Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 615

In a darkened room filled with the ambiguous fragrance of scented candles, the sheets whispered secrets as bodies tangled, spilling a chaos of strawberries and whipped cream in their wake. Whitney, her energy sapped by too much bourbon, couldn't muster the strength to fight anymore.

But her spirit remained unyielding, her beautiful eyes wide open, staring at the moonlight outside the window, tears streaking her face.

"Please, Ludwik, I can't do this to Bryce..." Her hands were captive in his.

His gentleness was as fleeting as his patience was thin.

Those dark eyes, wild and relentless, ensnared her completely.

Whitney sobbed, "You've branded me, and I'll hate you for all my days, never forgiving..."

He pulled off his tie, no longer wanting to see her face twisted in remorse, softly blindfolding her.

His heart ached, so he masked it with a smile, insisting, "Then hate me. At least you'll never forget me, not in this lifetime or the next."

"Whitney..."

"Darling...I'm sorry, I love you too much.

I can't lose you."

His words, hot and desperate, echoed in her ear, surrounding her with pain.

All night long, his whispers, his sighs, his frenzy, shifted her gaze from resistance to resignation, slowly sinking into despair. Bourbon betrayed her resolve, leaving her with nothing but endless resentment. Towards herself, towards him!

Only when she finally succumbed to exhaustion did he relax his embrace, changing the bed linen, carefully tending to her before tucking her back into the warm covers.

Ludwik rose as the moon traveled westward.

The pale moonlight caressed his sculpted back, etched with startling scratches.

He admired his reflection, then glanced at her flushed face, a deep smirk playing on his lips.

He kissed her forehead, smoked a couple of cigarettes.

moved across the room, extracting a complete video from the camera mounted

clipped a particularly intimate segment, sending it

a humiliation on his wedding night, his

He felt no guilt.

doing, your underhandedness provoked

video, I don't believe,

win Whitney, I used mine to

can take her

-

was breaking,

a suite at the Banyan

spent the night awake, his eyes bloodshot, standing on the balcony, a night's worth of cold winds chilling his bones, cigarette butts piling up beside

was adorned with symbols of fertility, red dates, and peanuts scattered across

at the decor he had painstakingly

wedding night, yet Ludwik

Where could she be?

had exhausted all means to

silence of the night, what was she doing? Could it be... Bryce couldn't stay

message arrived, Bryce slowly picked

under the covers, and...

AQUAS

world, couldn't misunderstand the

felt as though it

twisted his features into

a fool; he knew

to

and dreamed for how long? When he first saw Whitney three years ago in his mother's hospital room, her clean, pretty face

had told her, at her 18th birthday gala, he was deeply impressed

used his mother's name to commission jewelry

several encounters, he fell

then did he learn

to help Ludwik escape

there, helping, comforting, aiding her escape abroad. Returning after three years, she spoke