Chapter 19
Don’s hands trembled as he held a folded piece of paper, the DNA test. “Dahlia… you are not who you thought you were. You are my granddaughter. You are a Castillo.”
The words hit like a punch. I stared at him, then at Dr. Celeste. “That… that’s impossible. My grandmother raised me. I know who I am.”
Dr. Celeste shook her head gently. “The woman who raised you was not truly your grandmother She bought you, Dahlia. You were stolen from the hospital nursery the night you were born. A trafficker sold you into another family’s hands.”
My breath caught. My chest felt like it was splitting open. “Bought me? You’re saying… I was kidnapped?”
Don’s voice broke. “You were ours. You were stolen from us. All these years, we searched. Anc now… finally, you’re back.”
didn’t even realize I was crying until the tears slid down my neck. “So the woman I called grandmother… she wasn’t family at all? She just… she just paid for me like I was nothing?” Dr. Celeste cupped my face. “No, darling. You were never nothing. You were everything. And now you are home. We will let the world know. Finally, our missing heiress is back.”
shook my head, sobbing quietly. The betrayal, the confusion, the sheer weight of it all crashec over me. And yet when Don stepped closer, his voice trembling with age, I reached for him.
hugged them both, clinging like my life depended on it. For the first time, I let myself collapse nto someone else’s arms.
‘Abuela… Abuelo…” my voice cracked. “I don’t even know what to feel.”
Dr. Celeste whispered into my hair, “Feel everything. Cry it out. And when you are ready, the world will celebrate the day you came back to us.”
And just like that, the life I thought I knew shattered into pieces.
But somewhere in the middle of my tears, I swore to myself-I would not be a pawn again.
=
AUSTIN’S POV
leaned back in my chair, staring at my phone like a damn fool. Two months without Dahlia after the banquet and it felt like my veins were on fire, I kept scrolling, looking at that one photo I still had of her, the one I never deleted. Her smile… shit. I rubbed my face, growling under my breath.
Every report from the men I sent after her said the same crap.
“She left the country, boss.”
“No trace, boss.”
“Checked the airports, boss, nothing.”
I slammed my fist on the desk. “Fuck, Dahlia. Where the hell are you hiding?”
That’s when Allen kicked open my office door like the idiot he is, his tablet almost falling out of his hand. His face was pale, panicked.
Chapter 18
3/3 72.0%
3:27 pmAA.
“Boss… boss, you need to see this!”
I snapped at him. “The fuck is it now, Allen?”
He shoved the tablet at me.
Breaking news headlines screamed in bold letters.
‘The Castillos Announce Their Missing Heiress-Dahlia.”
And right under it, a photo that knocked the air out of me. Dahlia. Standing there in a silk gown elegance pouring out of her like she was born for that stage. Don Castillo on one side, Dr
Celeste on the other. My girl. My Dahlia.
almost dropped my phone.
‘Son of a bitch!” My throat went dry.
Allen kept talking, but I barely heard him. “Boss, the accident two months ago… that’s how the ound her. She was rescued, and… fuck, she’s the heir, boss. She’s the lost Castillo heir.”
My jaw clenched so hard I thought it’d crack. “You’re telling me… Dahlia, the woman I let wall away, the woman I didn’t fucking protect, is the heir to the goddamn Castillo empire?”
Allen nodded, voice low. “Yes, boss. And now the whole world knows.”
didn’t get a chance to breathe because the office doors burst open again, this time with the tw people I least wanted to see. My grandparents.
Mrs. Livingston’s voice shook the walls. “Austin, is this true?” She pointed a trembling finger a the tablet still in Allen’s hands. “That girl… that girl who followed you around like a stray dog. she’s the Castillo heiress?”
stood there, frozen. Couldn’t get a single word out. My tongue felt like lead.
Mr. Livingston adjusted his glasses, his face unreadable, but his voice carried the weight of it all ‘Answer your grandmother, Austin.”
gritted my teeth. “Yes. It’s her. It’s Dahlia.”
Mrs. Livingston staggered back a step, clutching her chest. “My God. And I… I treated her like ikth.” Her voice cracked, fury aimed at herself now. “If I had known-if I had even suspected-”
cut her off, my voice sharp. “If you had known, you’d have kissed her shoes. Don’t act holy now grandma. You hated her because she wasn’t rich enough, wasn’t polished enough for your damı standards.”
Her eyes watered, but she snapped right back at me. “And you? You’re her man, Austin. Where were you when she needed you? You let her go, you let that Yvette brat walk all over her!”
Her words hit like knives. She wasn’t wrong. I lowered my head, fists clenched so tight my knuckles popped. “I fucked up.”
Mr. Livingston’s voice broke the silence. Calm but sharp. “This changes everything. Castillo and Livingston ties will not be simple. If Dahlia is their heiress, then-”
His words cut off when my phone buzzed.
Yvette’s name lit the screen.
I stared at it. Let it ring. Didn’t answer.
Allen whispered, “Boss, she probably knows. Everyone knows.”
Chapter 10
212
71 79
3:27 pm
DDA
I didn’t move. Just stared at Dahlia’s picture on the tablet again. My chest burned, regret clawing me from the inside.
The woman I lost, the woman I didn’t protect, was never just mine. She was royalty in this world. And now… she was beyond my reach.
downed another glass of whiskey on the jet, the damn ice clinking louder than it should. My phone was full of her photos. Dahlia smiling, Dahlia asleep on my chest, Dahlia in that stupic apron cooking me pasta like she wasn’t the best thing I ever had. I stared at them until my visior ›lurred.
Allen leaned against the seat across from me. “Boss. Listen. You need to prepare yourself. She’ not the same woman anymore.”
shot him a glare, slamming my glass on the table. “I don’t give a damn, Allen! She’s mine. lon’t care if she grew a crown on her head. She’s mine.”.
He didn’t push it. Just kept his mouth shut like he knew nothing could stop me.
By the time we landed, I was pacing like a caged animal. Castillo Hospital in Monaco. High valls, clean glass, people moving around like it was a goddamn palace. I planted myself in tha allway outside the ORs. My men told me to sit, to rest, to at least drink some water. I ignored al of them. Hours bled into hours. My legs went numb. My chest burned like I’d been holding ir ¡moke.
Eight goddamn hours. Then she finally appeared.
Dahlia.
3:27 pm
