All Chapters of TIED TO MY FATHER'S MURDERER: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

41 Chapters

Chapter Eleven: What the contract doesn't say

“Do you need anything else from me sir,” Isabella asked softly in the car, her voice careful and contained as she stared down at her notepad like it was the most interesting thing in the world.Victor did not answer her, his hands steady on the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, and the silence between them felt thick enough that Isabella could almost hear her own breathing echo in it.She shifted slightly in her seat, cleared her throat, and said nothing else because it was clear he had decided she did not deserve a response, and she focused instead on the scribbles on her pad even though she was not actually reading them.When they arrived at the office building, Victor parked and stepped out of the car without a word, the door shutting firmly behind him, and Isabella waited a second before opening her own door, oddly relieved that he did not bother with any forced politeness.“I am fine with that,” she muttered to herself as she stepped out, adjusting her bag on her

Chapter Twelve: A BOMBSHELL FOR TWO

“Del open the door,” Isabella said quietly, her voice flat and steady even though her hands were shaking as she stood in the bathroom, the test still clutched in her fingers like it might disappear if she let go.The door flew open almost immediately, Delaney stumbling inside with wild eyes and messy hair, her mouth already open to speak until Isabella held up the test without saying a word.Delaney froze, her face going blank, then pale, then shocked all over again as she took it from Isabella’s hand, staring at it like it was written in a language she did not understand.“No,” Delaney said slowly, then louder, “no no no no, this is not real, this cannot be real, tell me this is a prank.”“It is not a prank,” Isabella replied calmly, too calmly, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub and folding her hands in her lap like she was waiting for a verdict, “there are two lines.”Delaney laughed once, sharp and breathless, then stopped suddenly and looked at Isabella with wide eyes as she

Chapter Thirteen: The Terms

“How far along are you,” Victor asked calmly, his voice steady like they were discussing quarterly projections.“Six weeks,” Isabella answered without hesitation, her hands resting flat against her thighs as she sat where he had told her to sit, her spine straight because she refused to look small in front of him.He nodded once, absorbing it, then lifted his eyes to her again and asked, “And you are certain the child is mine.”The question hit harder than she expected, a sharp sting that crawled up her chest and settled behind her eyes, but she did not flinch or raise her voice when she answered.“Yes,” she said evenly, meeting his gaze, “there is no doubt.”Victor studied her for a moment, searching her face for something she could not name, then he stood up and walked toward the window, his hands sliding into his pockets as he looked out at the city below.Isabella stayed quiet, counting her breaths, listening to the hum of the building and the distant sounds of traffic, the two mi

Chapter 14: Moving Into Victor's Estate

“Is this really where I am supposed to live now,” Isabella asked quietly as she stepped inside, her voice sounding too small against the wide open space that echoed even when nobody answered her.Victor closed the door behind them and adjusted his cuff like this was just another transition between meetings, then said evenly "This is my private residence and that everything you need would be provided", his tone flat and professional like he was explaining office policy.“It feels like a hotel that forgot how to be human,” Isabella muttered before she could stop herself, then straightened when she realized he had heard her.“The house runs on structure,” Victor replied calmly, walking ahead without looking back, “you will get used to it.”Staff lined the hallway, greeting her with polite nods and distant smiles that did not quite reach their eyes, and Isabella nodded back, suddenly aware of how out of place she felt in borrowed silence.Victor stopped in front of a large door and open

Chapter Fifteen: The Photo

“I am not going to sleep again tonight,” Isabella whispered into the empty room, her voice rough as she stared at the ceiling and already knew lying there pretending would only make her thoughts louder.She lay still for a while longer, counting nothing, thinking nothing useful, then finally pushed herself up and said quietly that this was pointless and that she might as well move, because the bed was starting to feel like it was holding her down instead of letting her rest.In the bathroom she wrapped the robe around herself and tied it too tightly, then loosened it again, muttering that this place was too quiet and too big and that five in the morning should not feel this heavy.She opened the door and stepped into the corridor, the floor cool under her feet, and said under her breath that she was only walking and not going anywhere in particular, as if saying it would make it true.Without meaning to, she stopped in front of the study again, and she sighed softly when she realized

