Isabella's laughter was so loud and terrifying, it was like a thunderclap in the dead of night. A few servants rushed into her room first, then ran out screaming. Soon, lights were on all over the Whitmore house as everyone woke up.Aurora and Heath walked to Isabella's doorway and took a quick peek inside. They saw Rosie lying on the floor with a knife in her chest. Isabella was covered in blood from head to toe, still laughing like a maniac. Her pure white nightgown was soaked in bright red blood, looking like blooming flowers. The servants crowded around the door, curious but too scared to get close. In just one night, Isabella's room had turned into a murder scene.Poor Rosie. Isabella looked pitiful too, but the fact was she'd killed someone. And her involvement in the money laundering scheme was real too. The cops showed up pretty quick, cleaned up the scene, and took Isabella away.As they dragged her off, Isabella was still laughing crazily, shouting, "I killed you all! You're
As dawn broke, nurses wheeled the old man out of the emergency room and into a hospital room. The doctor said he had a heart attack relapse and needed rest. He couldn't handle any more shocks.Since the doctor ordered rest, Aurora didn't plan on bothering him. She was about to head home with Heath to get some rest when a nurse came out and asked, "Who's the patient's granddaughter?"Aurora was taken aback. She stood up and said, "I am.""The patient's awake and asking for you. You can go in now," the nurse said.Aurora looked back at Heath, confused about why the old man wanted to see her right after waking up. Did he know something? Heath put his arm around Aurora's shoulders and said, "It's okay. If you don't want to go in, we can just head home."Aurora shook her head and said, "I'll go see what's up. Wait for me, okay?"Heath nodded and watched Aurora walk into the hospital room. He sat in the waiting area, waiting for her to come out.Aurora entered the room. The old man was lyin
For the past couple of days, Mr. Whitmore had been in the hospital. The doctors said his health was poor and his emotions unstable, so they wanted to keep him under observation for a while. Aurora couldn't just leave at a time like this, so she stayed at the Whitmore house, visiting the hospital daily to check on Mr. Whitmore. It was the least she could do to show some filial piety.The drama with her mother was from a previous generation. Even if Aurora resented theM and felt angry on behalf of her mother, she couldn't harm an elderly man like Mr. Whitmore. She thought that even if her mother were alive, she wouldn't want Aurora to treat her father badly. So Aurora let go of her grudges and stopped asking questions. She would wait for the old man to recover, then leave them behind for good.A week later, before Mr. Whitmore was discharged, Aurora learned that Isabella had been released on bail. The reason? Isabella was deemed mentally unstable. Her accidental killing of Rosie was att
Aurora and Heath were goofing around, finally putting the whole Isabella situation behind them. Aurora thought Heath was right - since Isabella had lost her marbles, it was all over. Isabella didn't exactly get off easy, and Aurora felt like she'd gotten payback for those who died.But for some reason, Aurora kept having restless nights. She'd wake up out of nowhere, feeling on edge, like something bad was about to go down.When she told Heath about it, he was patient and tried to comfort her. He said she was overthinking things - everything was sorted out, and nothing bad was gonna happen. They just had to wait until it was time to head back home.Aurora listened to him and kept up her routine of visiting Mr. Whitmore. Other than that, she dragged Heath out shopping. She figured this was probably the last time she'd ever be here, so she wanted to make the most of it and really explore the place where she'd lived two lifetimes.Heath was cool with whatever Aurora wanted to do. He put
Heath was working from home when he realized it was already noon, and Aurora still hadn't returned. She'd said she was going to the hospital to visit her grandfather and would be back before lunch. The housekeeper had already come up once to ask about lunch, but Heath told them to wait a bit longer for Aurora. At first, he thought the delay might be due to traffic, but this was getting weird.He tried calling Aurora's phone, but it was off. The driver's phone was off too. Heath started to panic – whenever Aurora went off the grid like this, something was usually wrong.He sent the housekeeper to check on the driver, who was found fast asleep in the car. If the driver and car were here, where the hell did Aurora go?Heath pulled up the hospital's security footage and saw Aurora getting into a car identical to their own. The car then sped out of the city, disappearing after a stretch of road with no cameras.He immediately called Eamon, cutting straight to the chase: "Eamon, Aurora's be
