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.

was bone–piercing, devoid

for days, her fever refusing to break. Pregnant, she could not take any medication, resorting only to acupuncture

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

it was as if her soul had been drained, and she would not speak

she

the vehicle ahead zigzagged up to the cemetery on Valentine

Tiana guessed perhaps the anniversary of her mother’s

1/3

was overwhelmed with grief.

daze to the large

of her mother and grandfather

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

Looking back at the gravestones, a stubborn chill filled his

snow around her less chilling than the desolation in

had condemned her.

gravestone. “To let them have peace, we

plotting step by step. “I’ve thought it through. You said Ludwik trusts you in 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,

thought her uncle wanted her to break with Ludwik immediately

her as a sheath, a convenient blade to

pain, and she instinctively cradled her head,

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

hid schemes, his face

herself

arrange a meeting with Ludwik,” Keegan said, his eyes

left her there.

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

and grandfather. If it

hesitate.

why him? Why did it have to be him?

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 wrong? Can’t

was sharp and raw, yet

and steadied her. “Damn it. Your fever has not broken! Come with me to the hospital!”

hospital, Whitney shook her head. “I’ll 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 Whitney to a