All Chapters of Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

110 Chapters

Chapter Fifty-One: Her Father's Hands

JONATHAN "Pull over," I said. Henry looked at me in the mirror, not certain of what he had heard. "Sir?" "Pull over to somewhere quiet." He found a side street and stopped the car. The engine idling as he did. The street was residential, almost empty. A few parked cars. A lamp post throwing yellow light across the wet pavement. Penelope was on my left and she was carrying Nora. She was awake now, not crying, just excited with that innocent young face she had, unaware of what was going on. She's my daughter I had said those words in my own head for the first time since I've got to know about her and they still did not feel like something that belonged to my vocabulary. It was the most ordinary words in the language that had somehow become the most foreign. "Can I..." I stopped mid sentence Penelope waited for me to complete it. "Can I hold her?" I asked. The question came out awkwardly. Too formal for what it was. I heard it as soon as I said it and wished I had

Chapter Fifty-Two: Breaking News

PENELOPE "It's everywhere." Zara's voice came through the phone before I had even sat down properly. Jonathan had just left an hour ago. Nora was in her cot and Mrs Park had gone to bed. I was standing in my kitchen in the dark with my phone firmly held to my ear and the cold that comes at eleven at night when the world has decided not to leave you alone. "How far has it gone?" I asked. "Put the search term in yourself," Zara said. "I can't describe it accurately." I opened my laptop and I typed Jonathan's name. The results are loaded as I stare at the screen. There were more than forty-seven articles in the last six hours. Most of them were tagged with images pulled from the park video, taken from the nine-minute recording by the woman with the practical coat. The clearest was of Jonathan stepping in front of Nora and me. Somehow, that image of him blocking the cameras was the one that had gone viral the most. The headlines underneath it were not kind. 'Blackwood CEO in

Chapter Fifty-Three: What She Did

JONATHAN "The board wants a call at eight."Marcus said that as soon as I walked in. It was six forty-five in the morning. He was already in his jacket at his desk with an expression of concern that showed things were bad but manageable if we acted quickly."Set it up," I replied."Also, your PR director called twice last night. She says the narrative window is closing, and you need to make a statement before noon, or they'll create one for you.""They won't create anything," I countered. "Tell her I'll speak to her at seven thirty.""And your lawyer called about the custody...""Marcus. One thing at a time." I sighed.then I walked into my office.My phone had forty-three notifications.I turned it off at midnight and back on at five. Those notifications piled up over those eight hours. Some were from the press. Some were from acquaintances who saw the video and contacted me with the awkwardness typical of people pretending to care.One was from Daniel. He sent my usual coffee order

Chapter Fifty-Four: The next move

SERAPHINA "Tell me again what we can actually prove," I said. My lawyer, Diana wore her glasses on a chain and charged four hundred pounds an hour. She was worth every penny. She looked at me patiently ready to answer yet another version of my question. "The slap was public," she said. "There are multiple witnesses and multiple recordings. That's an assault on film, which is the strongest part of your case." "And the emotional distress?" "More complex, but not impossible. The confrontation was clearly distressing. You were in a public space and there was a minor child present. If we argue that the hostile environment caused you significant psychological harm..." "It did," I interrupted. Diana raised her eyebrows over her glasses. "I'm not questioning that," she said. "I'm saying courts need documentation. A therapist's report would strengthen this considerably." "I'll have one by Friday." I said Then she jotted down on a note. "And what about the defamation angle?" I asked.

Chapter Fifty-five: My Fight

PENELOPE "She's filing for what exactly?" My lawyer, Tessa, had a calm expression in a crisis. She had sharp features and sat up straight. Her reading glasses were a prop she used while thinking. Adrian recommended her, and she agreed to see me on two hours' notice. That showed me she understood the urgency. She slid a document across the desk. "Three claims," she said. "Assault, citing the park incident. Intentional infliction of emotional distress. And a third claim asking the court to recognize her as an interested party in Nora's life." I read the paper. "Interested party," I said. "It's not custody," Tessa said. "Let me be clear. She is not suing for custody. She cannot sue for custody. She is Nora's aunt, not a parent, and a court would need strong grounds to grant any formal rights. But her filing to be recognized as an interested party means she can ask for information about Nora's welfare. It means she could be heard in any future proceedings involving Nora." "S

