ALEXI finally received an offer from Dourado Insurance Group—the so-called help from Gregory Duncan. I forwarded the offer to Grayson and Emily, and the three of us met in my office an exact hour later. I needed every single paragraph of that deal before I even considered signing it.Emily showed up first, a copy of the offer in one hand and an iPad in the other. I wasn't surprised that she had already made her notes concerning every part of that offer, and as I studied her expression after she walked into my office, she didn't seem pleased.Grayson entered a few minutes later. His lips formed a tightly sealed line as he made his way to the sofa and sat down. Then he glanced at Emily, and what he read from her expression caused him to curse under his breath. Yes… this was going to be one hell of a “pleasant” meeting.“Let me cut to the chase.” Emily broke the heavy silence. “This offer is unacceptable.” She shifted in her seat and crossed her long legs. “The price is agreeable, but t
SARAHMy heart was aching. My son was sad, and I didn't know how to comfort him. I didn't want to say too much. I didn't want to give him false hope or make him wait for something he naturally deserved—a family with both parents. I knew that he loved me, but I also knew that, at some point, he would need more. I wanted to give Liam the best. He might have been smart, understanding, and far too mature for his age, but at the end of the day, he was just a little boy. And I… I had always done everything I could for him not to feel like he was missing something in his life…“God, I seriously want to punch that kid,” I muttered, fisting my hand.Oliver, who stood beside me all but snorted. “You're one hell of a violent mother.”We were standing in one of the nearly finished exhibition halls, carefully inspecting every detail. I was supposed to focus solely on work, but, for obvious reasons, I couldn't.I drew a deep breath and turned to Oliver. “Can you believe it? I went to the principal'
ALEXI thought I had everything under control. As soon as I left the museum, I headed back to the office and used the business card Philip Corbin had given me. Less than three hours passed, and I had an offer from the Lumiere Insurance Group lying on my desk. I checked the main points and sighed in relief. The sum of money they demanded was higher than what our initial deal with Viento had assumed, but it was manageable without the need to make drastic cuts in our other investments.Certainly, Emily, Grayson, and I kept everything secret. The negotiations with now three different insurance companies were ongoing, but with what Lumiere Insurance offered, we finally had the upper hand.I could finally breathe, sit back in my chair, and casually plan the weekend with my son and Sarah. It was supposed to be our escape from reality, a brief moment that would allow me to get to know my own kid. But then Friday came, and I woke up to a nightmare…“They even had test results, Alex. How the he
SARAHAlex was right. Not thirty minutes had passed, and I saw a car park in front of my building and reporters walking out of the car, holding a camera. Certainly, I could assume that they were merely shooting a story about the neighborhood, but somehow, I was nearly positive that Liam and I were the story they wanted to shoot.“Shit,” I muttered, staring through the window while squeezing the travel bag handle.I wasn't sure how long Liam and I would have to hide. I could assume that it was going to be at least a few days, and I needed to think carefully about what to take with us. I hoped that we had more time to pack our clothes and stuff, but I guessed we needed to hurry—or rather, I needed to hurry since I couldn't trust a five-year-old to put the right and needed things and clothes into his bag.Heart pounding, I started by grabbing all the most important documents and drafts I needed for work. I stopped in front of the shelves and put five or six paper folders into the suitcas
I watched Mary and Liam disappear behind the closing door. Then I turned to Eleonor. The elegant old lady held my stare for a moment before she smacked my arm.“Ouch!” I groaned. “It hurt!”“Good,” Eleonor huffed. “That's for not telling me that Liam is my great-grandson.” She folded her arms over her chest and frowned. “I understand why you didn't tell Alex. He can be a real jerk sometimes. But I'm old, for God's sake! You wanted to take away my time to spoil this boy?!”My lips twitched into a faint smile. Perhaps I shouldn't be smiling since Elenor looked seriously pissed, but I couldn't help it. I could see that she loved Liam already, and seeing that glow in her eyes flooded my chest with warmth.“I didn't want to lie to you,” I admitted. “I just wanted to protect Liam. I wasn't sure if I could trust Alex, and I didn't want to give my son false hope for a family.”Eleonor's frown deepened. “You should have told me. I would have made sure my grandson officially claimed that Liam w
ALEXInhale. Exhale. Repeat. I had to stay focused. I had to cool down. My life resembled a hot mess, but I couldn't allow that hot mess to infect my company, the stocks, or the lives of my employees. Unfortunately, the chaos had already been unleashed, and to say that it made my work complicated would have been an understatement of the year.I had to assign two other employees to help Joanne answer the phones. Those had been constantly ringing for the last three hours. Fucking reporters. I wished I could just tell them all to fuck off my private life, but the problem was, my life had never been “private.”Everyone knew why I was supposed to marry Jeanette Duncan. Our alliance with the Duncans wasn't a secret. No wonder the news about the child I had with someone other than Jeanette would be considered my betrayal. But Liam was innocent in all this. So was Sarah. And I had to figure out the best way to protect both of them. Grandma texted me that they were already inside the Ravenford
