Todos os capítulos de THE BILLIONAIRE'S TEMPORARY WIFE : Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

The message remained on my phone long after the screen should have gone dark.IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THOMAS PROMISED, COME ALONE.I read it again, hoping the words might change into something less dangerous. They did not. Whoever had sent it knew Thomas was alive, knew we had found the records, and understood exactly which question would tempt me into making a reckless decision.Adrian stood beside me, reading the message over my shoulder. His expression tightened when he reached the final word.“You're not going alone,” he said.“I haven't said I'm going anywhere.”“You're thinking about it.”I turned toward him. “Thomas raised me, Adrian. Whatever he's done, whatever he's hiding, I need to know why he keeps putting himself between me and the truth. And if someone knows what he promised Jonathan Vale, that information could finally explain what happened twelve years ago.”“I understand that.” Adrian took my phone gently from my hand and placed it on the table. “But understanding wh

The Blackwood records annex stood beneath the original estate, hidden behind a steel door at the end of a narrow underground corridor. I had passed through this part of the property twice before, but never with the knowledge that my childhood might be buried behind its locked doors. The air smelled of dust and cold metal, and the overhead lights flickered as the security team unlocked the entrance. Adrian walked beside me, his fingers occasionally brushing mine. He hadn't said much since we received Thomas's warning, but I could feel the tension in him. The message had been clear: whatever the second page contained, Thomas feared Adrian would see it. I couldn't decide whether that frightened me more than the possibility that the document had been stolen. Daniel stopped beside the entrance and checked his tablet. “The motion sensors registered someone inside at 8:14 p.m. The system was disabled six minutes later.” “Can you identify who entered?” Adrian asked. “The access panel re

I couldn't stop looking at the photograph. Four children. Three faces I recognized, and one hidden in the shadow of an adult who appeared to be standing behind us. The handwriting beneath the image belonged to Thomas. I had seen it on birthday cards, old letters, and the notes he used to leave beside my breakfast when I was growing up. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE FOUR. Not three. Four. “Enlarge the fourth child's face,” I said. Daniel worked on the image, adjusting the contrast and sharpening the details without changing the original file. The child's face gradually became clearer, but the photograph was damaged near the edges. I could make out dark hair, a narrow chin, and one hand resting against the adult's coat. The face remained too blurred to identify. “Can you determine the child's age?” Adrian asked. “Approximately eight to ten, perhaps,” Daniel replied. “But the photograph's condition makes that uncertain.” I leaned closer. Something about the child's hand caught my at

The photograph remained on the table long after Daniel stopped examining it. The little girl in the picture stood between Adrian and me, her silver charm resting against a pale dress. She looked about our age, perhaps a year younger, and there was something unsettling about the way she faced the camera. The other children were smiling, but Anna’s expression was serious, as if she had already learned that adults could make promises they never intended to keep. “Anna remembered you before you forgot,” I repeated, reading the message on my phone. “What is that supposed to mean? I was a child. I barely remember anything from that period.” “Maybe she remembers the day you met,” Adrian said. He stood beside me, his hands resting on the back of my chair. “Or perhaps the person who sent this wants us to believe she remembers you. We have to separate what we know from what someone wants us to think.” I turned to look at him. There had been a time when I would have accepted his confidence a

I barely slept that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the four transfer numbers on Daniel's laptop. Three children had documented arrivals, while the fourth had been received under an alternate identity. Someone had deliberately erased a name and voided the original transfer, but they had left enough evidence behind to suggest that the missing child had not simply disappeared. Anna might still be alive. The thought frightened me because hope could be cruel when it rested on incomplete evidence. I had spent weeks discovering that the people I trusted knew pieces of my history I had never been allowed to see. I could not bear the possibility of finding Anna only to learn that someone had used her name to lure us into another trap. Beside me, Adrian shifted beneath the covers. “You're awake,” he murmured. “So are you.” “I was trying to convince myself you were asleep.” I turned toward him. The faint light coming through the curtains outlined his face, softening the stern