Chapter 8 When Silence Screams

Rosalie Bellamy - POV

I knew Sophie would break eventually.

She was never built for secrets. Not the kind that chew you alive from the inside out. So when I saw her message-"We need to talk. It's about Rosalie"-I knew it had started. And it was only a matter of time before everything I'd tried to protect burned to ash.

I stood in front of the mirror, brushing my curls back into a bun, trying to ignore the nerves twisting in my stomach like knives.

My phone buzzed again. Marc: Did you tell her anything? I didn't reply. What was I supposed to say? That I knew what Sophie did months ago? That I suspected her long before Korex ever dropped his first video? That I'd pieced it together from whispers and tension and the way she always changed the subject when his name came up?

That would just make me the enemy again,But I wasn't the enemy. I was just a woman trying to hold on to something that kept slipping through my fingers.

Marc, My brand My self-respect.

I walked to the window and looked out at Belleville. Everything felt the same. But nothing was.

A knock at the door, I opened it, and there she was, Sophie. No makeup. No designer bag. Just a plain hoodie and guilt in her eyes. We stared at each other for a beat too long. "Can I come in?" she asked softly, I moved aside. She stepped in like she expected the room to bite her. Sat at the edge of the couch, hands folded, like she was praying and confessing at the same time.

"I told Marc," she said finally. I nodded. "I figured." Her throat moved like it hurt to swallow. "I also told him there's more. That you might be in danger." That made me freeze. "Danger from who?" I asked.

Her voice dropped. "From Korex. From whoever he's working with."

"You think it's more than just revenge?"

Sophie nodded. "He's not alone. And it's not just about Marc. Or you. Or even me. There's something else-bigger. Something about the Blanchets' past."

My heart pounded. "What are you talking about?" She hesitated, then pulled out her phone and showed me a picture.

It was old. Grainy. But clear enough.

A woman. Beautiful. Regal. Holding the hands of two little boys-twins. One smiling. One crying. "That's their mother," Sophie said. "Taken outside a clinic. Two weeks before she died." I frowned. "Why is this important?" Sophie zoomed in to the background, and that's when I saw him,Korex.

Smaller , Younger, but definitely him.

My voice shook. "They knew each other back then?" "Or someone in his family did. I don't know. But he's been watching them longer than any of us realized."

Suddenly, the anonymous letter. The photo of Marc, Maurice, and their mother. The threats that didn't feel like gossip fodder-they felt surgical. "They're being hunted," I said quietly. Sophie nodded. "And you're in the line of fire

Marc Blanchet POV

Sophie had said the words-It's about Rosalie-but what followed made my blood run cold. "She's in danger," Sophie had told me. Not emotionally. Physically.

She showed me the photo. She told me about Korex's family. A half-brother with a criminal record. A cousin with ties to a blackmail ring. She told me that what started as music industry revenge had turned into something deeper.

Something personal. I wanted to call Rosalie right away. Warn her. Drag her out of her apartment if I had to. But then Maurice asked me a question I wasn't ready for. "Do you still trust her?"

I didn't answer right away. Because honestly? I didn't know.

Rosalie had lied before. Had held back things that mattered. But she also stood by me when things started to crash. She didn't leak the video. She didn't run. She'd stayed when I was poison to the press and a stranger to myself, "I think I do," I said finally. Maurice didn't look convinced. "Then prove it."

Rosalie POV

It wasn't even noon when I packed my suitcase. I didn't know where I was going. I just knew I couldn't stay. Sophie had warned me. But it was more than that. There was something in my gut-an ache, a fear-that whispered, Leave before it's too late. But as I zipped my suitcase shut, I heard a sound at the door.

Not a knock, a scrape. Like someone trying to pick the lock. I froze ,my mind screamed: Run. But my feet wouldn't move, Another sound, a quiet, metallic click. I grabbed my phone and dialed Marc. One ring, Two, "Pick up," I whispered. "Please, pick up."

A shadow passed under the door.

I backed away, heart slamming into my ribs. The call connected. "Rosalie?" Marc's voice, "Someone's outside my door. I think-they're trying to get in."

"Leave everything. Go out the back. Now."

I grabbed my bag and ran to the kitchen door. There was a rusty fire escape out the window. I kicked it open and started climbing down barefoot, adrenaline spiking so hard I couldn't feel the metal cutting into my hands. Behind me, I heard the door burst open.

Whoever it was-they were inside now.

Marc POV

She was shaking when I picked her up.

Shoeless. Pale. Still clutching her phone like a lifeline. "Did you see who it was?" I asked. She shook her head. "No. But they didn't come for jewelry. They didn't take anything. They were looking for something.", Or someone. I took her to a hotel under a different name. Paid in cash. Told her to stay inside.

Then I called Raymond. "We have a problem." He didn't even ask what kind.

"Do you want to go public?" he asked instead."No Not yet." "Then what?"

"We find out who's really behind this. And we find out now."

Maurice POV

I couldn't sleep,Not after the photo.

Not after Sophie's tears. Not after I saw Rosalie's bare feet and Marc's trembling hands. This wasn't just about music anymore. It was about survival. So I opened the flash drive Korex left me again. Not the video. The other folder. The one I hadn't opened yet.

Inside were scanned documents. Old emails. A birth certificate.

I stopped breathing when I saw the name.

Mother: Claire Blanchet

Father: Unknown

Second Applicant: Korede Obasa Sr.

What the hell? I checked the date. 1993. I stared at the screen until my eyes blurred.

Then I scrolled down to the handwritten signature. Korex's father.

He had signed off on a paternity claim.

But not for Korex.For Marc.

Marc POV

Maurice stood in the hallway holding his phone like it weighed a thousand tons.

"You need to see this," he said, I took the phone. I read the document once.

Twice, Three times. "This has to be fake," I whispered. He didn't reply. My stomach flipped. "What are you saying?"

He swallowed hard. "I think Korex might be... your half-brother."