Carrying His Secret Baby; My Stepbrother's Forbidden Claim のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Dante's POVThe study had been quiet for nearly an hour, but my head refused to follow its example. I sat behind the desk with an untouched glass of whiskey near my hand, staring at nothing while the same pair of eyes kept returning to me. Nora's eyes. Clear and far too familiar.I had tried to dismiss it as coincidence the first time I noticed. Children had brown eyes. Children had serious expressions. There was nothing extraordinary about either, yet every time that little girl looked at me, something inside my chest tightened in a way I could not explain. It was not only the resemblance. It was the sadness I had seen in them at the hospital, the quiet shadow that crossed her face when she spoke about not having a father. I had carried that look home with me like an injury that somehow belonged to me.That was what bothered me most. I had seen children upset before. I had seen Wren upset when she was younger too, sitting alone at the edge of the park after some older girls refused

Wren's POV"We've arrived, Ms. Sinclair."My driver's voice pulled me out of a half-doze I hadn't meant to fall into. My whole body ached in the particular way exhaustion settles into bone when sleep has been optional for too many nights in a row, my eyelids heavy, my shoulders stiff from hours hunched over contracts, my stomach reminding me I'd skipped lunch entirely again.Still, I forced my spine straight and gathered the bag on my lap, a rainbow of soft new collars I'd picked out for Nora that afternoon between meetings, bright enough to make her laugh the second she saw them, small enough to fit around her thin wrist without irritating the IV line.That thought alone got my legs moving.I crossed the hospital lobby at something close to a jog, my only goal the elevator bank ahead of me, doors already sliding shut. I lunged forward and caught them with my palm before they could seal, and they slid back open with a soft chime.My steps faltered in the doorway.Dante stood inside, o

Wren's POVI pushed the door open with my hip, water bottle in hand, already smiling at the thought of Nora's face when she saw I'd remembered the extra ice she liked, the kind that came in the little crushed pieces she always begged the nurses for.The room was empty."Nora?"My heart dropped straight through the floor. I set the bottle down so fast it nearly tipped and checked the bathroom first, yanking the door open hard enough to bang against the wall, then spun in a full circle scanning every corner of the room like she might materialize out of thin air if I looked hard enough.She wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere.I bolted into the hallway, my pulse roaring in my ears. "Nora!"Nurses glanced up from their stations as I passed, but none of them had seen a small girl in a hospital gown wandering loose, and every empty doorway I checked only fed the panic climbing higher in my chest.I raked a hand through my hair, already spiraling through worst-case scenarios, already furious w

Dante's POVShe didn't answer right away, and that told me more than any answer could have. Her eyes had gone somewhere else entirely, some calculation running behind them that had nothing to do with the question I'd actually asked."Don't tell me he really is...""Mind your own business, Dante." Ivy's voice cut through before I could finish, sharp enough to end the conversation on its own. "I don't owe you an explanation about Cole or anyone else in my life.""I only asked a question.""You've asked a lot of questions lately. Her birthday. Now this." She shook her head, already turning away. "Whatever you think you're figuring out, stop. There's nothing to find.""That's not what it looks like from where I'm standing.""I don't care what it looks like."She walked off before I could say another word, and I stood there in the hallway with nothing but the question I hadn't gotten to finish and a growing certainty that I was closer to something than she wanted me to be.I spent the rest

Wren's POV"What do you want from me, Dante?""I want to know why you walked into that gala with a man I've never seen before." He didn't move an inch, didn't blink, standing there like he had all night to wait me out. "Who is Cole to you?""He's none of your concern. Leave." I turned away from him, hoping that would be the end of it."No." He refused immediately, making me scoff. "I said leave.""And I said no."I could have screamed. He stood there with his arms crossed, utterly immovable, repeating the same question in a dozen different ways like patience alone would eventually wear me down into answering it.Every time I opened my mouth to order him out again, he simply waited me out, unmoved, like he had all the time in the world and nowhere else he'd rather be."You don't get to walk in here and demand explanations about my personal life.""I'm not asking for a full account of your personal life. I'm asking about one man.""One man who has nothing to do with you.""Why do you e