Chapter Sixteen: Breakfast for Two

“Leave it there,” Victor said without looking up from his phone when Rosa placed the tray on the table, his thumb still scrolling as if the screen required his full attention and not because he wanted an excuse not to look across the table yet.“Yes sir,” Rosa replied quietly, adjusting the placement of the cup like she always did even when he did not ask, “Miss Isabella’s tea is hot, I checked twice.”Victor nodded once and did not answer further, and Rosa stepped back just as Isabella came down the stairs, her footsteps light but not hesitant, controlled in a way that made it clear she was already fully awake.She did not say good morning.He did not say it either.Rosa placed the tea in front of Isabella and said, “I will bring more toast if you need,” and Isabella answered with a polite thank you that sounded practiced and distant, and then Rosa left them alone.They sat across from each other with the table between them, Victor reading through his morning report and Isabella hold

Chapter Seventeen: Who sent you that

“Nothing happened,” Isabella said to herself quietly as she stood in the corridor outside the painting room, her fingers resting on the edge of the wooden box as she gently closed the lid and placed it back exactly where she found it, careful like even breathing too hard would make everything worse.She stayed there a moment longer, staring at the closed box, then whispered, “It is not my business,” and turned away even though her chest felt tight in a way she did not want to name.Back in her room she sat on the edge of the bed, hands folded together, and said again, softer this time, “It is not my business,” like repetition could lock it away somewhere permanent.She leaned back slowly and stared at the ceiling, letting the silence settle around her, and after a while she said out loud, “An old photograph, a name, nothing more,” and then she turned her head slightly and added, “I am not doing this to myself.”Still, the name stayed.Brown.She whispered it once, then again, then sto

Chapter Eighteen: Kade

“Delaney,” Isabella said quickly, her thumb already moving before her brain fully caught up, locking her screen in the same motion, hiding the message like it was something she could physically push away, her voice coming out steadier than her body felt, “it was Delaney, she sent something earlier and I forgot to reply.”Victor stood in the doorway without moving closer, his eyes fixed on her face for a long moment, then briefly flicking to her phone and back again like he was weighing every syllable she had just given him and deciding where it fit.“Delaney,” he repeated slowly, not asking, not agreeing, just holding the word there.“Yes,” Isabella said immediately, too quickly, then forced herself to slow down and added, “she sends random things all the time, I just did not open it properly.”Victor did not respond right away, and the silence made her aware of how tightly she was holding the phone, how her shoulders were too high, how her breathing was not normal even though she was

Chapter Nineteen : Not yet

“I am fine,” Victor said to no one in particular as he lay in his room staring at the ceiling, the words coming out low and controlled like they had been rehearsed enough times to sound real even when they were not.He did not move for a long time.“I am fine,” he repeated again, quieter now, as if repetition could turn it into something true.The ceiling stayed the same.The room stayed the same.His thoughts did not.“It is work,” he said out loud, shifting slightly on the bed, “Zachary Belt, the contracts, the board waiting for answers, everything is exactly what it always is.”He paused, then added, “Nothing is different.”The silence in the room did not agree with him.At four he got up without needing to decide it and walked to his study and turned on the lights and sat down like the day had already started without permission.“I will clear the backlog,” he said softly to himself as he opened the first file, “then everything will settle.”He worked till seven, when Rosa knocked

Chapter Twenty: Zaccheous

“Valeria Hart is not accepting calls,” the nurse repeated for the third time, her voice calm but firmer now, like the words had been rehearsed to close conversations rather than open them.“Please,” Isabella said, leaning slightly forward even though the nurse could not see her properly through the line, her grip tightening on the phone, “just ask her again, tell her it is her daughter.”There was a pause.Then the same answer again, slower this time like patience was running thin on the other end.“Valeria Hart has asked not to be contacted by anyone connected to the name Kade.”The line stayed open but nothing else came through it, and Isabella sat very still after that, her fingers not moving, her breathing slightly off, like her body had not caught up to what it had just heard.“Kade,” she repeated quietly after the call ended, the word sitting in her mouth like it did not belong there.She stayed like that for a long time, phone still in her hand, until she finally said, “Okay,”

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