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.

pause hung between

low. "The watch did belong to my parents. But it

Serena frowned in confusion.

about my parents' story, don't

Serena nodded.

William's parents were nothing short of

youth, the gap between their backgrounds was insurmountable. The Grayson family had refused to allow William's mother to marry into their elite clan, and forced William's father, Garnett Grayson, into an arranged marriage with

William's mother found out, she left Northspire without

Grayson Group and had two sons with his wife-

people thought Garnett and

fifth birthday, in front of a room full of guests,

announcement: he was divorcing his wife and

of Northspire, the Graysons created a scandal that rocked the

soon, their love story became the stuff of legend-envied by

everything she knew was just stories passed

in love," William said, his gaze fixed on the wall. Half his face was bathed

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

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

into a faint, ironic smile. "I can't deny my father loved my mother. But his world was so small, it only had room