A False Heiress's Guide to Love and Power

Two years ago, his parents were in a terrible car crash while moving to a new house. Mr. Whitley died at the scene, and Ms. June has been in a coma ever since, To keep The Whitley Group afloat during the chaos, he took a year off from school Even after stabilizing the company and returning to his studies, he only comes back for major exams. That’s why he isn’t in the regular class, but instead sits among the investors.

When Justin spoke about it, his tone was casual, almost light, but no one knew better than him just how much effort Cole had poured into holding things together. Justin had watched Cole grow up, looked out for him like a brother, so he understood exactly what it all had cost.

Besides, everyone knew about Cole’s situation–there were no secrets to keep or topics to tiptoe around. Since Dave had brought it up first, Justin figured it was better to fill them in than risk someone cluelessly asking Alessia about it and stumbling into her emotional minefield.

“But just a word of advice,” Justin added, “don’t mention Cole’s parents in front of Alessia. In fact, it’s probably best to pretend you don’t even know Cole exists.”

Unlike how he treated Stella, Justin genuinely saw Cole and Alessia as family–like a brother and sister. He was glad Alessia had finally broken free from the Tate family, found her own freedom, and was surrounded by people who truly cared about.her. Knowing she didn’t dislike the Mortons, he felt it was worth it to warn them. For anyone else, Justin wouldn’t have wasted his breath. Whether they’d listen or not wasn’t something he could control.

Ethan and Liam pressed their lips together and said nothing, but they took Justin’s words to heart.

Out on the field, after collecting their medals, the three of them stepped down from the podium.

the school’s sports meet,” Alessia’s rival said with a wry smile. There was a hint of frustration,

the second. But by the third year, losing to the same person over and over, and not even one who’d had professional training… Well, that left

our team captain over there?”

Pierce spinning around with th of their

nodded. “Yeah, what

he’ll be moping for a week. So… sorry about that.” Alessia’s lips curled into a confident

laid–back, like everyone’s in their own world. But when it comes to team

finished speaking than the announcer declared that

shrugged, the other

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