All Chapters of Bound by Deception : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Nadia stared at the message until the words blurred together, reading it over and over as though repetition might change what it said. *Edward's sister never actually left. She's been closer to you than you ever realized.* "What does that mean?" Damian asked, reading over her shoulder, his own confusion mirroring hers. "I don't know," Nadia said, her voice unsteady. "But it sounds like she's telling me something about who my father's sister actually is. Someone close to me. Someone I already know." Harold's expression had gone very still. "Nadia," he said carefully, "I need you to think back. Has anyone in your life ever mentioned Edward, or your family history, in a way that felt strange, evasive, or oddly specific? Someone who seemed to know more than they should have?" Nadia's mind raced backward through every relationship, every family friend, every fragment of her childhood, searching for anything that might fit. And then, slowly, a memory surfaced she hadn't examined

The industrial road past the harbor was exactly as desolate as the address suggested — cracked pavement, dark warehouses standing empty and silent against the night sky, the distant sound of water lapping against unseen docks the only noise beyond their own careful footsteps. Damian parked several blocks away, as they'd planned, the two of them walking the remaining distance on foot, senses sharpened by equal parts fear and hope. The warehouse Mrs. Calloway had named stood at the end of the road, a single light glowing faintly from a window near the loading entrance. "Stay close," Damian murmured, though Nadia barely needed the reminder. Her heart pounded so loudly she was certain it could be heard from the street. The loading door was unlocked, swinging open with a soft creak that seemed impossibly loud in the surrounding silence. Inside, the warehouse was mostly empty, shadows stretching long and uncertain across a concrete floor, save for a single pool of light near the center

The negotiation the broker proposed never fully began. He was still speaking, still laying out his terms with that same unbothered calm, when the sound of sirens rose faintly in the distance — Damian's security contact, alerted by the missed check-in, closing in faster than anyone in the warehouse had anticipated. The broker's composure cracked for the first time all night. He barked a sharp command to the men flanking him, and within seconds the warehouse dissolved into chaos — shouted orders, the scrape of boots against concrete, the loading door wrenched open from the outside as Damian's security team flooded in. In the confusion, the broker vanished through a side exit before anyone could stop him, several of his men melting away with him into the dark maze of the industrial district. Nadia found herself pulled behind Damian, both of them pressed low against a stack of crates as the warehouse emptied of danger almost as quickly as it had filled with it. When the dust settled,

Colleen stared at the phone for a long moment before finally answering, her hand trembling as she pressed it to her ear. "Yes." Nadia couldn't hear the voice on the other end, but she watched Colleen's face carefully, every flicker of fear and calculation crossing it in rapid succession as she listened. "I understand," Colleen said finally, her voice tight. "No. No, that won't be necessary." A pause. "I said it won't be necessary." She ended the call and set the phone down carefully, as though it might detonate if handled too roughly. "What did he say?" Damian demanded. "He knows I was about to give you a written confession," Colleen said, her voice unsteady. "He wants me to understand that if I do, the consequences won't stop with my exposure. He implied, quite clearly, that Nadia's mother's safety depends entirely on my continued silence." Nadia's stomach dropped. "My mother is with him." "It would seem so," Colleen said grimly. "Whatever role she played in his plans last ni

For a terrifying moment, no one moved. Then the driver's door of the blocking vehicle opened, and Harold Fenwick stepped out, hands raised in a gesture of peace, his expression apologetic despite the danger of the maneuver. "I'm sorry," he called out. "I didn't have another way to reach you fast enough. I've been following the security convoy since it left the estate." Damian rolled down his window, adrenaline still coursing visibly through him. "You could have gotten us all killed." "I know," Harold said, approaching carefully. "But I heard about the property from one of your security contacts, and I needed to warn you before you got any further. There's a second team stationed along this road, waiting in case the first group failed. I only just managed to get ahead of you." Nadia's stomach dropped. "How do you know that?" "Because I've spent the last two days finally doing what I should have done twenty years ago," Harold said grimly. "I found someone who used to work for the