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.

bone–piercing, devoid of any warmth.

to break. Pregnant, she could

Tiana watched her face flushed with fever, her breath shallow, and burst out, tears threatening to fall. “Whitney!

had happened to her? For two days, it was as if her soul had been drained, and she would

was clear she

vehicle ahead zigzagged up to the cemetery on Valentine Mansion’s hill.

Tiana guessed perhaps the anniversary of her mother’s passing

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overwhelmed

walked in a daze to the large tree

shoveling snow from the graves of

shovel from him and

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 even have the right to kneel. Carrying Ludwik’s child, I doubt mom and grandad have found

the desolation in her

condemned

the gravestone. “To let them have peace, we must seek vengeance and reclaim what belongs to the Tennyson family!”

thought it through. You said Ludwik trusts you in the company? For now, don’t leave him. Stay by his side; be my insider.

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

as a sheath, a convenient blade

pain, and she

at me, looking barely like a human. Does our suffering

eyes hid schemes, his face etched with sorrow.

found herself speechless.

and when you’re ready, arrange a meeting with Ludwik,” Keegan said, his eyes dark with cunning as he

left her

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

mother and grandfather.

hesitate.

Why did it have to

Whitney’s tear–streaked face, she asked with concern, “What did your uncle say to you to make you cry like this? What’s wrong? Can’t you talk to

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

Tiana cursed under her breath and steadied her. “Damn it.

anything else.* “I go register. Please give me the list of herbs, and don’t you move from