Semua Bab Bound by Deception : Bab 101 - Bab 110

They cut the honeymoon short by half a day, landing back in the city by early evening. Priya met them at the estate, laptop already open."I have an answer," she said, before either of them could ask. "It wasn't a lawyer at all. It was a journalist, using forged credentials to get five minutes with Julian for an exclusive interview. The facility's already filed charges against her."Nadia sat down hard. "That's it? A reporter?""That's it," Priya confirmed. "Reckless, unethical, and now facing her own legal trouble. But not a threat to either of you."Damian exhaled like he'd been holding his breath since the phone call. "So there's no network. No one planning anything.""None that we can find," Priya said. "I'll keep watching. But I don't think this is what it looked like at three in the morning from a beach house."Nadia laughed, short and disbelieving, relief crashing through her harder than the fear had. "I built an entire disaster in my head over a tabloid writer.""You've earned

Nadia called before she'd even sat down. "Who is it?""Diane Foster," her mother said. "The woman who first came to us about Eleanor's old assistant records. She's lost her job — nobody in this industry will touch her after her name got tied to the case, even though she was the one who helped us. She has two kids and a mortgage and no severance."Nadia closed her eyes. Diane, who'd walked into their lives twice, unprompted, and risked everything both times. "Approve it," she said immediately. "Whatever the ceiling is, approve it.""I already did," her mother said, and Nadia could hear the smile in her voice. "I just wanted you to know first."They talked for a few more minutes — logistics, a job-placement contact Damian could probably make a call about — before hanging up. Nadia sat with the moment a while, something warm and unfamiliar settling in her chest. All year, help had arrived only after disaster. This was the opposite. Help arriving because someone had finally built a door f

She almost took it back the next morning, that sentence about running out of things to fear, when Priya's paralegal delivered a sealed envelope from the correctional facility, addressed in handwriting Nadia now recognized instantly.Julian.She opened it alone in the nursery, sunlight falling across the half-built crib, and unfolded a single page.*Nadia — I heard about the preliminary hearing, and I want you to know I withdrew my request for one. Whatever release consideration I'm eventually owed, it can wait until it's actually meaningful. I don't need you standing in a courtroom for a filing that changes nothing for a decade. You've given enough of your life to rooms like that because of me.**I also heard, through channels I won't explain, that you're expecting. Twins, apparently. I find I'm genuinely glad. I spent so many years telling myself family was something taken from me rather than something I might still choose to protect, even from here, even too late to matter for mysel

Harold arrived at the estate three days later with a battered leather case, the kind Nadia associated now with quiet, important revelations rather than danger. She'd learned, over the past months, to tell the difference in the set of his shoulders alone. This one carried no urgency, just the careful weight of a man finally setting something down."Letters," he said, laying them across Damian's desk. "Between your father and me, mostly ordinary things. But also this."He produced a small, faded photograph — Edward Voss, young, laughing, standing beside a woman Nadia recognized instantly from the photograph her mother had given her at the wedding."Your mother," Harold said. "The real one. I forgot I even had it until I went looking through my own boxes last month."Nadia took it carefully, tracing the edge with her thumb. "Thank you," she said softly. "For keeping all of this. For keeping any of it.""Someone had to," Harold said simply. "I just didn't expect it would take this long to

The maternity ward moved with an efficiency that helped steady Nadia's nerves even as the contractions grew sharper, closer together, impossible now to talk through. Dr. Shaw arrived within the hour, calm and reassuring, confirming what the initial exam had already suggested — active labor, four weeks early but otherwise entirely typical for a twin delivery."Babies are both positioned well," she said, checking the monitors. "Heart rates strong. This is exactly the kind of early we like to see, if we have to see early at all.""How long?" Nadia asked, gripping Damian's hand through another wave."Hard to say with certainty," Dr. Shaw said. "Could be hours yet. Try to rest between contractions while you can."Her mother arrived not long after, breathless and teary, squeezing into the room despite the nurse's initial protest. "I'm not missing this," she said firmly. "I missed enough of your life already.""You're not missing anything," Nadia said, managing a smile despite the growing di