All Chapters of Bound by Deception : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Nadia was out of the truck before it fully stopped, running toward the open door with Damian close behind her, both of them calling Harold's name into a house that answered only with silence.The kitchen looked exactly as they'd left it — two untouched mugs of coffee, chairs pushed back at odd angles from their hasty exit. But the living room told a different story. A lamp lay shattered on the floor, its shade crushed beneath an overturned side table, and a single chair had been knocked onto its back, one leg splintered where it must have struck the wall."Harold!" Damian's voice echoed through the empty house, sharp with an urgency Nadia hadn't heard from him before.Nothing answered.They searched every room, moving faster with each empty space they found, until they reached the back porch and Nadia spotted something dark against the weathered wood planks — a smear that could have been mud, could have been something else entirely, and made her stomach drop the longer she stared at i

The ballroom fell into an expectant hush as Colleen stood at the center of the small stage, radiant and composed, every inch the gracious hostess she'd built her reputation on for decades. "For those of you who don't know," Colleen continued, her voice carrying easily across the silent room, "our family has weathered a great deal of change in recent years. And tonight, I'm thrilled to share that the Hale Foundation will be launching a new initiative — a scholarship fund in memory of my late brother, Richard Hale, supporting young business students who've shown exceptional promise despite hardship." A polite ripple of applause moved through the crowd. Nadia felt the tension in her own shoulders ease slightly, though beside her, Damian remained rigid, watching his aunt with an expression Nadia couldn't quite read. "It's not what I expected," he murmured, low enough that only Nadia could hear. "She's never mentioned anything like this before." "Maybe it's genuine," Nadia offered, th

The address led to a small, run-down motel on the edge of the city, the kind of place that existed in the shadows of the skyline without ever being seen by the people who lived beneath it. Nadia parked a block away as agreed, Damian's car following at a careful distance. However, she could still feel his presence like a tether even once she was walking alone toward the flickering number nine painted above a weathered door. Her mother opened it before she could knock, pulling her inside quickly, glancing up and down the empty walkway before shutting the door and throwing the deadbolt. "You came," her mother said, relief and exhaustion etched into every line of her face. She looked smaller than Nadia remembered, stripped of the hospital gown and machines, dressed in clothes that didn't quite fit, borrowed or bought in a hurry. "Why did you leave the hospital?" Nadia asked. "Colleen all but told me she knew where you were. If she finds you here—" "She won't," her mother said, t

Neither of them slept that night. They returned to the same small inn from before, the wooden box and its contents spread across the bed once more, though this time with a new urgency behind every page they examined. "We can't just walk into her house tomorrow with nothing but a handful of documents and hope for the best," Damian said, pacing the small room with restless energy. "If she's willing to take your mother, willing to hurt Harold, she's not going to hesitate to do something to us the moment we're inside her territory." "Then we don't go in with nothing," Nadia said, sorting through the financial records with careful focus, forcing her grief and fear into something productive rather than paralyzing. "We make copies. Multiple copies, sent to people who can't be silenced or bought — a journalist, a lawyer outside Grant's influence, maybe even the board members themselves." Damian stopped pacing, considering this. "If we send everything ahead of time, tell people to open it

Nadia stared at Colleen, certain for a moment that she'd misheard. "What do you mean, that's a question you'd like the answer to yourself? You sent me that photograph. You had her." "I sent you nothing," Colleen said, and for the first time since Nadia had met her, something like genuine unease flickered across her carefully composed features. "I've had someone watching this wing since your mother was brought here earlier tonight, yes. But I didn't send any photograph, and I certainly didn't authorize anyone to harm her." "Then who did?" Damian demanded. Colleen's jaw tightened, her gaze shifting toward the empty room with an expression Nadia hadn't expected to see on her at all — something close to fear. "I think," she said slowly, "we may have a larger problem than either of us realized." "Explain," Damian said. "Now." Colleen was quiet for a long moment, some internal calculation playing out behind her eyes before she finally spoke. "Your mother's information about your fathe