The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Chapter 99

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Damon lingered for a moment, staring at the photo on Margaret’s laptop. The baby’s bright eyes and small smile seemed strangely familiar, though Damon couldn’t explain why. Something about the child stirred a feeling deep inside him-something instinctive.

Margaret noticed the way his gaze lingered, but she said nothing. Instead, she quietly closed the laptop.

“Focus on your work,” she said calmly. “Chasing ghosts will only waste your time.”

Damon looked at her, his expression unreadable. “Ghosts don’t leave traces,” he replied. “Lila did.”

Without another word, he turned and left the room.

Margaret watched him go, her expression tightening slightly. She knew Damon well enough to understand that once he decided to hunt for something, he would never stop.

Later that evening, Damon sat in his office, reviewing the DNA report once again. The result confirmed what he already suspected-the body in the grave was not Lila’s.

“She’s alive,” he murmured quietly to himself.

Bryan stood across the desk, waiting for instructions.

“Start with Mark Everith,” Damon said calmly. “If Lila is alive, he’s the one hiding her.”

Bryan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Meanwhile, miles away at the hidden villa, the air was peaceful.

Lila sat on the wooden porch, gently rocking Damian in her arms. The baby gurgled happily, tiny fingers curling around her hand.

Mark stepped outside, watching them quietly.

“He’s getting bigger every day,” Ina said with a smile, standing beside him.

Mark nodded, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease. “Which means time is moving forward… and Damon is getting closer to the truth.”

Ina glanced at him. “Do you think he already knows?”

Mark’s

eyes hardened as he looked toward the quiet road leading to the villa.

“Not yet,” he said. “But Damon isn’t the kind of man who gives up.”

Inside the house, Lila laughed softly as Damian made a small sound, completely unaware of the storm slowly forming around her.

Mark watched his sister and nephew for a long moment before turning away.

14:47 Mon, May 4 M..

Chapter 99

If Damon ever found them, everything would change.

:

And Mark was determined that day would never come.

Two days later, Bryan entered Damon’s office with a thin folder in his hand.

“Sir, we found something,” Bryan said carefully.

Damon looked up immediately. “What is it?”

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Bryan placed the folder on the desk and opened it. Inside were several printed documents and a photo. “It’s about Mark Everith.”

Damon’s eyes sharpened.

“After he sold Integer Technology to Blackthorne Industries, he completely disappeared,” Bryan explained. “No official residence, no new business records, nothing.”

“That part I already know,” Damon said impatiently.

“But…” Bryan continued, sliding a photograph forward, “one of his former suppliers reported a small agricultural equipment purchase about eight months ago.”

Damon leaned forward.

“Agricultural equipment?” he repeated.

“Yes, sir. Irrigation pipes, soil fertilizer, small greenhouse materials,” Bryan said. “All paid in cash under a private shipment order.”

Damon picked up the photograph.

It showed a small rural delivery site-boxes being unloaded near what looked like farmland.

Bryan continued, “The supplier didn’t think much about it at the time. But when we checked the transaction records, the buyer name listed was… Mark Everith.”

Damon’s fingers slowly tightened around the photograph.

“A farm…” he murmured quietly.

In his mind, pieces started connecting.

Mark disappears.

No city residence.

Agricultural supplies.

“Mark wouldn’t disappear without a reason,” Damon said slowly. “And he wouldn’t buy farming equipment unless he planned to hide somewhere remote.”

14:47 Mon, May 4 M

Chapter 99

Bryan nodded. “That’s what we thought too.”

Damon leaned back in his chair, eyes dark with realization.

“If Lila is alive…” he said quietly, “Mark would hide her somewhere peaceful. Somewhere isolated.”

His gaze returned to the photo.

“A farm.”

Bryan waited.

Damon stood up slowly.

“Start pulling rural property records within a two-hundred-mile radius,” Damon ordered. “Private villas. Small farms. Any property purchased under aliases or shell buyers.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bryan left quickly.

Damon walked toward the window overlooking the city, his reflection cold and focused in the glass.

“Mark…” he muttered.

“You can hide her.”

“But you can’t hide forever.”

