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.

the room, extracting a complete video from the camera mounted above

icy as he clipped a particularly intimate

his wedding night, his wife in the arms

He felt no guilt.

doing, your underhandedness provoked

don't believe, you

dirty tricks to win Whitney,

one can take her

-

breaking, nearly 5

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

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

blankly at the decor he had painstakingly placed, believing tonight, Whitney would fully

supposed to be their wedding night,

Where could she be?

exhausted all means to find

Bryce couldn't stay calm at the thought, rage boiling over.

slowly picked up the phone,

the figures under the covers, and... Whitney's familiar voice! Her pain, her restraint, but unmistakably, her moans of despair and

AQUAS

world,

fixed, his heart felt as though

towering rage twisted his features

a fool; he knew what

clung to

how long? When he first saw Whitney three years ago in his mother's hospital room,

18th birthday gala,

name to commission jewelry

several encounters, he fell

then did he learn she

but when she went to South City to help Ludwik escape legal troubles, their paths crossed again. He helped Whitney, treated Braxton

was there, helping, comforting, aiding her escape abroad. Returning after three years, she spoke of no love, only revenge against Ludwik and Elaine, he agreed,