“My baby girl,” he whispered, vece raw. “Daddy’s right here.” 

He locked eyes with Kelly over Emma’s head, both silently asking the same question: Are you okay? 

From the doorway, Thomas cleared his throat. One sound that sucked all the warmth from the room. 

“Tommy.” Not even a question, just a reminder. 

Tommy held his daughter a moment longer before setting her down. He looked at his wife, at his child, then at the man who’d reunited them. The decision had already made itself. 

“I’m ready,” he said, straightening his shoulders. “I’ll tell Haven everything.” 

Adam’s office felt like a tomb. Tommy stood in the center, the fight drained out of him, shoulders loose like a man who’d made peace with his fate. 

“It was Samantha Wright.” The words‘ fell into the silence like stones. She hired me for the attack in M Country. 

Adam’s knuckles went white against his wheelchair. A muscle jumped in his jaw. 

“Everything’s here.” Tommy pulled out his phone. “Text messages, payment receipts, voice recordings. She wasn’t careful.” 

Thomas scrolled through the evidence, eyebrows inching up before he gave Adam a single, confirming nod. 

Adam stared at a point just past Tommy’s shoulder, his breathing controlled in a way that suggested he was barely containing rage. Samantha. The woman he’d allowed at his family table. The woman he’d spared in a dozen small ways because of business ties. 

Adam nodded once, his expression shifting from cold rage to something more calculated. More dangerous. 

Samantha Wright had made the worst mistake of her life. 

The study door banged against the wall as Samantha burst in, mascara streaking down her cheeks. Her phone trembled in her hand, screen displaying the last threat she’d sent Tommy–now twenty–six hours without response. 

Her father looked up from his desk, expression hardening from concern to irritation in seconds. 

“They got Tommy,” she said, voice cracking. “Adam’s people found him.” 

He set his pen down with deliberate calm. “I warned you this would happen.” 

“Dad, you have to-” 

“What, clean up another mess?” He stood, running a hand through his thinning hair. “This whole engagement to Walter was supposed to protect you from exactly this scenario.” 

I didn’t think-” 

“That’s been your problem all along,” he cut her off. “You never think Just act. And now Adam has Tommy, which means he has everything.” 

1/2 

Chapter 327 

A folder sailed past her ear, pipers scattering like confetti. 

*All my careful planning! His lace flushed dark red. “The engagement was supposed to give us leverage, make Adam think twice about coming after you. But you couldn’t leave well enough alone with those threatening texts, could you?” 

I was trying to keep him quiet! 

“By leaving a paper trail? He slammed his fist on the desk. “Every message you sent is another nail in your coffin!” 

She slumped against the doorframe, tears flowing freely now. “What are we going to do?” 

He pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. When he spoke again, his voice had a forced calm that scared her more than his yelling. 

The engagement party is our only hope now, Adam won’t want to embarrass the Haven family by exposing you right before you join them. He grabbed his jacket. 111 go to him. See if I can contain this 

At the door, he paused, eyes cold with disappointment. “One more screwup, Samantha, and even I can’t save you.” 

The door clicked shut behind him. 

Samantha slid down the wall to the floor, legs too weak to hold her he’d lost Adam to Irene. A nobody doctor with three kids. And now, in trying to eliminate her nxal, she might have destroyed everything her family had built. 

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