DON'T DOUBT LOVE) loving you no matter what

MAYA'S POV (The Letter in the Bible)

The envelope was yellowed with age, my name written in Mum's careful script.

"To be opened on your 25th birthday."

I was two months early.

But with Mum's monitor flatlining in the background, rules didn't matter anymore.

I tore it open.

The first line stole my breath:

"If you're reading this, I'm gone. And it's time you knew the truth about your father—and your brother."

The hospital alarms screamed.

Tahir's hand clamped down on my wrist. "Not here."

But it was too late.

Victor's voice slithered through the chaos: "Oh, Maya. Did you really think Emmanuel was your father?"

AISHA'S POV

The police swarmed the penthouse.

But it was the old woman in the doorway who froze my blood.

"Nneka," she said, clutching a faded baby blanket. "I was Kosi's nanny."

Ryder stepped between us, but I pushed past him.

"You knew my brother?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "Not just him. I knew the man who wasn't your father."

The room spun.

Because if Emmanuel Hassan wasn't our dad—

Who was?

Behind me, Tahir collapsed.

Blood pooled beneath him.

Victor's bullet had hit more than we realized.

TAHIR'S POV

The pain was a distant thing.

I'd had worse.

But Maya's face as she read that letter?

That hurt more than the bullet.

Victor loomed over me, grinning. "Tell them, Tahir. Tell them who really killed Emmanuel Hassan."

The truth clawed at my throat.

But the nanny spoke first.

"It wasn't him," she said, pointing at me. "It was you."

The room went dead silent.

Because her finger wasn't aimed at me.

It was aimed at Ryder.

RYDER'S POV

The nanny's accusation hung in the air like smoke.

Aisha turned to me, eyes wide. "What is she talking about?"

I didn't answer.

Couldn't.

Because the photo Nneka pulled from her pocket—a young man holding baby Kosi—

Was me.

Fifteen years ago.

Before the military.

Before the scars.

Before I even knew the Hassan name.

Tahir's laugh was bloody. "You didn't recognize him, did you, Victor? The boy you paid to kill Emmanuel Hassan?"

Maya's gasp cut through me.

Aisha stumbled back.

And the worst part?

They believed him.