THIRD PERSON’S POV
The lights in Ken’s office were still on long after midnight.
The city outside had grown quiet, and most of the buildings across the street had gone dark hours ago. Still, Ken remained seated behind his desk, surrounded by piles of docunts, financial reports, and screenshots.
His eyes burned from staring at computer screens for so long, but he refused to stop. Sothing about the article attacking Sophia bothered him deeply. The leak had been too detailed to be the work of an ordinary gossip reporter.
The deeper he dug, the more uncomfortable he beca.
At first, he thought he had all the details. He found out that a junior nurse had been paid to leak Sophia’s dical information. The money had been routed through a shell company.
Later on, he noticed sothing strange. The sa shell company appeared again and again.
Ken sat up straighter in his chair.
He pulled older records from the company’s transaction history. Several paynts had been made months ago. The dates felt familiar, though he could not imdiately rember why. He stared at them for several seconds before suddenly freezing.
His eyes widened.
Those dates matched the period when Damien and Sophia had been searching desperately for their missing marriage certificate.
"Impossible," Ken muttered under his breath.
He imdiately opened another file then many others.
As the pieces ca together, he understood what had happened.
The marriage certificate had never simply disappeared. It was stolen.
Tiffany.
It had been Tiffany.
Months earlier, during one of her first visits to Stone Villa, she had arranged for soone to enter the house and take the original marriage certificate. The sa shell company used to pay the nurse had handled the operation. Every transaction pointed back to the sa hidden network.
Ken felt a chill run down his spine.
This was bigger than a rumor.
Tiffany wanted Sophia destroyed.
The delayed divorce had kept Sophia trapped in a marriage that was slowly crushing her. Every humiliation, every public embarrassnt, every painful encounter between Damien and Tiffany had happened while Sophia remained legally tied to Damien. Tiffany had planned it that way.
“What the hell?” Ken whispered.
-
anwhile, across town, life continued inside Tiffany’s villa where Ashley spent most of her ti.
Tasha had grown mory comfortable.
With Grandpa George now living permanently at Stone Villa, fewer people paid attention to what happened inside Tiffany’s villa. Damien rarely visited.
Nobody watched Tasha. Nobody questioned her. That freedom had made her bold.
Ashley sat on her bedroom floor one afternoon, playing with her dolls. She looked up when she noticed sothing missing.
"Grandma Tasha?" Ashley spoke.
Tasha glanced over "What is it, sweetheart?"
Ashley pointed toward the dresser "There used to be a picture there."
Tasha smiled "Oh, that old thing?"
Ashley nodded "The picture of and Mommy."
"It was old, sweetheart."
Ashley frowned "But I liked it."
Tasha walked over and gently patted her head.
"Sotis old things need replacing."
Ashley looked unconvinced.
Tasha pointed toward a newer photograph, one with Ashley and Tiffany.
"See? Isn’t this picture prettier?" Tasha said.
Ashley stared at it quietly. She wasn’t sure but she nodded anyway. She didn’t want Tasha to beat her again.
As more days passed, more photographs disappeared.
Family pictures vanished. Photos of Sophia disappeared. In their places, Tasha put pictures of Tiffany.
The changes happened gradually. Ashley noticed but she was too young to understand why it felt wrong.
At school, Ashley participated in an art project. The assignnt was simple. They were told to draw soone they love.
Ashley imdiately picked up her crayons. Without hesitation, she drew Sophia and Damien.
The drawing was childish and uneven, but it was filled with affection. She drew herself holding Sophia’s hand beneath a bright yellow sun. At the top of the page, she carefully wrote the words:
I LOVE MOMMY.
She carried the drawing ho proudly. Her eyes sparkled with excitent.
"Grandma Tasha!" she shouted.
Tasha looked up from the couch as Ashley ran over.
"Look what I made!" Ashley squealed.
Tasha accepted the paper.
The mont she saw Sophia’s face, her expression turned dark.
Tasha composed herself and smiled.
"Very nice," she said sweetly.
Ashley bead "Really?"
"Of course."
Ashley hugged her then ran upstairs. The mont she disappeared, Tasha’s smile vanished.
Tasha crumpled the drawing, then she tossed it into the trash.
"Ridiculous," she muttered.
A few hours later, Franca entered the room. She had co to clean.
As she emptied the wastebasket, sothing caught her eye.
She froze when she saw it. Slowly, she reached down and retrieved the crumpled paper.
She unfolded it and stared at the drawing.
Her heart ached when she looked at it..
Ashley had drawn Sophia with such obvious love. The little girl had even added tiny hearts around them.
Franca imdiately understood what had happened. She looked toward the staircase, then back at the drawing.
Quietly, she folded it neatly and slipped it into her apron pocket.
Her expression turned hard.
This wasn’t the first thing she had noticed. She had noticed the missing photographs, Tasha’s behaviour, the bruises on Ashley’s arm.
That night, Franca opened a small notebook and began writing. She wrote dates, observations, conversations and other evidences of what Tasha was doing.
She wrote down everything.
If the truth ever ca out, she wanted evidence. Real evidence.
-
Declan sat alone inside an expensive restaurant. The bruises Zade had left behind still marked his face.
His mood darkened further with every drink.
As he continued drinking, he noticed soone watching him.
There was a man with silver hair who sat across the restaurant. He had a dominant aura and he was perfectly dressed.
The stranger wasn’t eating. He wasn’t drinking. He was simply watching.
Declan frowned. He was confused. The man kept looking at him.
“Creepy bastard” Declan muttered.
The man held his gaze without looking away. Declan shuddered and continued focusing on his drink.
Suddenly, the stranger stood. Slowly, he walked across the room.
He stopped beside Declan’s table. Without asking permission, he sat down.
Declan stiffened "Who are you?"
The man smiled. Instead of answering, he reached into his pocket. Then he placed a business card on the table and slid it toward Declan.
Declan looked down in confusion. The card contained only a single sentence.
It read: We know what Tiffany’s family really wants from the Stone estate.
Declan’s eyes went wide.The color drained from Declan’s face.
His eyes snapped back toward the stranger but the man was already standing.
"Wait," Declan said “What the fuck is this? Do I know you?”
The stranger rely smiled, then he turned and walked away.
Declan remained frozen in his chair.
For the first ti in a very long ti, he felt uncertain.
Suddenly, he realized sothing terrifying.
Soone else had been watching, soone outside the family.
And whoever that person was, they had finally decided to step onto the board.
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