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

ill for days, her fever refusing to break. Pregnant, she could not

Tiana watched her face flushed with fever, her breath shallow, and burst out, tears threatening to fall. “Whitney! You can’t go on like

if her soul had been drained, and

was clear she was in agony.

car as the vehicle ahead zigzagged up to the cemetery on

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

1/3

overwhelmed

walked in a daze to the large tree in the

graves of her mother and grandfather with

took the shovel from him and said, “Uncle, let me clear the snow.”

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

than the desolation in her heart, doused by her uncle’s icy words.

condemned

at her suddenly pale face, Keegan leaned over from his wheelchair, wiping the gravestone. “To let them have peace, we must seek vengeance and reclaim what

him. Stay by his side; be my insider. I’ve prepared for a long time;

wanted her to break

her as a sheath, a convenient blade to be concealed by Ludwik’s side.

pain, and she instinctively

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

his face

herself speechless.

and when you’re ready, arrange a meeting with Ludwik,” Keegan

her there.

spirit in the icy wilderness in front of the gravestones, her mother

grandfather. If it were

hesitate.

did it have to be

you lost your mind?” Tiana called out, holding an umbrella as she approached. Seeing Whitney’s tear–streaked face, she asked with concern, “What did your uncle say to you to make you cry like this? What’s

was sharp and raw, yet she could not utter a

her unsteady stance, Tiana cursed under her breath and steadied her. “Damn

for an herbal bath. I can’t take anything else.* “I go register. Please give me the list of