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Chapter 72 – In the Eye of the Storm
Last Updated:
2025-01-15 10:14:18
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Ties of a Contract Chapter 73 – A New Refuge
SophiaThis private clinic is a completely different world from the hospital. Its walls, in soft shades of aqua and beige, exude a calm we never found in the hospital’s cold, white hallways. Our suite is spacious, divided into two distinct areas: one dedicated to the babies, featuring cutting-edge equipment, and another for my rest, furnished in a way that feels more like a home than a medical facility.Even the air is different here, lacking that strong antiseptic smell. A discreet air purifier emits a gentle lavender scent, which Dr. Chen says helps soothe premature infants.“Their oxygen levels are excellent,” she observes, checking the monitors after the incubators are set up. Her agile fingers make adjustments on the equipment while she speaks. “The transfer went better than we hoped. They’re little warriors.”Alexander watches every move of the medical team with eagle eyes. Despite the deep circles under his weary face, he remains tirelessly vigilant. He personally checks every
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 74 – Fragments
AlexanderA soft touch on my shoulder wakes me. For a moment, I feel disoriented in an unfamiliar setting, until the distinct smell of a hospital and the rhythmic beeping of monitors bring me back to reality. My back aches from sleeping in such an uncomfortable chair, but I was so exhausted that it didn’t stop me from dozing off.“Sorry to wake you,” Dominic says quietly, his tense expression revealing that he has important news. “But we need to talk.”I glance at Sophia, asleep in the chair next to the incubators. Her face looks serene for the first time in days, one of her hands stretching out toward the babies even in sleep. I stand up carefully so as not to wake her, my body protesting with each movement.“What did you find out?” I ask, running a hand over my face in an attempt to shake off the sleep.Dominic leads me to a more secluded corner of the room, carrying that familiar folder of documents.“Matthews talked,” he says, opening the folder to reveal pages of testimony. “Vict
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 75 – Echoes of the Past
SophiaNight drags on in the clinic. Oliver had a fever—nothing serious, according to Dr. Chen—but enough to keep us on alert. Alexander paces the room, checking windows and doors over and over again.Dominic’s folder is still on the table. After Alexander finally sits down, exhausted, I pick up the documents and begin to read.They’re old police reports, testimonies from other families Victoria destroyed. Stories frighteningly similar to ours.“You shouldn’t read that,” Alexander mutters, settling beside me in the large armchair.“I need to understand who we’re up against.”One statement in particular catches my eye: a woman describing how Victoria zeroed in on her teenage son.“All the victims,” I say quietly, leaning back against Alexander’s chest, “all the boys…they looked like you.”Alexander closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around me.“She has a type.”Noah stirs in his sleep, so I go over to his incubator. Through the acrylic, I watch his peaceful face. Alexander follows me,
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 76 – Waking Nightmares
AlexanderA restless sleep leaves me with a strange feeling. Something is different. I jolt awake in the small hospital bed, my body tense. Sophia is asleep beside me, her warm body against mine, but the babies’ monitors are silent.Total silence.I leap to my feet, heart pounding. The incubators are empty. No beeping, no soft sound of my children’s breathing.“Sophia!” I call, shaking her lightly.She wakes up disoriented, her eyes widening when she sees my expression.“The babies…”“I’ll call a nurse,” I say, already rushing to the door.The corridor is deserted. The fluorescent lights flicker unevenly, throwing unsettling shadows on the walls. There is no sign of the medical team, of any security personnel, of anyone.I return to the room and grab my phone to call Dominic. No signal. I try the room’s landline. Dead.“Alexander,” Sophia says, her voice trembling. “Look.”On the armchair where Victoria’s documents lay, there’s a note in a handwriting I’d recognize anywhere:“They loo
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 77 – Invisible Scars
AlexanderThe clinic room is quiet except for the gentle beeping of the babies’ monitors. Sophia sits beside me on the small hospital bed, her hands firmly holding mine as I struggle for the right words to describe what I spent years trying to forget.“It started after my mother died,” I finally say, my voice barely above a whisper. “I was fifteen. Victoria appeared in my father’s life like salvation. She was young, beautiful, seemed genuinely eager to help.”Sophia squeezes my hands, lending me the courage to go on.“At first, it was small things. She’d come into my room late at night, saying she’d heard noises, that she was worried. She’d sit on my bed, stroke my hair. She said I looked so lonely, so in need of a mother’s affection.”I close my eyes, memories returning with painful clarity.“She had this sweet, stifling perfume. Even now, when I catch a similar scent…” my voice falters. “Sometimes she would watch me sleep for hours. I’d wake up and she’d be there in the darkness, hu
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 78 – The Safe
AlexanderDominic’s office is cluttered with documents, photos, and evidence spread across his desk. It’s my first time leaving the clinic in days—I left Sophia and the babies under extra security—because he insisted he needed to show me something in person.“We found this,” he says, sliding a manila envelope toward me. “In the apartment where Victoria was staying.”Inside the envelope are old photos. My mother in the hospital, Victoria in the background wearing a nurse’s uniform. Then pictures of her with my father, taken long before they were married. And finally, a series of images of me asleep, all from when I was fifteen years old.“She planned everything,” I mutter, feeling bile rise in my throat. “From the very start.”“There’s more,” Dominic hesitates. “We found a hidden safe behind a false panel. Inside it…”He slides another folder toward me. These are my mother’s medical records, with notes scrawled in the margins in Victoria’s handwriting. Dosages, schedules, substances ad
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 79 – Plans in Motion
AlexanderDominic’s office has turned into a command center. Maps cover the walls, routes are drawn and erased, plans are formed and re-formed. It’s nearly midnight, and we’ve been here for hours, devising every detail of the transfer.“The country house is ready,” Dominic marks a point on the map. “Isolated, secure, with a medical team standing by. Victoria would never think to look there.”I study the location. It’s perfect: far enough from the city for privacy, yet close enough to a hospital if the babies need it.“What about the transport?” I ask, looking at possible routes.“Three identical ambulances will leave at the same time,” he explains, pointing at different lines on the map. “Each one with a police escort. Victoria won’t know which one has Sophia and the babies.”I run a hand over my tired face. I haven’t slept well since we found the letter.“We have to consider everything,” I murmur. “She can’t have the slightest chance.”“I’ve checked every staff member involved,” Domi
Last Updated : 2025-01-15Ties of a Contract Chapter 80 – Final Hours
SophiaNight creeps slowly through the clinic as we finalize preparations for discharge. I watch Alexander carefully pack the small bag of clothes we bought for the twins—all still far too big for them, but the smallest we could find.“Dr. Chen confirmed the final tests look great,” I say, folding a tiny blue onesie. “Their oxygen saturation is stable.”Alexander nods, but I can tell his mind is elsewhere. Ever since he got back from meeting with Dominic last night, there’s been a different tension in his shoulders.The babies sleep in their incubators, oblivious to all the bustle. In a few hours, we’ll face the most critical moment since their births: the transfer.“Alexander,” I call softly. “Where are you right now?”He stops folding clothes, his hands trembling slightly.“Thinking about everything that could go wrong,” he admits. “Victoria is unpredictable. She always shows up when we least expect it.”I move closer to him, touching his face.“That’s why our plan will work. She ex
Last Updated : 2025-01-15
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Ties of a Contract Chapter 106 - The Price of Truth
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