Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 144

The man gazed out the window, his deep profile turning as his fingers twitched restlessly through his thick eyebrows.

Ive spoiled her rotten, and now she’s overstepping! Such pettiness!” Ludwik’s voice was tinged with anger, ice

cold.

“Orion’s back from abroad, Elaine’s attempted to take her own life, and I can’t afford to alienate the Bartels family. At a time like this, when I’m surrounded by enemies, I thought she’d be smart and sharp, but she just could not bear Elaine.”

Parker caught the disappointment in his voice, frowning as he said, “Given Whitney’s EQ, she wouldn’t fight with you over Elaine’s incident. Could there be something else?”

Ludwik paused, then shook his head.

Elaine was the very reason for their argument in the room.

But Whitney had been acting out of character today. When she woke from her nightmare, she pleaded with him not to touch her; her emotions were running high, and her gaze at him was inscrutable.

She had never looked at him like that before. When they first met, she was timid around him. As they got to know each other, she became demure with a bit of sass but never so distant.

“By the end of it, she asked me if I knew her grandfather,” Ludwik said, his brows locked in a frown.

“Her grandfather, Faulkner Tennyson? Ludwik, you had your clashes with him…” Parker’s expression shifted slightly.

Ludwik, however, remained stoic. “Just the usual business rivalry. The Tennyson family was set up. I witnessed that accident back then; I never thought her uncle would survive.”

Parker had heard about Ludwik’s encounter with Whitney’s uncle today. “Did her uncle say something to upset her? Is she questioning you about what happened to the Tennyson family back then?”

Shaking his head, Ludwik replied, “They don’t even know who I am now. Besides, if they have a grudge, it should be with the Valentine family.”

“You’ll have to wait until after she’s had the baby to explain your beef with Skye Gem, right?” Parker gestured

towards Ludwik’s mask.

Ludwik nodded, continuing to brood over his drink, his face as cold as ever, piecing together the puzzle · Whitney was just harping on Elaine’s return to Banyan City.

On this death anniversary, heavy snow blanketed the entire city.

chill was bone–piercing, devoid of any warmth.

had been ill for days, her fever refusing to break. Pregnant, she could not take any medication, resorting only to acupuncture at specific safe points.

breath shallow, and burst out, tears

if her

she was in

her car as the vehicle ahead zigzagged

of the hill, Tiana guessed perhaps the anniversary of her mother’s passing

1/3

was overwhelmed with

a daze to the

snow from the graves of her mother and grandfather with great difficulty from his wheelchair.

from him and

her help as he glanced at the swell beneath her coat. Looking back at the gravestones, a stubborn chill filled his eyes. “You can’t do this, Whitney. You don’t

chilling than the desolation in her heart, doused by her uncle’s

had condemned

wiping the gravestone. “To let

the company? For now, don’t leave him. Stay by his side; be my insider. I’ve prepared for a long time; the bigger the corporation, the easier

stiffened. She had thought her uncle wanted her to break with Ludwik immediately and plot their revenge

as a sheath, a convenient

felt punctured, panic mixing with pain, and she instinctively cradled

refuse. Look at the gravestones. Look at me, looking barely like a human. Does our suffering count for nothing against your

eyes hid schemes, his

found herself

time to think, and when you’re ready, arrange a meeting with Ludwik,” Keegan said, his eyes dark with cunning

her there.

in the icy wilderness in front of the gravestones, her mother and grandfather’s smiling faces causing her unbearable

to avenge her mother and grandfather.

hesitate.

did it have to be him?

Whitney’s tear–streaked face, she asked with concern, “What did your uncle say to you

in Whitney’s heart was sharp and raw, yet she could not utter a word.

breath and steadied her. “Damn it. Your fever has not broken! Come with me

just grab some herbs for an herbal bath. I can’t take anything else.* “I go register. Please give me the list of herbs, and don’t you move from here. Wait for me,” Tiana said, guiding