Chapter Seventeen

The night was quiet as Furina sat in the living room of Diluc’s penthouse, her mind racing with thoughts she could no longer suppress. The dinner had been exhausting, and the tension with Yvette had pushed her to the brink. But it wasn’t just Yvette that was gnawing at her—it was the uncertainty, the lingering doubts that had taken root in her mind ever since Yvette entered the scene and threatened to ruin their pretend marriage. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something unresolved between Diluc and Yvette, something that had never truly been put to rest. Some unfinished business as Yvette would like to call it.

Their marriage had always been a transaction, a business arrangement to solve her immediate financial crisis. When Diluc had offered her the one-point-five million pounds she needed to pay off her father’s debt, she had agreed to his terms. But over time, the lines between duty and emotion had blurred, and Furina found herself struggling with feelings she hadn’t