Semua Bab His Contract Wife's Secret Twins : Bab 51 - Bab 60

Marcus Kane's POVI had every draft ready before Armando's assistant even asked for them. I always stay one step ahead. That is how I have kept this job for decades without a single person ever looking at me twice.I sat in my office and looked at the request that came in early that morning, before Armando even called me in.Diane, the head of records, had sent me a quiet note first. Letting me know Armando planned to ask for the drafting history. She did not know why it mattered. She only knew I always liked to know things first.I built a soft path for him to follow, one that led nowhere dangerous. I picked out three early drafts—harmless ones, do small changes about property division and nothing else.I left out the two drafts that actually mattered. The ones where I first added the language about children born without written consent.Written weeks before the wedding even happened. Long before anyone in that house had reason to suspect Zahara might already have children of her own

Armando's POVI had come to check on Fiona myself, later than I usually did. Drawn by a restlessness I could not quite explain after the strange exchange with my assistant about Marcus and the drafting history.I opened the door without thinking much of it. Expecting to find my aunt asleep. But instead I found both women staring at me with a tension that told me immediately, that I had walked into the middle of something important."Armando!"Zahara recovered first. Though I noticed the color had not fully returned to her face."We were just talking about something you need to hear."I stepped fully into the room. Closing the door behind me."What is it? What happened?"Fiona looked exhausted suddenly. The strength that had carried her through the conversation apparently spent the moment I appeared.She glanced at Zahara. Something unspoken passed between them. And I understood she had been about to say something important before I interrupted it."Fiona believes she knows who poisone

Armando's POVI had my phone out before Zahara finished the sentence. My hands steadier than I expected given the chaos suddenly filling the small office.The dispatcher's voice came through. Calmly and practiced. Asking questions I answered as clearly as I could while Zahara worked over the doctor's still form on the floor."His pupils are unequal," she said. Checking his eyes with quick, precise movements."One side of his face is completely slack. This is a stroke. A serious one. And it came on far too fast for something this severe.""Fast how?" I asked. Kneeling beside her."Strokes like this usually build—even quickly. There are warning signs beforehand. Slurred speech, mild confusion, a headache he would have mentioned."She pressed two fingers to his neck. Checking his pulse with the same steady focus I had watched her use on Fiona weeks earlier."But he went from speaking clearly to this in the space of one sentence. That is not typical. That is sudden enough to make me wonde

Armando's POVThe park attendant reached us breathlessly. One hand pressed to his chest. His words tumbling out faster than it even made sense at first."Are you looking for two kids?" he asked."A boy and a girl, around five. Matching what the lady described to me a few minutes ago.""Yes."Zahara grabbed his arm before he could say anything else. "Where?""Near the pond. Past the trees on the other side." He pointed. Still catching his breath."I saw them with an older woman. They were both feeding the ducks, I did not think anything of it. There is always someone feeding the ducks over there."Zahara had already started running before he could finish the sentence. And I followed close behind her. My chest tight with a fear I had not allowed myself to fully feel until this exact moment. The possibility that this might end well—suddenly, almost harder to hold than the fear itself had been.We rounded the tree line together. And there exactly as the attendant described, sat two small

Armando's POVI read Fiona's message twice. The same four words that had already unsettled me before I fully understood why.I need to talk. Coming from a woman still recovering her strength, sent at an hour this early. It was not just the kind of message I could set aside until later.I dressed quickly and went to find Zahara first. Remembering Fiona's promise from days earlier, the one she had made to us both together.I will tell you once I am certain.Whatever she was ready to say now, I suspected it belonged to that same unfinished thread. Not to the private question I had spent the entire night sitting with me alone in my study.I knocked on Zahara's door, and she answered. She's now in her night wear with dark circles beneath her eyes that told me she had slept little more than I had."Fiona wants to speak with us," I said. "Both of us. I think she is finally ready to tell us what she remembers."Zahara's expression sharpened immediately. Exhaustion giving way to focus."Now?"