All Chapters of Craving Their Touch : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

David's povI sat in the dark and watched the screen go black. One moment the feed was there. Clara in the library. That bastard Julian in her lap. Her voice dripping with contempt as she said my name like it was something dirty she was scraping off her shoe. And then nothing. Static. A dead signal where my empire used to be. I threw my laptop across the room. It hit the wall and shattered, sparks flying, plastic cracking. It did not make me feel better. Nothing made me feel better anymore. My ribs were wrapped in bandages from where Marcus had worked me over. My nose was crooked, healing wrong because I could not afford a decent surgeon. My house was empty. My accounts were frozen. My lawyers were gone. My executives had stopped returning my calls three hours ago when Arthur Sterling walked into Sterling Global and fired three of his most senior men in front of the entire board. The server was th

The private jet touched down in Zurich just after midnight.Arthur had insisted on sending his fastest plane. When I called him from the parking garage and explained what Sophia had told me, he did not hesitate. "Bring her home," he said. "Both of them. Whatever you need." The words echoed in my head as we climbed into the cabin and took our seats. Marcus sat beside me. Julian sat across the aisle. Sophia huddled near the window, still in her hotel slippers, staring at the clouds like they might offer answers.Nobody spoke for the first hour. The weight of what we had learned pressed down on all of us. Somewhere out there, a sixteen-year-old girl was locked in a white room, waiting for someone to find her. Waiting for her sister. Waiting for a rescue that had been two years delayed.I broke the silence first."We need a plan. David knows we destroyed his server. He knows Sophia's accounts are frozen. It is only a matter of time before he realizes she talked to us. When that happens, h

  The convoy rolled into Zurich as the city was waking up. Kate had fallen asleep in the back of the medical SUV, her head resting on Sophia's shoulder, Mr. Whiskers still clutched against her chest. She had not let go of the rabbit once since we pulled her from that bunker. I did not blame her. Some things you held onto because letting go felt too much like losing. The private medical facility Arthur had arranged sat on a quiet street overlooking the lake. It was the kind of place that did not advertise its existence. Discreet entrance. Private rooms. Doctors who signed confidentiality agreements. My father had thought of everything. Sophia walked beside the gurney as they wheeled Kate inside. She still had not let go of her sister's hand. "I am staying with her. I am not leaving this room." "No one is asking you to," I said. The doctors were efficient

  Three months later, the trial began. The courtroom was packed every single day. Journalists filled the back rows. Sketch artists worked furiously. Arthur sat behind me each morning, his hand on my shoulder. Marcus sat on my other side, his ribs healed, his hand scarred, holding mine through every testimony. Sophia testified on the third day. She walked to the stand in a dark blue dress, her voice steady. The prosecutor asked about the offshore accounts. About David's threats. About the night she realized Kate had been taken. She answered every question without breaking. The prosecution played Kate's video deposition. The jury watched a sixteen-year-old girl describe two years in a concrete bunker. The gray jumpsuit. The meals pushed through a slot. David's visits. David's voice telling her she had been abandoned. Three jurors cried. The Sterling executives testified next,

The sound of Leo's whiskey glass shattering cut through the applause like a blade.I was still on stage, my father's arm around my shoulders, the crowd still clapping, the cameras still flashing. But my eyes had found Leo. He stood by the fireplace, his hand dripping blood onto the marble floor, his expression completely blank. The glass had shattered in his grip. He did not seem to notice the cuts. He did not seem to notice the waiter rushing toward him with a napkin.He only noticed me.For one long moment, we stared at each other across the ballroom. Then he turned and walked out. The crowd parted for him instinctively, the way people move away from something dangerous without knowing why.Arthur squeezed my shoulder. "Keep smiling. The room is watching."I kept smiling.The party did not end until two in the morning. I shook hands until my fingers ached. I accepted congratulations from people whose names I forgot the mom