Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 223

“You can shack up with Elaine or get engaged for all I care. I’m divorced, and still, you think you can control me?” Whitney thought.

Remembering how he had allowed Elaine to mock her as ‘second–hand good‘, Whitney’s heart throbbed. What was she to him? Did her feelings not matter at all?

Clutching her fists, she said coolly, “Are you done, Mr. Lippert? If so, please step aside.”

“I don’t have the patience to repeat myself!”

His fury pressed down on her like a suffocating cloud.

Whitney looked up, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “The only reason I’m engaged is because you pushed me into it. We have nothing to do with each other anymore, and you have no right to dictate what I do or don’t do.”

We have nothing to do with each other…

Those words seared through the man’s gaze.

“When did I ever force you?” he scoffed coldly, “Force you into another man’s bed, into eagerly jumping into his arms? Whitney, you’re even more shameless than I thought.

Even if I cast a shameless woman like you aside like an old shoe, I won’t allow any other man to touch you, to tarnish my reputation, got it?”

Whitney was floored by his unabashed audacity. It seemed he just kept humiliating her further.

Her nails dug into her palm as she realized that what he discarded could be trampled underfoot but must not tarnish his pride.

A man so arrogant, how could he bear the thought of his ex–wife remarrying? It seemed unrelated to whether he loved her or not.

She felt as if pricked by ice needles and could not help but laugh mockingly. “Mr. Lippert, you’re worried about losing face? Maybe you should reflect on how quickly you got engaged to Elaine after kicking your wife to the curb. You might already be wearing the cap of a scoundrel.”

to speak about her and me? As for you and Bryce, a viper and a schemer, you’re

grabbed her arm, drilling his gaze into

do you mean?” Whitney

“He’s cunning, not as simple as you think! He plays dirty, using media manipulation to trap you in a ploy, and The Lutz Group isn’t unstable at all. Are you naive or just willing? Take today, for instance. He deliberately brought you here;

him earlier was not

of Ludwik made his blood boil. “I’m warning you, whether I want it

at her waist was something Ludwik

surged, and his eyes reddened with fury as if he wanted to strangle her. “Do you understand what kind of man he is now? Leave him, cancel the

snapped out of her daze, a flicker of calm and coolness settling over her, “Ludwik, I don’t know what misconceptions you have about him. To me, he’s been

media, deceiving me? Sorry, your bluster doesn’t convince me. Just to get to me, he’d neglect The Lutz Group and ruin his own reputation? He’s a businessman; that doesn’t

gentle by nature; you’re overthinking it, or maybe you

grow colder. Whitney knew all too well his paranoid

darkened with chilling firmness, gripping her until it hurt.

heart of a gentleman with your own mean measure. You’ve chosen Elaine, so stop trying to control whether I get engaged or create false stories about Bryce to pressure me into

than be your mistress. I’m not that

out a low,

Bryce with his mean measure? In her eyes,

so protective of Bryce that she forgot their past?

heartless, blind woman.

of pain struck Ludwik’s heart as his gaze returned to an icy glacier, abruptly releasing her, his features sharpening with cold. “So you’re unrepentant and guarding him, huh? You’ll pay for every word you say today. Dreaming

off with disgust, his pupils void of emotion, and though his

against the wall, nursing her sore

would

than the day he found the video?

of alarm washed over

only when Bryce arrived, finding her in the restroom, that Whitney snapped back to