LOGIN[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)Regina was at the kitchen table when they arrived, David Harper's letter open in front of her, a photograph of the document beside it.She'd printed it. Lewis looked at the image — a clinical-looking report, formatted like a standard paternity laboratory document, bearing a company name he didn't recognize and a result that named him as not the biological father of Ethan Ravenscroft with a stated probability of exclusion above 99.9%.It looked convincing."She sent this to David," Lewis said."By post, six months ago." Regina kept her voice even. "No covering letter. Just the document, with a note that said something like: You deserve to know the truth about this family before you make decisions that affect your future." She looked at Lewis. "He believed it. At the time he had no reason not to.""And he submitted the welfare statement based on a conviction that he was helping a child being raised by the wrong man," Yessica said."He thought he was
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)She heard him on the stairs at two in the morning.Not an unusual sound in this house — Lewis moved quietly but he moved, when something was turning in his head and lying still wasn't working. She'd learned the difference between the kitchen light and the living room light from the way it reached under the bedroom door.This was the living room.She got up.He was sitting with his phone face-down on the cushion beside him, not reading, not working. Just awake."Tell me," she said.He told her.She sat beside him and listened to Dr. Chen's message relayed in Lewis's careful, factual version, and when he finished she was quiet for long enough that he looked at her."You're not going to ask me how I feel," she said."Not yet.""Good." She looked at the dark window. "Because I don't know yet. I need to be in that office tomorrow before I know anything."He nodded.They went back to bed. Neither of them slept particularly well. Neither of them mention
[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)Hayes arrived in ninety seconds.Lewis stayed in the car and watched the app feed. The upstairs hallway camera showed nothing moving. No figure, no shadow, no further alerts from any other sensor.Hayes came out of the house two minutes after going in.He crossed to the car and Lewis lowered the window."Clear," Hayes said. "Every room. Ground floor, upper floor, garden. Nothing.""Then what triggered the hallway sensor?""Rose." Hayes's expression was completely neutral. "She threw a shoe at the motion detector. It's now on the floor. She appears to have done this deliberately and found it entertaining."Lewis looked at the app. The hallway sensor was still reading active because the shoe was sitting directly under it."She's two," Lewis said."She's a very effective two," Hayes said.Lewis got out of the car. "Thank you for coming.""That's what I'm here for." Hayes looked at him. "Lewis. You've had three weeks of genuine threat, multiple securit
[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)The name was Harrison Sterling.Lewis sat with that for the length of the drive home and didn't say it to Yessica until the children were in bed.She heard it and was quiet for a moment."The board wants your father as executive chair," she said."Three board members proposed it. Gerald hasn't formally endorsed it yet." Lewis looked at the kitchen table. "He'd have oversight of governance and shareholder relations. I'd retain full operational authority as CEO." A pause. "It's not designed to limit me. It's designed to stabilize the optics — a Sterling name at chair level signals continuity and accountability after the fraud investigation.""Have you spoken to Harrison?""No. I found out forty minutes ago.""Then you should." She looked at him. "Tonight."Harrison answered on the second ring. He'd been expecting the call — Lewis could tell from the way he picked up, not the usual three-second lag of a man reaching for a phone in a different room."Y
[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)Yessica handed him the phone without comment.He heard the end of it — Regina's voice, controlled but strained, saying David had a consultation booked for Friday. He handed the phone back and pulled out of the car park."She wants to talk to Eleanor," Yessica said."Eleanor handles family law, not just ours." He drove. "She should call her today.""I know." Yessica was quiet for a moment. "He has the right, Lewis.""I know that too.""Regardless of the welfare statement, regardless of what we know about his connection to Sienna's network — he is that baby's biological father and a court will recognize that.""Yes.""So the question isn't whether he has standing. The question is what kind of co-parenting arrangement protects Regina and the baby while giving him appropriate access."Lewis kept his eyes on the road. He understood the logic. That didn't mean the first five seconds of hearing it felt simple."I want to talk to him," Lewis said.Yessica
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)Dr. Sarah Chen's office was on the third floor of a building on Lothian Road, quiet enough that you could hear the traffic below and calm enough that it didn't matter.Yessica had been here before. Twice, for Rose. Once for a check that had turned into a referral for postpartum support. She knew the specific quality of the silence in the waiting room and the specific way the chairs were arranged so that people waiting alone didn't have to sit beside strangers.Lewis had come with her. He was beside her now, reading nothing on his phone with the concentrated focus of a man who needed something to do with his hands."You've been to twelve-week appointments before," she said."Yes.""And you're still doing that thing with your phone."He looked up. "What thing.""The thing where you scroll without reading and refresh without checking." She looked at him. "It's fine. You're allowed to be nervous.""I'm not nervous.""Lewis."He put the phone in his p
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)"Sandra Keane," Yessica said.A beat of silence from Lewis on the phone."The administrative coordinator," she continued. "She's been there since before Ethan started. She sends the parent communications, manages the pickup lists, handles enrollment paperwork.
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)Lewis read Eleanor's message twice. Then he handed his phone to Yessica without comment.She read it. Handed it back."She thinks you owe her," Yessica said."She thinks she's earned something. There's a difference." He put the phone in his pocket. "She has in
[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)The investigator's text sat on Lewis's screen between them like a lit fuse.Subject: Sienna Hargrave — early release confirmed."Good behavior," Eleanor said on the phone twenty minutes later, her voice tight. "She applied for early release six weeks ago. The
[POV: Lewis] (Location: Edinburgh)Marcus called at 7:14 AM."The board's ready. Gerald wants you in the boardroom at nine. Full reinstatement, effective today." A pause. "There's also going to be a press conference."Lewis looked at Yessica across the breakfast table. She already had her coffee