Chapter Fifty-Six: Not Like This

PENELOPE ***"You called me at seven in the morning.""And you answered," Jonathan said."I answered because I thought something was wrong with the case.""Something is wrong with the case. That's why I called."I stood in the doorway of his penthouse, looking at him, trying to remember why I had agreed to come here. He had sounded calm on the phone. He said there was something about the legal situation that needed to be discussed in person, and it couldn't wait. He mentioned Nora was welcome. He also said Henry could pick us up.I agreed because Mrs. Park had a doctor's appointment and I needed a safe place for Nora while we talked.I had not properly considered what it meant to bring my daughter into her father's home for the first time.The penthouse looked exactly as I imagined. The whole city was visible through the floor-to-ceiling glass. It was clean, well-organized, and expensive without being flashy.And very, very quiet."Come in," Jonathan welcomed me.I stepped inside.He

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Margaret knows

JONATHAN *** AT A FAMILY DINNER "She has your grandfather's brow." Margaret said this the moment I placed Nora on the large dining room table next to the bread basket, which wasn’t the safest spot, so I quickly moved her to my lap. "She has her own brow," I replied. "All the Blackwood men have that brow." Margaret leaned forward and gazed at Nora with the same focus she used on property values, and people she was deciding what to do with. "She's beautiful, Jonathan." "Yes," I agreed. "She is." "May I hold her?" Nora was watching the chandelier above the dining table with complete fascination, one fist raised, utterly unaware that the woman across from her had been forming opinions about her for the past forty-eight hours. when Margaret saw that I wasn't responding to her or planning to allow her to carry Nora, she simply leaned back and placed her napkin to her lap and glanced at the empty chair beside me. "Penelope isn't coming," she stated. "You didn't invite her." "I

Chapter Fifty-Eight: For Whose Sake

PENELOPE "You should have told me about the dinner before you went," I said, drumming my fingers on the kitchen counter. Jonathan looked at me across his kitchen counter. "It was a family introduction," he said. "I told you I was taking her to meet Margaret." "You told me thirty minutes before." "And you said you weren't coming." He added. "I said I wasn't ready to sit at Margaret's table and be assessed." I kept my voice steady. "I didn't say you could take Nora without more than thirty minutes' notice." He set his glass down. "She's my daughter," he said. "I know that," I replied. "And she is also my daughter too. I am her primary carer. You should have told me." "I gave you Margaret's address. Henry's number and the time I'd be back. What exactly did I do wrong?... Tell me specifically." "You made a decision without consulting me," I said. "That's what you did wrong." "I introduced my child to her grandmother." "Without me," I muttered "But you said you weren't comi

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Coffee date with Adrian

Adrian's POVTHE NEXT MORNING "You've been awake since four," Penelope stated.She sat across from me in a corner booth of the coffee shop two streets from her apartment. It was nine in the morning. Nora lay in the pram beside her, bundled against the November chill, staring at the ceiling with those eyes that always seemed to be thinking deeply."I slept poorly lately," I said."You don't sleep poorly. You work instead of sleeping." Penelope commented."That's true as well." I wrapped my hands around my coffee. "How are you?""I'm managing," she replied "That's not much of an answer.""It's all I've got right now." She glanced at her tea. "Jonathan suggested we get married last night."I froze."For Nora's sake," she added. "Those were his words.""And what did you say?" I asked."Nothing, I just left." She shrugged it off as if it were no big deal Then I nodded. "Good." Her gaze met mine. "Good? Most people would say that's complicated.""Most people would," I agreed. "But you d

Chapter Sixty: Three of Them

PENELOPE AT HOME Mrs. Park stood at her own doorway, wearing her dressing gown. Her silver hair hung loose, and her face was pale, not just from the early hour. She looked like she was trying to hide how sick she felt because she didn’t want to bother anyone. "Mrs. Park." I stepped closer to her. "Why didn't you call me?" "It's just a cold," she replied. "I didn't want to..." "Come inside." I gently took her elbow and guided her back into her flat. "Sit down. I'll make tea." "What about the baby?" "Nora is fine," I assured her. "She's in the pram. Sit down, please." Then she sat and I made the tea, found her medicine cabinet, gathered the needed items, poured her a glass of water, and placed it beside her on the small table where she usually places my pancakes each time I visit. "You don't have to..." she began. "Mrs. Park," I urged. "Just drink the tea." She drank the tea as I watched her. A slow, heavy feeling settled in me, which I recognized after a while as

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