Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

“I never claimed to be a saint, but dragging you and your uncle into this mess. wasn’t part of the plan.”

Whitney couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

“I’ve heard you were the golden boy, the apple of everyone’s eye. What did Ludwik have? Nothing. So why stoop to snatch away even the little he owns?”

“Do you even grasp the depth of a family feud? The pressure’s on me too, you know. Business is a cutthroat game. Sure, my brother had it rough growing up, but he’s outshone me in every way. That’s what really grinds.

my gears.”

Whitney nodded emphatically, “So, you’re just a bitter, petty man, jealous of him. But he’s not so easily defeated by the likes of you.”

“Is that so? Yet he’s the one in hiding now.” Orion stood up lazily, extending his hand, “Anyway, it was a pleasure doing business.”

Fuming, Whitney turned on her heel and left, her stomach churning with rage.

At the Ether Cafe downtown, Ludwik stared blankly at the ‘papers” before him, his strikingly handsome face lost in thought.

He glanced at his watch.

Sensing his impatience, Felix promptly made a call. Returning with a peculiar expression, Felix announced, “Whitney was just… just meeting with Orion, and she’s on her way here now.”

The pr

pen tip lightly dropped onto the papers, and Ludwik paused, then cracked a wry

smile.

He tossed the ‘papers‘ to the lawyer beside him, his features set in firm resolve.

Elaine sat nearby, observing every subtle shift in the man’s demeanor, a slight smirk playing on her lips.

Suddenly, there was the sound of hurried breaths.

Elaine turned her head. She was the first to see Whitney arrive.

Whitney’s gaze instinctively sought out Ludwik, who sat in a secluded booth, his figure svelte in a black suit. His face was still pale, his frame noticeably thinner and somewhat ill–looking, yet he appeared much improved from a week prior.

A flicker of emotion crossed her eyes. She hurried over, but Elaine sitting in a wheelchair near the entrance.

of her

here? Had they been

with Ludwik all this time. Elaine’s smile deepened as Whitney passed by, her voice laced with malice, “Whitney, make the most of this meeting. Cherish

that? Whitney stumbled, her brows knit tightly with

time to ponder. She saw Ludwik’s attention shift back from the window

quickly, her heart pounding with a mixture of dread and hope, Whitney took a deep breath and asked with a tinge of desperation in her eyes, “L, what papers do you want me to

papers,” Ludwik réplied

slender fingers

18:24

Chapter 177

as they retreated beneath

stumbled backward, knocking

the contents, but Mr. Lippert’s time

heart felt as though it had been pierced by their sharp edges,

obscuring Ludwik’s handsome features from her

chest, sat down, and shook her head with a hollow laugh, “No, I refuse

have to refuse?” Ludwik’s voice

Gone was the hysterical man from the day his mother had met with misfortune, his anger unchecked.

man from his sick days.

like an icily

the formidable Mr. Lippert

his eyes, there was no trace of emotion she could

sneered, “Our marriage was a sham, a farce. Nothing was real,

shaking. “L, please don’t say that. I truly

papers,” he said, unwilling to waste more words on her.

a deep, cold

Whitney saw the depth of his loathing

originally included a compensation for bearing a child after a year, but Mr. Lippert has rescinded

Whitney replied weakly, the irony of those billions

his lips, “considering you’ve likely received a fair share of

didn’t… Orion called me out of the blue. I

become the town’s harlot, it’s none of my concern.” His flippant words were the cruelest, and they were not spoken

depth of hurt must a man endure to turn so suddenly heartless

wished she could tear out her heart and show him its