All Chapters of Guilty By Appearance: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The soft morning light streamed through the glass windows of the Valero Street condo, painting warm golden stripes across the wooden floor.Snow sat at her small kitchen counter, cradling a mug of warm water between her hands. She was wearing a cozy oversized sweater, her dark hair tied back in a loose, messy bun.Her mind kept wandering back to the night before at the quiet Italian restaurant in Salcedo Village.She remembered the sharp, terrifying look she had caught on Blake’s face—the dark, cold hatred that had chilled her to the bone. But more than that, she remembered his emotional confession. She remembered how his voice had trembled as he talked about his legal case, about the poor young woman who was killed in a hit-and-run six months ago by a wealthy, powerful driver who used family money to wipe the evidence and walk away clean.Snow let out a quiet sigh, leaning her chin on her hand.I was so foolish to feel scared of him, Snow thought to herself, feeling a fresh wave of w

The late afternoon sun poured into the quiet studio apartment on Valero Street, throwing soft shadows across the wooden floor.Snow sat cross-legged on the rug in front of her closet. She was wearing a loose cotton shirt and soft gray pants, her dark hair pinned up loosely at the back of her head. It was her day off from the hospital, a rare afternoon where she did not have to run between patient rooms or monitor heart rates.In front of her sat a dusty cardboard box.It was a box she had not opened in six months. It had been brought to her small apartment by her family's driver on the very day her parents, Damien and Calista Ford, had thrown her out of the family estate in Forbes Park. At the time, she had been too heartbroken to open it. Looking at anything from her past home brought back the crushing pain of her sister Scarlet’s death and the cruel words her mother had yelled at her.“You are no daughter of ours anymore, Snow. Get out.”Snow swallowed hard, her throat feeling tight

Ten minutes later, Snow burst through the double glass doors of the BGC Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Department.The air inside the hospital was thick with tension. Red emergency lights were flashing outside Trauma Room 2, and the loud, rhythmic of a heart monitor echoed down the hallway.Snow shed her outer jacket on the run, pulling her white doctor’s coat over her shoulders and thrusting her arms into the sleeves. She tied her dark hair back securely with a band and stepped through the sliding glass door of Trauma Room 2.The scene inside was chaotic.Three nurses were surrounding the small hospital bed. Little Leo lay on the mattress, his face pale and bluish, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air. His heart monitor showed a dangerously fast rh

Blake pulled open the dark leather cover.Inside, the thick white pages were filled with neat, emotional handwriting written in dark black ink.Blake flipped toward the back, looking for entries written six months ago—around the exact time of the hit-and-run accident in Poblacion that killed Ana.His eyes scanned the handwritten lines quickly, his heart beating fast with anger and hope.“October 14...” an entry read near the middle of the book. “I made a catastrophic mistake tonight on the dark street in Poblacion. I struck a woman crossing the road. I panicked so badly... I couldn't breathe, so I hit the gas and drove away into the rain. I cannot let Mom and Dad find out about this—not now. They are putting everything they have into the grand opening of our new resort and hotel in Siargao next month. If this news leaks to the press, the Ford family name will be destroyed, and the Siargao project will collapse before it even opens. I called Father's head of security tonight. I forced

Blake slowly turned around to face her.Snow took a small step back, her breath catching in her throat.The man standing before her did not look like the Blake she knew. His face was completely pale, set into a hard, rigid mask. His jaw was clenched tight, the muscles in his cheek throbbing softly. But it was his eyes that sent a sudden, terrifying wave of cold fear straight to Snow's heart.His dark eyes were dead, flat, and icy. There was no warmth in them. No gentleness. No affection. He looked at her the exact same way her father, Damien Ford, looked at low-level employees he was about to fire. He looked at her as if she were a total stranger—or something dirty he wanted to step away from."Blake?" Snow whispered, her hand moving up to touch her collarbone. "Wh