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.

her eye, she caught sight of

was she here? Had they been inseparable

her gaze confirmed it: Yes, she had been with Ludwik all this time. Elaine’s smile deepened as Whitney passed by, her voice laced with malice, “Whitney,

mean by that? Whitney stumbled, her brows knit

Ludwik’s

her heart pounding with a mixture of dread and hope, Whitney took a deep breath and asked with a tinge of desperation

Ludwik

stone. Her slender fingers on the

18:24

Chapter 177

retreated beneath

of color, she stumbled backward, knocking over a

the contents, but Mr. Lippert’s time is precious. You have five minutes,”

at the stack of papers, her heart felt as though it had been pierced by

darkened, obscuring Ludwik’s handsome features

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

what right do you have to refuse?” Ludwik’s voice

him, realizing he had changed since his return, Gone was the hysterical man from the day his mother had

vulnerable man

was like an icily detached

the formidable

no trace of emotion she could

he looked at her with undisguised disdain and sneered, “Our marriage was a sham, a farce. Nothing was real, much like

don’t say that. I truly love

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

concealed a deep, cold fury.

his eyes, Whitney saw the depth of his loathing for her.

a compensation for bearing a child after a

replied weakly, the irony of those billions hanging

lips, “considering you’ve likely received a fair share of loot from Orion

of

the town’s harlot, it’s none of

endure to turn so suddenly heartless and

her heart and show him its purity, covered in