All Chapters of Contracted to the wrong twin : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 21Loose EndsEthan was still sitting across from Robert Ashby when his phone screen lit up on the table beside him.He glanced at it without picking it up.Elena.He let it go.Then it lit up again almost immediately.Same name.He looked at Robert, who gave a small nod that said, “Go ahead,” without actually saying anything.Ethan picked up the phone and stepped to the far side of the room.“Elena.”Her voice came back tight and controlled, the way it always was when she was trying not to sound alarmed.“Where are you right now?”“Why?”“Because Richard Blackwood called the office an hour ago asking for your location, and when I told him I did not know, he did not believe me. He sent someone here, Ethan. To the office. At this hour.”A pause.“They went through your private files.”Ethan’s jaw tightened.“Did they take anything?”“I do not know yet. I managed to pull the most sensitive folders before they got to them, but I cannot be certain about everything.”Her voice drop

Chapter 23:The message Ethan sat in his car outside Robert Ashby’s building and pulled up Juliana’s number.He had saved it months ago. He had never used it until now. He pressed call and waited.She picked up on the third ring.“Ethan.” She was awake. Alert.“I need to see you tonight,” he said. “Not about Dan. About what someone is trying to use against you.”Silence.“How do you know about that,” she said.“Because the same people have been going after Judith for months and I am done letting them operate unchallenged.” He kept his voice steady. “I am not calling to pressure you Juliana. I am calling because you have information and you have been sitting alone with it and that needs to stop tonight.”She was quiet for a moment. “There is a hotel bar on Marylebone High Street. Twenty minutes.”“I will be there,” he said.He drove through the empty city with the folder on the seat beside him. London at this hour was stripped back and honest, nothing performing, just wet roads and ora

Chapter 25Running Out of TimeEthan got back in his car and called Elena.It rang four times before she answered, her voice thick with sleep. “Ethan? What time is it.”“Did you lock your door.”“Yes. Why—”“Good. Keep it locked. I need you to do something for me first thing in the morning.” He started the engine. “I need everything you can find on Charles Whitmore. Quietly. Do not use the office systems. Do not tell anyone you are looking.”There was a pause. “Charles Whitmore? The old board member?”“Yes.”“Ethan, what is going on.”“I will explain tomorrow. Just trust me tonight.”He ended the call before she could ask anything else.He drove home through empty streets, the folder and the drive both in his bag now, his mind working faster than the car could move. Whitmore. Fifteen years of his father answering to a name nobody ever questioned. A man who sent gifts at Christmas and disappeared the rest of the year.He thought about his father’s certainty. The floor that always held.

Chapter 27One HourLily ate her toast slowly, both feet swinging under the chair, completely unbothered by the tension sitting around her at that table.Judith sat beside her, pouring a small glass of juice, keeping her voice normal and her face calm. Dan was on his phone at the kitchen counter, speaking quietly to someone she did not know. Ethan stood by the window watching the street below with his arms crossed.Nobody said anything that mattered while Lily was in the room.“Can I watch something on the tablet,” Lily asked.“Yes,” Judith said immediately. “Go to the bedroom and I will bring it to you.”Lily jumped down from the chair and padded off down the hallway without a second thought. Judith waited until she heard the bedroom door close. Then she looked at the two men.“Talk,” she said.Dan lowered his phone. “I just spoke to a contact at one of the papers Elena reached. They have the recording. They have the financial records. They are running it.” He paused. “But they want

Chapter 29Face to FaceThe lift was slow.Judith stood inside it with her hand in her cardigan pocket, fingers resting on her phone, feeling the slight vibration that told her the voice memo was still running. She watched the floor numbers change and kept her breathing steady.She was not going to let him see her afraid.The doors opened at the ground floor. The security guard Dan had placed at the entrance was still there, standing near the door, watching her come out of the lift. He gave her a small nod. She nodded back and walked past him toward the main entrance.She could see the black car through the glass doors.She pushed them open and stepped outside.The morning air was cold and sharp. The street was quiet for this hour, just a few people walking past without paying attention, a woman with a pushchair crossing at the far end, a delivery man going into the building next door. Ordinary morning things happening around something that was not ordinary at all.Richard Blackwood g