Never Again Yours (Isadora and Magnus)

Chapter 394

Victor's long fingers idly played with a strand of her hair, letting the silky locks spill through his palm.

He fixed his gaze on Isadora, his eyes rimmed red, shimmering with unshed tears and a glint of anger-though even anger seemed to suit him, making his features more striking, more vivid.

"Then smile for me first," he said, voice low, "and I'll tell you everything."

Isadora curled her lips in a half-hearted smile, clearly humoring him.

Victor's expression softened. A hint of a smile tugged at his mouth as he murmured, voice rich and mellow, "My Isadora is beautiful."

Color crept into Isadora's cheeks, painting them a soft pink.

"Don't try to change the subject. Start talking," she insisted.

Victor fell silent for a moment.

He wasn't someone who shared his own story easily. In his world, exposing your weakness was like handing your enemies a weapon-an admission of defeat.

But looking into Isadora's expectant eyes, for the first time, he felt the urge to confess.

"There's another direct heir to the Fitzgerald family-Farrar, my uncle. He's my grandfather's illegitimate son, and his ambition knows no bounds. He wanted control of the family, envied my father... so he tampered with my dad's private jet. The crash killed everyone on board."

Isadora's fingers tightened around her sleeve.

Family feuds and power struggles were nothing new among the wealthy. People would do anything-sacrifice anyone for money, for power, for status. But she hadn't expected Victor's father to die that way.

Victor continued, voice steady. "Unfortunately, there was never any evidence. My grandfather couldn't bear to destroy his last blood relative, so Farrar was just exiled—banished from the estate, forbidden ever to return to Capitolion."

"But after my grandfather fell ill, Farrar kept trying to claw his way back. When my grandfather finally passed, he made his move. And because I was out of the picture... the Fitzgerald Group was his for the taking."

Isadora watched Victor's face, so calm it was almost unreadable. She bit her lip. "So when you went to Europe, was it him who set you up?"

He nodded.

but after seeing his wounds, Isadora could imagine how close he must have come to

were you?" she

meant when his father's jet went

and Deanna

again, a faint, ironic

of something called 'grooming an heir'?" he

Isadora shook her head.

nearby bookshelf. Isadora crossed the room and pulled

displayed volume: Grooming

stark, the title in bold:

the first page and read aloud: "We must raise a cold-blooded successor. Only

calculating, merciless leader... what

"What about your mother?" she asked

be molded into

dropping. "A month after my father died, she

and murdered. For a woman, the horror of that fate

bring herself to ask for

bowed, chest aching with a dull,

powerful, living adife of luxury and ease. It had never occurred to her that his childhood had been nothing but

pity me?" Victor's dark eyes searched her face, his

I don't

him a look. "Who says

Carla switched me and raised me in

in

hair. He remembered the first time he met her—how she'd stood there, being scolded, stubbornly holding back tears. How she'd stormed into his secret hideout and blurted out, "Does everyone

just a little, how