All Chapters of Carrying His Secret Baby; My Stepbrother's Forbidden Claim: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Dante’s POV“One hour,” Ivy said as we left her office, slipping her phone into her bag. Nora was waiting at the hospital, and dinner would not become an excuse to keep her away longer. I accepted the limit without bargaining because the fact that she had agreed at all was more than I expected.I chose a quiet restaurant only a few streets from the hospital. There were no cameras outside, no executives nearby, and no contract between us when we sat down. Ivy checked the time once before placing her phone beside her plate, and I promised myself I would not make her regret coming.For the first few minutes, we talked about nothing important. The restaurant had given me a menu with three dishes I could not pronounce, and Ivy watched me study it before asking whether an Alpha was allowed to admit defeat. I told her I was considering ordering whatever required the least explanation.Her mouth curved. “Look at that. You completed an entire meeting today without interrogating one of my guest

Wren’s POV For a moment, I only stared at Dante. His invitation hung between us while my hand remained beside the desk phone, and the worst part was that I wanted to say yes. After the dinner near the hospital and the ease of our meeting today, spending another evening with him felt dangerously easy to imagine. Then I remembered the reservation waiting for me and pulled my hand away from the phone. “I already have plans, Dante. I’m not cancelling them because you suddenly decided you want my company.” The words came out firmer than I felt, but I needed the boundary as much as he did. Dante’s expression changed before he could hide it. The disappointment lasted only a second, then he nodded and picked up his copy of the Thornbridge agreement. “I understand. Have a good evening, Ivy.” He did not argue, ask me to reconsider, or turn Adrian into another reason we should fight. That made watching him leave harder. I stood behind my desk after the door closed, annoyed that the look on hi

Dante’s POV“There’s a correction to the guest list.” My assistant placed the updated file beside the Thornbridge project notes. I almost ignored it until Ivy’s name caught my attention. The previous version had listed Ivy Sinclair and her fiancé. The new one listed only Ivy Sinclair, with a note from her office requesting that the title be removed.I read the line twice before looking up. “Was the original entry wrong?” My assistant shook her head and showed me the accompanying message. Thornbridge had specifically requested the correction that morning. No explanation had been included, and none was necessary for me to understand what it probably meant.Relief came so quickly that shame followed it. Adrian had done nothing to deserve my satisfaction. Whatever ended between them could have hurt Ivy, and I had no right to celebrate because the space beside her was no longer publicly occupied by another man. I closed the list and forced my attention back to work.Ivy arrived that aftern

Wren’s POVMy birthday appeared nowhere on the schedule waiting for me at Thornbridge. There were project reviews, two calls, a hospital block I had protected from meetings, and a reminder to sign the completed board records. I preferred it that way. Birthdays had stopped feeling like celebrations long before I became Ivy Sinclair.I opened the board file before my first meeting, expecting minutes, supporting exhibits, and the evidence Maya and I had submitted against Hale. Near the back sat another document I had never seen. Dante’s name was printed beneath a signed statement, and I stopped turning pages.I read the testimony once quickly, then returned to the beginning. He had personally contradicted the claim that cooperation would end while I remained CEO. He had stated clearly that no such condition came from him and that whoever repeated it as his position had done so without his authority.My own evidence had exposed Hale’s selective record and the attempt to use my hospital ab

Wren’s POVThe knock came before I found an answer to Dante’s confession. His driver waited outside the office, giving me something practical to focus on. I stepped aside and told Dante his ride was here, expecting him to take his jacket and go home and let the night end before he said anything else he regretted.Instead, Dante stood and reached for the flowers on the side table. His face still carried the exhaustion alcohol had made harder to hide. “I need to make one stop first,” he said, lifting the arrangement carefully.“You’ve had too much to drink to be making stops anywhere alone.” Dante glanced toward the driver waiting near the doorway and raised one eyebrow as though the man’s presence settled the argument. Technically, it did not make me feel better.I asked where he intended to go. His answer came quietly, but the name of the cemetery struck harder than if he had shouted it. For a moment, I could only stare at the flowers in his arms and understand exactly where they were