Burn the Marriage, Keep the Crown

Chapter 214

William visibly stiffened.

A moment later, he turned around, his eyes soft and warm, like sunlight streaming through a window. "Just give me the watch," he said gently.

"Why won't you let me meet the owner of the watch?" Serena pressed.

"That's not what I meant-"

"Is it because you're the owner?" she asked.

William's words caught in his throat. He looked at Serena, the gentle expression

on his face giving way to a sudden chill in his eyes.

"Serena, what are you talking about?"

“That watch—it was a keepsake from your parents, wasn't it? Why didn't you ever tell me the truth?"

William's gaze sharpened.

long pause hung between

his voice low. "The watch did belong to my

Serena frowned in confusion.

know about my parents' story,

Serena nodded.

Northspire, William's parents were nothing

William's mother to marry into their elite clan, and forced William's father, Garnett Grayson, into an arranged marriage with someone

found out, she left

the Grayson Group and had two sons with

people thought Garnett and William's mother

son's fifth birthday, in front of a

he was divorcing his wife and

first family of Northspire, the Graysons created a scandal that

and soon, their love story became the stuff of

yet; everything she knew was just stories

to have parents so deeply in love," William said, his gaze fixed on the wall. Half his face was bathed in sunlight, the other half shrouded in shadow. "But I'm

I was a child, my parents were always off traveling together, leaving me behind in Northspire. My two brothers didn't like me. Whenever my parents were away,

CEO of the company, took my mother, and left Northspire for good. He called

my mother. But his world was so small, it only had room for her. My mother's world was just as tiny—so small that it could