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 eye,

she here? Had they been inseparable these past days?

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

did she mean by that? Whitney stumbled, her brows knit tightly with confusion.

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

mixture of dread and hope, Whitney took a deep breath and asked with a tinge of desperation in her eyes, “L, what papers

Ludwik réplied

slender fingers on

18:24

Chapter 177

retreated beneath

drained of color, she stumbled

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

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

darkened, obscuring Ludwik’s handsome features from her view

sat down, and shook her head with

right do you have to refuse?” Ludwik’s voice was a cold blade, cutting through the

since his return, Gone was the hysterical man from the day his mother had met with misfortune, his anger

violent, vulnerable man from

he was like an

formidable Mr. Lippert once again.

no trace

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

body shaking. “L, please don’t say

said, unwilling

expressionless face concealed a deep, cold fury.

eyes, Whitney saw the depth of his loathing for

compensation for bearing a child after a year,

replied weakly, the irony of those billions hanging

on his lips, “considering you’ve likely received a fair share of loot from Orion already. Were you dividing spoils

ghostly, “I didn’t… Orion called me out of the blue. I swear I never met with him

none of

hurt must a man endure to turn so

tear out her heart and show him its purity, covered in wounds