SARAH “First of all, you'll need to start to look like Mrs. Ravenford.” Eleonor pursed her lips as she carefully scanned my slightly torn jeans. “It's OK to wear comfortable clothes, but not when someone may see you or when you're in the middle of a war.” I gave her a wry smile. “I'm not Mrs. Ravenford, and currently Liam's father stays engaged to someone else. I don't want people to look at me as someone who tries to destroy Alex's”—I finger-quoted—“perfect relationship.” Eleonor rolled her eyes. “For God's sake, Sarah, Jeanette may be intelligent, and she may know how to act, but you're forgetting one thing.” She leaned closer. “You don't have to act for people to like you. You don't need to create a false story about your life to gain attention. You can tell the truth, and everyone will listen.” She fixed her eyes on me and studied me for a moment. “Your only problem is that you're afraid of Jeanette, or rather, you're afraid that people will sympathize with her and treat you as
ALEX I used to wear the mask of a calculative son of a bitch all the time. I used to wear it so often that it felt like a second skin. My lips tended to curve with ease, forming a well-crafted smile that never carried a single ounce of emotion. But today, that mask fell into pieces, and all it took was one look at her. A goddess. Jeanette stood right beside her. My contractual fiancée wore a white dress that was meant to make her shine, but with Sarah next to her, her white turned into a meaningless blur. Sarah shone like a refined diamond, and I wanted to shout from the rooftops, letting everyone know that she was mine. Grandma did a trick on me. I didn't think she would bring Sarah with her. Hell, I wasn't pleased with the idea of seeing the Chairwoman at that conference as well. Yet, there they were—both of them—the most important women in my life. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell the press seconds before I walked into the conference room. The old Duncan's words swirled in
ALEX Four and a half years later I opened my eyes to see Sarah's gorgeous sleeping face, and my lips instantly stretched into a wide smile. God, I would never have enough of watching her sleep. There were only two other faces I loved more: her face when she smiled and the blushing face that appeared shortly after she reached her climax. Actually, I would gladly work to see that blushing face right now, but I couldn't risk being late today. This day was going to be perfect. I dipped my head to brush my lips against hers. I did it carefully so as not to wake her up. Then I slid out of bed and quietly walked out of our bedroom. Of course, it was way easier to sneak out of our room than to pass Liam's bedroom, and passing the twins' bedroom without them waking up or noticing was nearly mission impossible. Fortunately, none of them decided to wake up at six in the morning on Saturday, and two minutes later, I successfully entered the kitchen. Usually, this place belonged to Sarah. It wa
I vaguely recalled what had happened in the last few hours. I remember Jun calling my name as he all but tore me away from Alex, taking over the reanimation until the paramedics appeared. Then the words “temporary stable” rang in my head as they transported Alex to the hospital in Nassau. I refused to leave his side. I held his hand almost until he had been taken to the operating room. Philip and Jun dragged me away so that doctors could patch me, even though I said I didn't need it. They insisted, and Jun might have even said something about knocking me out if I'd refused. The doctors asked me if I needed painkillers. When I said I wasn't sure, they asked me if I needed something to soothe my nerves. I took neither. I didn't want anything that could dull my senses as I waited for Alex's operation to be over. The surgeon said that the bullet vaguely missed the heart but also that removing it would be complicated. Still, there was a chance. There was hope that he would survive. He had
I heard two gunshots, yet there was no pain. Well, there was no new kind of pain, and I could feel the heart pounding in my chest… But dead people shouldn't have a heartbeat, should they? My mind was struggling to process what was happening. My eyes snapped open just in time to see two guards fall to the ground, exposing the one who stood on the threshold. Alex.My breath caught in my throat as our eyes met, but my relief lasted less than a second. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lucius reaching for his gun and shifting his stance to shoot. “No!” I screamed for a split second before he aimed his gun at Alex and pulled the trigger.Alex leaped into the corridor and hid behind the door. “Sarah, get down!” he thundered, and that was what I did. I jumped to the side before Lucius could grab me and use me as a shield, and I dove behind the bed, lying face-down on the floor. Lucius roared like a wild animal, and more shots came. “I'll kill you, Ravenford!” he bellowed.I flinched every time