Far away at the quiet villa, Lila was placing Damian in his crib while Ina prepared dinner.

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Outside, Mark paused in the garden, suddenly feeling an uneasy tension in the air-as if something invisible had just shifted.

Damon had finally found his first real lead.

And the distance between hunter and hidden prey had just grown much smaller.

Three days later, Bryan returned to Damon’s office with several folders and a tablet filled with maps.

“We’ve narrowed the search, sir,” Bryan said.

Damon gestured for him to continue.

Bryan placed the tablet on the desk. A map appeared on the screen, several areas marked in red.

“We checked every rural property purchased within the last year under private buyers, shell companies, or cash transactions,” Bryan explained. “Most of them were easy to eliminate-either occupied by families or already registered to known owners.”

Damon studied the map silently.

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Bryan zoomed monsone region

That leaves live locations, he said

Danon’s eyes sharpened

Five farms or small villas that match the purchase pattern of agricultural supplies linked to Mark Everth

He slid printed photos across the desk.

Each photo showed a remote property surrounded by farmland or forest.

Damon studied them carefully.

The first was too large-a commercial farm with workers.

The second belonged to an elderly couple,

The third had heavy vehicle traffic.

Damon pushed those aside without hesitation.

That left two.

One was a large vineyard estate,

The last photo showed a small villa with surrounding farmland, hidden between hills and trees.

Damon stared at it longer than the others.

Quiet

Kemote

Perfect for hiding someone.

“Who owns this property?” Damon asked.

Bryan checked the file. “It was purchased nine months ago through a shell buyer. The paperwork traces back to a small legal firm that previously handled transactions for Mark Everith.”

Damon’s lips curved into a slow smile.

“Mark,” he said softly “You’re not as invisible as you think.”

Bryan waited.

Damon picked up the photo again.

Prepare a visit,” Damon said calmly

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And somewhere on that same and Dumah preparing to move cher

The next morning was calm and quiet at th

A light breeze moved through the thelus as a card Andrew ourside, enjoying the warm sunlight. The loby was awake and cursus has semall hands

and the air as it trying to catch the floating dust in the

thing

You like the sun doet? you?” Lila sand sortir, sensiting down at him.

Nearts Ina was hanging laundry while Mark checked the fence along the edge of the property. He had developed a habit of walking the peruteter every morning, making sure everything was secure

Hallway down the dirt road. Mark suddenly stopped

In the distance he heard the faint sound of an engine

His eves narrowed

That road was rarely used Only supply trucks came through occasionally, and he always knew when to expect

them

A dark SUV appeared briefly between the trees before disappearing behind a curve in the road

Mark’s expression hardened

14:47 Mon, May 4 M…

Chapter 99

A few seconds later, another vehicle followed behind it.

Unfamiliar.

Slow.

Not lost.

Watching.

Mark immediately stepped back toward the house.

“Ina,” he called calmly, though his voice carried a quiet urgency.

Ina looked up. “What is it?”

“We have visitors,” Mark said quietly.

Lila turned toward him, confused. “Visitors?”

Mark forced a calm smile. “Probably nothing. Just stay inside with Damian for now.”

But his eyes remained fixed on the road.

The vehicles didn’t approach the gate.

Instead, they stopped far down the road-just close enough to observe the property.

Surveillance.

Mark’s jaw tightened.

Only one person would search this carefully.

Damon.

Inside one of the SUVs, Bryan lowered his binoculars slightly.

“There’s activity,” he said into his phone.

Damon’s voice answered calmly through the speaker.

“Describe it.”

“A woman with a baby… another woman near the house… and a man near the fence.”

There was a long pause on the line.

Then Damon spoke again, his voice low and controlled.

“Don’t move closer.”

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14:47 Mon, May 4 M

Chapter 99

Bryan frowned. “Sir?”

“I want to be certain,” Damon said.

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Across the fields, Mark stood perfectly still, his instincts screaming that someone was watching.

Inside the house, Lila gently rocked Damian, completely unaware that the quiet life she had built was now under careful observation.

And miles away, Damon stared at the same photograph of the small villa.

He was closer than ever before.

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