Chapter 118

Dr. Everett leaned back in his chair. The worn leather groaned beneath him as he exhaled slowly. The hospital’s central system buzzed faintly overhead, mixing with the occasional beep from monitors echoing down the hallway. His office was dim and only the desk lamp was on, while its warm light brushed across stacks of patient files and unread reports.

But none of them mattered right now.

All he could think about was Grace.

He had known her since she was a child—watched her grow up behind walls soaked in silence and power. He had seen the bruises she never spoke of, the cold stares she’d learned to ignore, the terrifying strength she had taught herself to wear like armor. But nothing, nothing, could have prepared him for the truth she dropped in his lap hours ago.

He slowly rubbed a hand across his face as the weight of it all pressed into his bones.

Because the truth... the truth was that Grace and Faith weren’t even Bartholomew’s real children. They we