All Chapters of His Twins, My Second Chance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The next morning, I didn’t have his jacket pressed. I went to a different clinic and listened to two fast little heartbeats through the ultrasound machine.“They both look good.” The doctor moved the probe away. “Have you had a scare recently? Your pulse is a little high.”I loosened my grip on my shirt. “A nightmare. A very long one.”For a moment, I could hear my son telling me he’d call later. My daughter asking me not to argue. They’d grown up watching me give way until neither thought to ask what it cost.I looked at the two small shapes on the screen. These babies hadn’t learned any of that yet.I rested a hand on my stomach. I’m keeping them. And I’m getting us out.Before leaving, I revoked Dante’s access to the family medical account and changed the contact number on my records. The nurse promised to check the information transferred from my old clinic. I thanked her and put my next appointment in my calendar.Nora was waiting in the parking lot. She took the notarized origina

I opened the tiny clasp on the back of the brooch. Along the inner rim, in fine script, were Evelyn’s name and Dante’s initials.Three years ago, he’d brought home Mom’s restored portrait, mounted in that brooch. He’d told me the nightingale would keep me company when he couldn’t be there. He’d put the person I missed most inside a gift ordered for someone else, without even having her name removed.“Forget it, Elena.” Evelyn’s voice trembled. “I shouldn’t hold on to things I’ve lost. Especially things that were taken from me.”Dante frowned at her. “Nothing was taken from you. I decided who to marry.” Then his eyes went back to the brooch on my collar.Before he could ask again, I unpinned it and walked to the fireplace. I used a letter opener to pry off the backing, letting Mom’s portrait slide into my palm. The edges had yellowed, but her smile was just as I remembered. I tucked it into my passport holder.“You can have the setting. She doesn’t get what’s inside.”Dante reached for

I stopped the recording. I’d already spent a lifetime answering that question.The first time around, he’d stayed. He’d come to every appointment and held me in the hospital after the twins were born, telling me how well I’d done. He’d stood beside me in every family photograph afterward. Birthday after birthday, Christmas after Christmas, there he was, with his arm around my shoulders. I’d never thought to ask whether there were other photographs.Then Evelyn had thrown the hunting-lodge album at me after his funeral. In pictures I’d never seen, my son and daughter sat on either side of her. She wore the family’s emerald earrings, the ones I’d believed were locked in a bank vault. My children looked perfectly at home. There wasn’t a single face in that album that seemed surprised to be there.“Dante needed heirs,” she’d said, smiling. “And you’ve always been so good at looking after people. You saved the rest of us a lot of trouble.”I couldn’t tell anymore how much of his tenderness

“Martin Kraus, the original executor.” Nora set a recorder on the table. “Please repeat the statement you just made to me.”The man wouldn’t look at me. “Vivian paid me to withhold notice of the trust from Ms. Moretti. Later, her daughter arranged a second payment in exchange for the original list of beneficiaries.”Evelyn shot to her feet. “That’s a lie!”Nora ignored her and produced the bank’s archived records and proof of both payments. Only then did I learn that Dante’s men had found Kraus preparing to leave the country. Nora had insisted he come in person and bring evidence to support his statement. I didn’t have to take Dante’s word for who was lying.“Is it enough?” I asked.“To begin recovering the assets, yes. The criminal evidence has already gone to the investigators.”“Then do it. Everything they transferred, every rent payment they kept. I want it all accounted for.”My stepmother’s lips trembled. “Ellie, we were managing it for you. You didn’t understand any of this back