sense that Vivienne’s earlier explanation of Cross’s grievance, however genuinely painful for her to share, hadn’t fully accounted for the sheer, patient scale of what he was now attempting. A business partner cheated out of his rightful share, however genuine that grievance, seemed an insufficient foundation for thirty years of careful planning culminating in an attempt to literally steal my unborn children as generational retribution.I found her in her study again, the same room that had become the site of nearly every difficult revelation this family had faced over these past several weeks, and settled into the chair across from her with a directness I’d gro

JASON’S POVI implemented the near-total lockdown within hours of the council’s decision, understanding that whatever compressed timeline we now faced for the wedding also meant we needed to survive an entire week of heightened vulnerability without giving Cross any further opportunity to exploit our defenses.“Full perimeter lockdown,” I told Aldric, reviewing the security protocols with a thoroughness I hadn’t previously employed even after the vehicle sabotage. “No unnecessary personnel movement in or out of the estate grounds. Every staff member’s background reverified, regardless of tenure. I want redundant security on Ella’s quarters specifically, multiple overlapping systems that don’t depend on any single point of potential failure.”“That level of lockdown will be considerably disruptive to normal estate operations,” Aldric observed, though his tone carried understanding rather than objection. “Wedding logistics, staff coordination, even basic supply deliveries will need care

JASON’S POVI reached Ella’s quarters within minutes, my earlier careful composure entirely abandoned in favor of raw, protective urgency, and found her sitting exactly where I’d left her hours earlier, pale and visibly shaken though otherwise unharmed.“Tell me what Aldric’s found,” she said immediately, before I’d even fully settled beside her, her own fear apparently channeled into the same urgent need for information that had characterized her response to nearly every previous crisis.“The scene suggests Marcus was killed by someone with intimate knowledge of the patrol timing,” I said grimly, relaying what little Aldric had managed to piece together in the chaotic aftermath. “Someone who knew exactly when he’d be alone at that particular section of wall, exactly how long the gap in coverage would last before the next patrol rotation.”“Someone inside,” Ella said slowly, understanding settling into her expression alongside fresh horror. “Not simply an outside intruder who happened