Chapter 149

“And once I heard everything, it finally made sense. Of course you hated her. Because you’d never do what she accused you of.”
The words echoed inside his head and his arms tightened around her without thinking. For so long, he’d wondered if she had known the truth all along. If she’d been holding back, waiting for him to come clean. The idea had eaten away at him more than he liked to admit. But now, hearing that she trusted him—that she believed him—it settled something deep inside. Like a weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying had finally lifted.
Melanie felt the change in him. The way he held her a little tighter. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine how heavy all of this must’ve been for him. How long he’d kept it to himself. She took a quiet breath and began, “I don’t think Lady Collins ever really believed you did it. But at the time, she didn’t have proof either. And that made things hard.”
She paused, thinking back. “I remember when we first met. It must’ve been shortly after you left home. Me and her were talking one afternoon about tech—about how things were changing and the pros and cons of it. I brought up the Lexa 1 and mentioned that its royalty patent included voice recording.”
Adam didn’t say anything, but his arms stayed around her. He was listening.
“She was surprised. Like really surprised. I don’t think she knew that part of the patent existed. The way her expression changed—I remember thinking she was putting something together in her head. Something important.”
“She didn’t say much about it then. But not long after that conversation, I noticed that started asking more questions. Casual things, like who had access to Lexa’s systems and where backups were kept. At the time, I didn’t think much of it—I thought she was just curious. And then later, she stopped asking things. But now I think she was looking for a way to confirm her doubts without tipping anyone off.”
“That is how I found the audio file in her email inbox that I shared with the press today… I didn’t lie in the conference, you know? It really was your grandma’s doing. That’s all I know. thought you should know it too.
Adam nodded against her neck and once again the two of them were engulfed in silence. Melanie closed her eyes, wondering when they had become so close to be able to simply be there for each other without words.
Finally, she sighed and said,” There is something else I want to say too… I am sorry that your first love was such a bi*ch!” She thought he smiled at that but there was no way that she could do it. But that was good. He’d said the same words about Spencer so they were even.
Adam stared ahead for a moment. Then finally, he spoke with a sigh, “There’s more actually in common between the two of us. Other than our first loves belonging to the ’canine’ family/. Something I never told anyone. I didn’t think it mattered anymore.”
“What do you mean? What more?” Melanie asked with a frown.
My grandmother always kept a close eye on me, like I told you, to keep me safe from Sir Robert. She watched every move I made, tracked who I spoke to, made sure no one got too close without her knowing. But she didn’t pay as much attention to the people already around me or rather in the most unexpected places…”
Melanie turned to look at him then and frowned,” What do you mean?”
“My nanny. She was handpicked by my grandmother herself. She was like family to us, and I never doubted her because she was the only one who could protect me from Madam Collins. But Saira… you know she was my nanny’s daughter.. We grew up together. She was around all the time—part friend, part shadow. And while my grandmother kept a close eye on me and even on the nanny, she never thought to look too closely at Saira who was also a kid.”
“You mean, Sir Collins targetted Saira?”
“Hmm. I don’t know since when but I have looked into Saira’s for the past five years. Even if she did what she did for money, why did she choose to stay with Sir Roberts. I knew he must have some pkan to use her again, but I never could understand why… until I did. Saira was in love with Sir Collins. She is indeed his mistress but she is crazy about him. She seduced me and then accused me… only for the man she loved.”
Melanie was shocked. This was beyond her wildest imagination…
“But if you already knew all this,” she said slowly, searching his face for some kind of answer, “why did you let her get close to you again this time? Was it just to expose her… or was there something else?”
Adam paused, the question hanging heavy between them. His jaw clenched slightly, and then he let out a long, quiet breath before answering.
“Because,” he said finally, his voice low, “in this entire web of lies and half-truths—beneath all the manipulation and deceit—there was one thing that was indeed true.”
“What truth?”
“That when Saira claimed she was pregnant. She was indeed pregnant. I found that later. I thought that it was a false too, part of the manipulation. But later when I dug into it. I found medical reports, old prescriptions. I even tracked down an ex-employee from the clinic where she’d been treated. It wasn’t a story. She really was pregnant.”
“Could be yours?” Melanie asked hesitantly.
Adam nodded,” Yes. I don’t know if she gave birth to the child or not. She claimed that she’d had a miscarriage to my grandmother, but I know she didn’t. The only question is does she still have the child? And does it really belong to me or had she slept with Robert Collins after she slept with me?”