Chapter 3 - Natalia’s First Lie
Damian took the page.
His eyes moved slowly across the document.
Then he looked at Natalia.
“Explain.”
She released his arm.
“It’s fake.”
Katelyn’s voice stayed calm.
“The clinic mailed it directly.”
“You could have arranged that.”
Damian did not look away from Natalia.
“Did you access her records?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
Natalia’s face tightened.
“Of course not.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Sir, the document includes a notarized audit number.”
Damian handed it to him.
“Verify it.”
Natalia’s panic sharpened.
“You’re humiliating me in public over one piece of paper?”
Damian’s tone remained level.
“If it’s false, you have nothing to fear.”
Katelyn almost laughed.
That was Damian’s most dangerous voice.
Calm.
Precise.
Final.
The boutique manager quietly locked the front doors after Marcus gave her a look.
No one was leaving until the truth became clearer.
Katelyn’s hand returned to her belly.
She hated the tension.
Hated the men.
Hated the way every eye in the room seemed to measure her pregnancy.
She had come to Petit Couture to buy one crib blanket.
Nothing more.
Her apartment was small.
Her savings were almost gone.
She had chosen the store because her late mother once said every baby deserved one beautiful thing, even if everything else was secondhand.
Now Damian stood beside a crib worth more than Katelyn’s monthly rent.
“Sit down,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re pale.”
“I said I’m fine.”
The baby kicked again.
Katelyn inhaled sharply.
Damian’s hand moved instinctively toward her, then stopped in midair.
The hesitation hurt more than contact would have.
Once, he had known every change in her breathing.
Now he did not know whether he had the right to offer a chair.
Marcus returned from the entrance.
“The clinic confirmed the notice.”
Natalia’s face lost color.
Damian said nothing.
Marcus continued.
“The file was accessed three years ago using Ms. Vale’s identification and a letter from Blackwood Holdings.”
Damian’s eyes became unreadable.
“I never authorized it.”
Natalia lifted her chin.
“Your father did.”
Every bodyguard went still.
Damian’s father, Vincent Blackwood, had been dead for eighteen months.
He had controlled the family empire before Damian.
He had also hated Katelyn from the moment he learned she existed.
Damian stepped toward Natalia.
“What did my father ask you to do?”
Natalia’s voice trembled.
“He said Katelyn was dangerous.”
Katelyn felt something icy move through her.
Vincent had known about the baby.
Before Damian.
Before anyone.
May you like
And he had used Natalia to find out.
👉 Natalia claimed Damian’s father only wanted information—but Marcus had already found a payment connecting her to Katelyn’s disappearance.
