Semua Bab His Hidden Devotion. : Bab 21 - Bab 30

Asher stepped between them like he had every right to occupy that exact patch of ground."Well," he said, glancing between Teresa and the man he'd just cut off mid-sentence. "This is unexpected."Luca didn't move or step back, he didn't step forward either. He simply looked at his brother the way he always did, patient, unreadable, the calm of a man who'd spent years learning not to give Asher a single reaction to work with."You've always had terrible timing," Asher said, mild, almost fond, like he was ribbing an old friend rather than blocking a woman he'd spent a decade controlling."I came to ask if the hearing was over," Luca said."It is over." Asher answered with a devilish smile. "Good.""Good?" Asher's eyebrows lifted, amused. "That's all you have to say?""That's all I need to say."Teresa watched the exchange from a step behind Asher's shoulder, close enough to hear every word, far enough that neither man seemed to remember she was standing there at all.Luca's eyes moved

"It's usually just for parents, sweetheart," Teresa said, tucking the blanket around Emma's shoulders. "Uncle Lucas isn't.""Oh, but I don't think that matters mum!" Emma's face scrunched up, the particular frown she wore when someone refused to listen to her. "When I tell him stories. He listens more than anyone does."Teresa didn't know what else to say. She smoothed the blanket instead, buying herself a few seconds she didn't really need."We'll see," she said finally, which wasn't a yes and wasn't quite a no either.Emma seemed to accept it, or at least she stopped pressing, already drifting toward sleep with one hand curled around her rabbit.Out in the kitchen, Mrs. Lim was elbow-deep in dishwater, back turned, shoulders shaking with something that was very clearly a laugh she was trying not to let Teresa see."What happened?" Teresa asked, setting the empty water glass on the counter."Nothing." Mrs. Lim didn't turn around. Teresa didn't press further. She had a feeling she al

Teresa kept her eyes on Emma, watching for anything — a flicker of confusion, a shift in her shoulders, anything that might tell her this was becoming too much for her child to carry. Asher stood a few feet away, composed, smiling at a passing teacher like nothing unusual had just happened. But his eyes kept drifting back to Emma, and Teresa knew that look. It wasn't curiosity, it was calculation. He wasn't interested in what Emma actually felt. He wanted the answer that made him look good.Across the hall, Luca hadn't moved. He stood near the volunteer table, hands loose at his sides, watching from a careful distance he clearly had no intention of closing."Emma," one of the staff said, crouching slightly, voice syrupy with the kind of casual interest adults used when they thought they were being harmless. "What's it like spending time with your daddy and your uncle?"Asher's face softened instantly. He knelt beside Emma, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You like being with D

Luca was reviewing documents in his study when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and stopped reading mid-sentence.Victor Grimhollow.He let it ring twice before answering. "Father.""Lucas." Victor's voice carried the same measured calm it always did. "I need you to come to the estate now!"Luca leaned back in his chair. "Is something wrong?""Nothing that requires discussion over the phone. Today by four o'clock."It was not a request, it was never a request. Victor, his father did not ask for things, he announced them and expects compliance.Luca's instinct was to refuse. The last conversation with his father had ended with accusations and cold silence. Victor had made it clear he did not approve of Luca's involvement with Teresa, and Luca had made it equally clear he did not care about his father's approval but something about the timing made him pause. Victor rarely summoned him without an agenda, and Luca wanted to know what that agenda was."I'll be there," he said. He

Luca sat alone in his office, the mediation report open in front of him. He had stopped reading it twenty minutes ago, but his eyes kept returning to the same section, the part that recommended his contact with Emma be reduced. The words blurred together, but their meaning remained clear and sharp.He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. The building was quiet around him, the workday long over, the staff gone home. He had stayed deliberately, not because he had work to finish, but because he didn't want to go home to an empty apartment where the silence would feel heavier.He had expected Asher to use Teresa against him eventually. That part was not surprising. But seeing Emma's name attached to the recommendation affected him differently. She was a child. She had done nothing wrong. She had simply loved someone who loved her back, and now that love was being presented as evidence of instability.Luca closed the report and rubbed his face with both hands. He thought abo