All Chapters of His Heart Stopped.. Mine Was Sold: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Jackson drove us back to the mansion in silence. Grace sat in the back seat beside Shaznay, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, her face unreadable. Through the rearview mirror, I studied her from the front seat. An ordinary-looking woman in her mid-forties. Modest clothes. No jewelry. Tired eyes.But twenty-five years ago, my father held her like she was everything.We arrived at the mansion within thirty minutes. I had moved from the bed to a wheelchair by then, Mabel helping me navigate the transition with quiet efficiency. My legs could support my weight for short periods, but not long enough to stand for an entire conversation. The wheelchair was a compromise I hated, but I would not show weakness by falling.Mabel wheeled me into the large sitting room on the ground floor. I positioned myself by the window where the afternoon light fell sharp and clear. I wanted to see Grace Jackson's face clearly when she spoke. Every flicker of emotion. Every hidden truth.The front door ope

The sun had barely risen the next morning when I gripped the edge of the bed and pulled myself to standing. My legs trembled beneath me like branches in a storm. The muscles had wasted during seven months of stillness, but the bones remained strong, and I had always been a man who refused to stay down.Mabel stood by the door, her hands pressed together, her face tight with worry. "Sir, Dr. Sylvanus said you should begin with assisted walking. A cane, or...""No cane." I took one step forward. My right knee buckled and I caught myself on the bedpost. Pain shot through my thighs, up my spine, and settled between my shoulder blades."Sir...""I said no cane." Another step. The left leg held. The right leg followed, shaking. Three steps from the bed to the window.I reached the window and gripped the sill, breathing hard. Sweat ran down the back of my neck. My reflection stared back at me from the glass, thin and pale but standing upright. A man, not a corpse."How long until the physica

Jackson's team arrived back at the mansion in under an hour. I was in my study, having returned from Evelyn's house fifteen minutes earlier, when he walked in carrying a small wooden box. Old, worn at the edges, sealed with a simple brass latch.He set it on my desk without a word.I stared at it. This unremarkable container, small enough to hold in two hands, might contain the single most dangerous document in the history of my family. A will that could transfer half of everything I owned to a woman who tried to kill me."Has anyone opened it?" I asked."No, boss. I brought it straight here.""Get Shaznay."Jackson left and returned moments later with Shaznay. She entered the study and her eyes went immediately to the box on my desk."They found it?" she asked."They did." I positioned my wheelchair directly in front of the desk and gestured for her to come closer. "We open it together."Shaznay stood beside me, close enough that her shoulder nearly touched mine. I could smell her sh

Three days since Shaznay told me about the pregnancy. Three days since the world tilted on its axis and everything I thought I knew about control and strategy was washed away by two words: "I am pregnant."I stood at the window of my study, gripping the sill with both hands. My legs held me now, trembling but functional. I had been walking for five days in secret, pushing harder than any doctor would approve, forcing my muscles back to life through sheer will.The evening light cast long shadows across the garden. Shaznay was down there, sitting on a bench with a book in her lap. She was not reading it. Her hand rested on her stomach, fingers spread wide, and she stared at the flowers without seeing them.She was beautiful. I had heard her voice for months before seeing her face, and when I finally opened my eyes and looked at her, the reality surpassed what my mind had imagined. But it was more than beauty. It was the way she held herself when she was scared, chin up, back straight.

The morning after Clara's visit, I called a meeting. Just three people in my study: myself, Shaznay, and Jackson. Mabel stood guard outside the door. Grace remained upstairs, unaware of the details.I stood behind my desk. Standing, not sitting. My legs held steady now, the tremor barely noticeable. I had walked the length of the hallway three times that morning without touching the wall."Situation report," I said.Jackson stepped forward. "Clinton Mathers talked last night. Took some convincing, but he cracked around midnight." Jackson set a folder on my desk. "He was hired six weeks ago by Crescent Holdings. His assignment: surveillance and information gathering on Shaznay Jackson. Background, habits, routines, close associates.""Six weeks ago," Shaznay said from her chair. "That was before you woke up.""Before I woke up, before we were even married," I confirmed. "Valda started watching you the moment Benjamin suggested your name to my grandmother.""She was mapping me. Like pre