Never Again Yours (Isadora and Magnus)

Chapter 278

The voice was cold-so cold, it seemed to carry no trace of warmth at all.

Yet Victor recognized it instantly. It was Isadora's voice.

Hearing this, Victor's expression barely changed, save for a slight darkening of his features. But Deanna noticed the way his hand, clutching the small recorder, turned white-knuckled. Slowly, a faint, grim smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

Her precious grandson, Victor, had grown up at the very top of the world.

From childhood, he'd been raised under the Fitzgerald family's unyielding standards for an heir: ruthless, decisive, relentlessly logical. That cold-blooded resolve, that calculating mind, and—deeper still-a bone-deep detachment from emotion... These were the qualities Dorian and Deanna once took the most pride in.

Only with such traits could he be a worthy successor to the Fitzgerald name, the only one capable of leading the family's empire into its next century.

Deanna had never imagined a woman could threaten all of that.

And she would never allow it.

"Victor, money means nothing to us. But I won't tolerate anyone deceiving you or hurting you. That woman doesn't love you. She's only using you to climb higher."

The heavy silence in the grand hall stretched on, oppressive and thick.

unreadable, his jaw clenched so

the crystal chandeliers, his shadow stretched long and severe against the

the recorder to the ground. Without a word, he turned and strode out, his footsteps

*

Vaughan Manor.

two days, Isadora hadn't gone

the housekeeper had cleared out every last trace of their belongings. Still, little reminders of their presence

making plans to sell

had changed-subtly, but unmistakably-since

on the sofa, gazing at Isadora with a gentle, moonlit

live with you, it doesn't matter where

Eleanor lived at Vaughan Manor. The household staff had shrunk from nearly eight people down to just

quieter,

for. The comfort she felt wasn't overwhelming, but it seeped in slowly-like lost childhood affection finally returning to fill all the

in the Vaughan family

first been brought back into their lives, frightened and utterly adrift. Now, she was truly the mistress of the

expression softened as she remembered a phone call from