SARAHThree days passed since I had woken up in my luxurious prison. My ribs still hurt, but at least I could move on my own… more or less. The bruises I found all over my body were slowly fading. The worst were those on my shoulder, which, according to Lucius, had been dislocated. Once the mass of sedatives and painkillers left my system, the pain had become almost unbearable, but now I learned to function despite it.Lucius had been showing up in my room at least three times a day. Each time, he brought me food or snacks. It might have been his twisted definition of caring about me. Never had he raised his voice on me, but I knew better than to trust his fragile kindness. The cold glow in his eyes remained, and the smiles he had often given me betrayed cruelty. I couldn't let my guard down around him. I had to put on my best act, even though his slightest touch filled me with sheer disgust. It terrified me that he became more daring. He enjoyed tracing every bruise on my neck and sh
ALEXI was sitting in my office and trying to focus my eyes on the screen. My current struggle had nothing to do with Ravenford Corporation. I was tracing the old metro plans, hoping to find that one place we had missed.“You shouldn't stay here all night again.” Grayson sighed before grabbing a chair and sitting in front of my desk. “Staring at those plans won't bring her back.”“She is not dead, Grayson,” I hissed.“You don't know that,” he argued but raised his hands in surrender as soon as he met my glare.“I know that because we haven't found her body.” Anger raised the volume of my voice, but that only made Grayson look at me with more pity.“If you're convinced that she's not dead, then why not call off the search inside the tunnels?” His brows rose. “It has been more than a week now. Even if she survived the fall, she must have been injured and lying there alone—”“Shut. The fuck. Up.” The knuckles in my fisted hands bleached.“I don't want to see you torture yourself,” he sai
SARAHI heard myself drawing a breath into my lungs. It was a wheezing sound, and the movement of my chest came with a great deal of pain. Then I heard something else—voices. I couldn't understand what they were saying… It was… Chinese?The realization triggered an alarm that spread throughout my aching body. Fear clung around me tightly, forming a thick, almost material cover, nearly as real as the sheets on my body. Then I heard one voice I recognized. The sound doubled the terror consuming me. Lucius. He and someone else were arguing about… something. Their voices were raised, their edges sharp, their tones cold…I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to adjust my sight, but it remained blurry no matter how hard I tried to focus. I struggled for another few seconds before I could see more clearly. Wherever I was, it looked like an enormous bedroom. The bed I was lying in was double the size I had in my penthouse. A huge window was several feet to the left of the bed, and the palm tre
The outer corridor had been completely annihilated by the explosives, and more than four of our men had lost their lives. Their bloodied bodies lay close enough for some of the guests to see, and the cries and screams became unstoppable in seconds. The alarms went off, and an automated steel shield quickly covered every glass wall. At the same time, the recorded voice announced that the main hall had been secured and separated until the situation was under control. That, of course, didn't lessen the panic devouring almost everyone inside.My eyes shifted to Sarah and Liam. They were still standing on the round podium in the middle of the hall while some of the terrified guests ran in every direction, ineptly trying to find the way out, as if it weren't obvious that they could get shot if they did. Sarah hugged Liam tightly, moving to the center of the dais, trying to stay away from the crowd of panicked people. My first instinct was to get them far away from that podium, but with the
ALEXI was sitting by my desk, rubbing my thumb over my still-swollen knuckles. Well, that's what you get after punching the wall hard enough to stain it with your blood. Let's just say that I hadn't taken the news about Natasha Collins well. Not only did she betray our family—the family she had been working for for years—but she had nearly killed my grandmother. Perhaps it was fortunate that it was Sarah and her bodyguards who exposed her. If it had been me, I would have snapped her neck before I could have willed myself to exhibit reasonable behavior.“I thought you would be celebrating.” Grayson eyed me as he entered my office. “With all the accusations, the Duncans will sure as hell end up in jail.”“They found Marisol Martinez dead this morning. Someone slit her throat,” I said, rubbing my knuckles again as I struggled to contain my rising anger. “It's obvious to think that someone did it to silence her, but I somehow doubt that Gregory Duncan was behind this. Her testimony would
“I still can't believe that I can officially meet with Alex without hiding,” I said softly, holding Eleonor's hand. “Of course, that doesn't mean that everything's OK between us, but I cannot deny that he's trying.” I couldn't stop the smile from parting my lips as I thought of all the roses he had sent to my apartment. I was probably blushing, and Eleonor would have laughed if she had seen me looking like this… I missed her laugh and her remarks. Every day, I prayed that she would finally wake up. My chest tightened at the thought that she might never—No. I couldn't think about it. She was going to wake up. I had to believe she would. I sucked in a shaky breath and cleared my throat. “Anyway,” I continued. “Alex officially announced that he and Jeanette Duncan are no longer engaged. He said that they parted due to insurmountable differences. That, of course, doesn't change the fact that Jeanette is pregnant and that the child is Alex's.” I sighed and brushed a strand of hair off Ele