CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER 20EVELYNThere was a strange thing about betrayal.The person who hurt you the most was rarely the person you expected.I had spent seven years blaming Eden.Seven years replaying every moment.The goodbye that never happened.The calls that were never answered.The silence that destroyed me.I had built an entire story in my head.Eden left.Eden forgot.Eden moved on.But now I was standing in my childhood home, holding a file that connected my mother, my father, Eden, and the man who had been trying to destroy him.And I didn't know what story was real anymore."Did my mother know Eden?"My father looked at me.A long, painful silence passed."Yes."My throat tightened."How?"He sat down slowly."Your mother worked with Blackwood Industries before we got married."I frowned."My mother was never in business.""Not publicly."I stared."Then who was she?"My father's expression changed.Like he was looking at someone who wasn't there anymore."Your mother was brilliant, Ev

Last Updated : 2026-06-30

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER 21EVELYNThe worst thing about secrets was not discovering them.It was realizing how long they had been sitting beside you, quietly breathing, while you lived your life pretending everything was normal.I stared at the envelope on my kitchen counter for almost ten minutes before touching it.No name.No address.Just my name written across the front.EVELYN WILLIAMS.Not Mrs. James.Not Evelyn James.That alone made my stomach tighten.Someone wanted me to remember exactly who I was before the wedding.Before Oscar.Before everything became complicated.I looked toward the window. The city lights blurred through the glass, beautiful and distant.My life had become a strange collection of things I couldn't trust anymore.My memories.My marriage.My friendships.Even my own heart.Slowly, I opened the envelope.Inside was a photograph.My fingers froze.It was old.Seven years old, maybe.But I knew the people in it.Me.And Eden.We were sitting on the steps outside his old

Last Updated : 2026-07-01

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

EVELYNBy the fourth anonymous message, I stopped telling myself it was coincidence.Someone wasn't trying to scare me anymore.They were leading me somewhere.The latest message appeared just after noon.Unknown: If you want the truth about Eden, come alone.Attached was an address.An abandoned church on the outskirts of Manhattan.No signature.No explanation.Only one final sentence.Come before someone dies.Every sensible part of me knew I shouldn't go.Oscar was at work.Mia hadn't answered any of my calls since yesterday.Eden had texted three times.I ignored all of them.For some reason I couldn't explain, I drove to the address anyway.The church looked forgotten.Broken stained-glass windows.Peeling paint.Dust covering every wooden pew.The silence inside felt unnatural."Hello?"My voice echoed.Nothing.Then..."I knew you'd come."I spun around.A woman stepped out from the shadows.She looked to be in her early thirties.Beautiful.Elegant.But exhausted.As if she h

Last Updated : 2026-07-01

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

EVELYN"Where is Oscar?"The question came out before I realized I was speaking.Eden didn't answer immediately.His eyes stayed fixed on the road as he drove through the rain, one hand gripping the steering wheel, the other clutching the bloodstained envelope resting on the passenger seat between us.Behind us, sirens wailed.The abandoned church was disappearing into the distance.But the image of the woman collapsing onto those stone steps refused to leave my mind.Her last words echoed inside my head.Your father...What about my father?He had died when I was twelve.Or at least...That was what I'd been told."Where is Oscar?" I repeated.This time Eden looked at me."I don't know.""Don't lie to me!""I'm not."I laughed bitterly."You expect me to believe that? Five minutes after someone kidnaps my husband, you suddenly appear like some kind of hero?"His jaw tightened."I wasn't following you.""Really?""No.""Then how did you know where I was?"Silence.I already knew the a

Last Updated : 2026-07-02

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

EVELYN"I want everyone out."My voice was so quiet that even I barely recognized it.Detective Harris looked at me for a long second before nodding.Within moments, the officers filed out of Oscar's hidden room.Only three people remained.Me.Eden.Detective Harris.The walls still stared back at me.Hundreds of photographs.Years of my life pinned to corkboards like evidence.Some had dates.Some had locations.Some had handwritten notes.My knees nearly gave way."This isn't possible."I walked toward one of the photographs.It had been taken outside the hospital the day my grandmother died.I remembered crying until I couldn't breathe.Oscar had arrived fifteen minutes later and wrapped his coat around my shoulders.He had told me he came because Mia called him.Now...This picture proved someone had been watching me long before Oscar arrived.The note beneath it read:Subject emotionally vulnerable. Continue observation.I covered my mouth."No..."Detective Harris stepped close

Last Updated : 2026-07-03

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER 25 – THE NAME SHE WAS NEVER MEANT TO SEEEVELYNThe first thing I noticed was the smell.Smoke.Not strong enough to choke me anymore, but enough to remind me that only hours ago, flames had swallowed Oscar's office.I opened my eyes slowly.White ceiling.Hospital.A dull ache pulsed behind my temple."You scared us."I turned my head.Mia sat beside the bed, her eyes swollen from crying."You've been unconscious for six hours."I tried to sit up."My..."Pain shot through my ribs."Evelyn, don't.""Where's Oscar?"The question escaped before anything else.Mia lowered her eyes.No answer.That silence was worse than any words.I swallowed hard."Eden?""Outside.""And Detective Harris?""They're talking to the police."My heart refused to slow.Everything had happened too fast.The explosion.The masked figure.Oscar's recording.Nothing made sense anymore.The door opened.Eden walked inside.His suit was wrinkled.A small cut crossed his forehead.For the first time since