Lahat ng Kabanata ng MARRIED TO MY MOTHER’S KILLER : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Eliam couldn’t move. His mother’s voice filled the nursery, soft and broken beneath the faint melody of the music box. “If you’re hearing this… then they found Gabriella.” The recording crackled. Avaline stared at the little silver box in her hands. Eliam’s face had gone completely pale. “Play it again.” Avaline pressed the small button beneath the lid. The recording repeated. “If you’re hearing this… then they found Gabriella.” Eliam grabbed the box. “Where is she?” His voice cracked. It was the first time Avaline had ever heard fear overpower his control. She looked around the room. The open window. The curtains moving in the wind. Gabriella’s rabbit on the floor. Nothing else. “Eliam.” He looked at her. “We don’t know that she was taken.” His eyes hardened. “She isn’t here.” “We need to think.” “My sister is missing.” “I know.” “No. You don’t.” He stepped closer. “You don’t know what it feels like to lose someone in this house.” The words struck her. Becaus

Avaline took a breath.“The first time I saw it was years ago. Dante gave me a security file.”“About my mother?”“Yes.”Eliam went still.“What was in it?”“Your mother’s security schedule.”His eyes sharpened.“Why did Dante have it?”“I don’t know.”“Why did you have it?”Avaline looked away. Because this was the moment she had been terrified of. The moment where the lies would begin collapsing.“I was ordered to obtain information from Blackwood security.”Eliam didn’t speak.“I didn’t know what Dante intended to do with it.”“You expect me to believe that?”“I didn’t know.”“Then what happened?”Avaline’s voice became quieter.“I gave him the information.”Eliam’s face changed.“You gave him access.”“Yes.”“To my mother’s security.”“Yes.”The room went silent. He looked away.For several seconds, Avaline thought he might leave.Instead, he asked,“Did you know she would be killed?”“No.”“Did you suspect?”“No.”“Then why did you do it?”“Because Dante had my brother.”Eliam lo

The words remained on Marcus’s screen. Nobody moved.Eliam stared at the message. Ask Eleanor. “Call my grandmother.” Marcus looked at him. “Now?” “Now.” Marcus reached for his phone, but Eliam stopped him. “No. I’ll do it.” He pulled out his own phone and dialed Eleanor. She answered on the third ring. “Eliam?” Her voice was calm. Too calm. “Grandmother, where are you?” “At home.” “Good. Stay there.” “What happened?” “Someone attacked Samuel.” Eleanor went silent. “Is he alive?” “Yes.” “Then get him to a hospital.” “I will. But first, I need to ask you something.” “What?” “Did Elena survive the night she was supposedly killed?” Silence. Avaline watched Eliam’s face change. Eleanor finally answered. “Who told you that?” “That isn’t an answer.” “No.” Eliam’s jaw tightened. “Did she survive?” “Yes.” Avaline’s heart dropped. Eliam closed his eyes. For years, he had believed his mother died almost instantly. Now, one word had destroyed that belief. “How

By eight the next morning, Blackwood International was already in chaos. The news had not reached the public yet, but inside the company, everyone knew something was wrong. Eliam stood in the executive conference room, staring through the glass walls at Manhattan. His tie was loose. His sleeves were rolled up. He had not slept. Neither had Avaline. She stood near the door, watching him silently. Gabriella was safe with Dr. Evelyn and Luca, but Eleanor was still missing. And the questions surrounding Elena’s death had become more dangerous than ever. Marcus entered carrying two tablets. “We have a problem.” Eliam turned. “I assumed we did.” Marcus placed the tablets on the table. “Three of Blackwood International’s largest investors are withdrawing their support.” Eliam’s expression hardened. “Why?” “They received information claiming the company is financially unstable.” “That’s false.” “I know.” Marcus tapped the screen. “But the documents they received look legitima

The message remained on the screen.ASK ELEANOR WHY.Nobody spoke.The silence inside the archive room felt heavier than the darkness outside it.Eliam stared at the words for several seconds before taking the tablet from Marcus.“Trace the transfer.”Marcus nodded.“I’m already on it.”“Find the account.”“I will.”“And find out who accessed it.”Marcus hesitated.“I may need more time.”“You have ten minutes.”Marcus gave him a look.“You really know how to make a man feel appreciated.”“Marcus.”“Right. Ten minutes.”He turned away and began working.Eliam looked at Victoria.“You said my mother knew she was in danger.”Victoria nodded.“She knew something was coming.”“And you never told me?”“I was trying to protect you.”Eliam gave a humorless laugh.“Everyone keeps saying that.”His eyes hardened.“But somehow, protecting me always means lying to me.”Victoria looked away.Avaline watched them carefully.There was history between them.Not just the history of former lovers.Som