All Chapters of Off Limits: The Butler's Daughter Is Mine.: Chapter 61 - Chapter 66

Rose.The nurse looked up from the paper, her eyes moving between Drake and me, and for a moment the silence in the room felt thicker than anything I had survived all night, every machine beeping softly in the background the only sound filling the gap."The results confirm paternity at ninety nine point nine percent," she said carefully. "Mr. Drake Machorace is the biological father."The words hit me strangely, not like relief, not like fear, but something caught between the two, settling slowly into my chest like a stone dropping through still water.I looked at Drake, and found him already looking at me, his face unreadable, his hands gripping the edge of my bed like he needed something solid to hold onto, like the news had knocked the air clean out of him."Mine?" he asked quietly, almost to himself, like he was testing the word for the first time. "She is mine...."The nurse gave a small, gentle smile and excused herself, leaving the folder on the table beside my bed before slipp

Lydia.I was almost at the docks when I noticed the headlights behind me.They were steady and patient, and they matched my speed no matter how many turns I took. They never fell back, and they never came closer either.My hands tightened around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white, and my heart slammed hard against my ribs.I tried to tell myself it was nothing, maybe a tired driver on his way home, or just my mind playing tricks on me after everything that had happened tonight.But I had worked with this family for years, and the instinct that kept me alive in rooms full of dangerous people was telling me not to believe that lie.I turned sharply into a narrow side street and watched the mirror. The headlights turned right behind me without any hesitation at all.It was not a coincidence.My chest tightened with fear and I pressed harder on the gas.I weaved through quiet streets I barely knew, trying to put some distance between me and whoever was back there.The cash

Drake.For one long second, nobody in that room breathed.I was shot at once, years ago, at a business dinner my father insisted I attend.I still remember the silence right after the bang, that strange, stretched moment before the pain arrived.This was the same silence.The words had already left his mouth, the damage was done, and we were only waiting for it to land.He stood frozen in the doorway. His face had gone grey. "Sir..." he whispered, "I did not know she was..."Behind him, Lydia swayed on her feet.And in the bed, Rose looked at me with wide, wet eyes, and I saw something in them that broke my heart.She was not afraid for herself.She was afraid for me.She was waiting for me to fall apart.My father had a saying. When the walls fall, do not stare at the ruins. Build something new out of the bricks.I hated that I thought of him in that moment. But I used his lesson anyway, because it was the only weapon I had.I turned on Caleb with all the anger I had been holding ins