Semua Bab Love and deceit : Bab 71 - Bab 80

🌹 Damien 🌹I waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.“Damien. Didn’t think I’d hear from you again.”“Spare me the pleasantries, Logan,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “I need information.”Logan chuckled. “And here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.”“We were never friends.”“Ouch.” He didn’t sound offended in the slightest. “Alright, what do you need?”I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “I want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterling’s movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone he’s worked with in the shadows.”There was a pause on the other end.“You’re serious.”“I wouldn’t be calling if I wasn’t.”Logan sighed. “You know this isn’t the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of this—”“I’ll handle

🌹 Damien 🌹I waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.“Damien. Didn’t think I’d hear from you again.”“Spare me the pleasantries, Logan,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “I need information.”Logan chuckled. “And here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.”“We were never friends.”“Ouch.” He didn’t sound offended in the slightest. “Alright, what do you need?”I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “I want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterling’s movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone he’s worked with in the shadows.”There was a pause on the other end.“You’re serious.”“I wouldn’t be calling if I wasn’t.”Logan sighed. “You know this isn’t the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of this—”“I’ll handle

🌹Aurora 🌹I stood outside my father’s study, my pulse thrumming in my ears.The heavy mahogany door loomed before me, a symbol of the power my father had wielded for years—power that had protected and provided for our family. But now, that same power had put us in danger.I curled my fingers into fists, forcing myself to steady my breathing.Damien had told me the truth—at least, his version of it. But I needed to hear it from my father’s lips. I needed to know if the man I had idolized my entire life had really sold our family’s future to a man like Bryan Sterling.Taking a slow breath, I knocked.Silence.Then, a low voice. “Come in.”I pushed the door open and stepped inside.The study was exactly as I remembered—floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a grand oak desk cluttered with documents, and the lingering scent of my father’s cologne. The air was thick with the weight of unfinished conversations, of questions I had never dared to ask.My father sat behind his desk, glasses perched

🌹 Aurora 🌹I barely slept that night. The weight of the documents I had found pressed down on me like a suffocating fog, my mind refusing to quiet down. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the signatures—the evidence of my father’s entanglement with Bryan Sterling.I had come looking for answers. Now, I had them. But I was no closer to knowing what to do.Lying in my childhood bed, staring at the ceiling, I realized something chilling. If my father had gone to such lengths to hide this deal, how far would Sterling go to ensure it stayed buried?A shiver ran down my spine. I needed to move carefully. Because if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t just be uncovering secrets—I’d be painting a target on my back.The house was eerily quiet when I stepped out of my room. The scent of coffee drifted through the halls, but I didn’t hear my mother’s usual morning chatter. She must have still been asleep. My father was nowhere to be seen, either.Good. That gave me time.I needed to leave before either of t

🌹 Aurora 🌹For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I belonged to my family.Everything I thought I knew—the empire my father built, the legacy my parents spoke of, the marriage I had been forced into—was nothing but a carefully woven lie.And now, Damien and I were at the center of it.I sat on the couch in his penthouse, my fingers ghosting over the worn pages of the black book we had uncovered. Each name, each number, each carefully documented exchange was a piece of a puzzle I wasn’t sure I wanted to solve.But we had no choice.I looked up to find Damien pacing in front of me, his expression carved from stone. He had always been unreadable, but now, there was something sharper in his eyes. Something dangerous.“This is bigger than us,” I murmured, running my fingers over the inked pages. “This is about control. About power that stretches far beyond our families.”Damien stopped pacing and looked at me. “Exactly. And if we don’t play this right, we’re going to be their