Heath stared out at the flight path, mulling over how to notify Eamon, or if Eamon would even spot his signal in the bay and come to help. As for Elowen, he couldn't even bear to look at her."Babe, I was planning to just play dumb and stay in the nursing home," Elowen rambled on. "But Isabella was right. Aurora stole you away and is living her best life. Why should I waste away like this?" Heath remained silent, feeling sick at the thought of saying another word to her.He had hoped Elowen would show some remorse and stay put in the facility. He was willing to let bygones be bygones. But this woman was lost in her own fantasies, blind to her mistakes, obsessed with the idea that Aurora had stolen what was rightfully hers. In reality, she never had anything to begin with.The boat circled around before docking at an abandoned pier. Heath led Elowen off the boat, facing nothing but a run-down warehouse. "This is it," Elowen said. "Aurora's inside."As Heath approached, he heard a woman
Tears streamed down Aurora's face as she watched Heath kneeling, blood gushing through his fingers. She screamed at Elowen, "Save him! Let him go! Don't you love him? Help him, for God's sake!"Elowen glanced at Heath and smirked. "Yeah, I love him. But he doesn't love me. If he won't love me, he might as well die. That way, he can't love anyone else either.""You're insane! Fucking psycho!" Aurora yelled, frantic.When she first met Elowen and Isabella, Aurora wasn't scared or terrified. To her, this was an inevitable war. She'd prepared herself for the worst - injury, mutual destruction, all of it. Even when Isabella kidnapped her, Aurora felt a twisted sense of pride. She'd pushed the high-and-mighty Whitmore girl to such extremes. It felt like a victory.But now, Aurora was terrified. She never imagined her vendetta, her hatred, those old blood debts would end up on Heath's shoulders. She could accept her own death as karmic payback for her past crimes and scheming. But she couldn
Heath slowly got to his feet. Even though he'd been quick earlier, snagging the chance to fire two shots while Isabella and Elowen were busy arguing with Aurora, Isabella's bullet to his gut was real. His stomach was still bleeding, and his face was scary pale.He clutched his wound with one hand, gun in the other, inching towards Aurora. His eyes were locked on Isabella behind her. That woman had messed with the love of his life - killing her wouldn't be overkill.Heath took two steps forward when Aurora suddenly yelled, "Stop! Don't come any closer!"Heath froze, staring at Aurora. She explained, "There's a bomb under the chair. Isabella rigged it."Isabella, still hiding behind Aurora, chuckled. "Heath, I just need to cut one wire and boom goes the dynamite. What do you think - your gun or my hand? Who's faster?"It was a lose-lose situation. A timed bomb was strapped under Aurora's chair. If Isabella yanked the wire, it'd blow instantly, even if the timer wasn't up. Aurora wouldn'
The next morning, Vespera was woken up at dawn, barely getting a few hours of sleep. Known as a dedicated designer, she was usually the first one awake, but today she could barely keep her eyes open. As the stylist worked on her hair and makeup, Vespera sat half-dazed, drifting in and out, completely unaware of the hands tugging her in all directions.Two hours later, with her hair and makeup done, Vespera finally slipped into her wedding dress. The reality hit her, and for the first time, she fully realized she was about to get married.Memories flooded back, particularly that first encounter with Alaric. He’d been sprawled on the steps outside, a bit too tipsy, looking up with half-closed eyes, asking, “What’s wrong with me?” Vespera, surprising even herself, had replied, “Nothing at all.”Back then, he was just a bright, headstrong young man, carrying so many dreams and frustrations. Somewhere along the way, he’d grown into this strong, grounded man. And somehow, after everything,
It wasn’t until a few days after their engagement that it even crossed Vespera’s mind to ask about the villa.Alaric confirmed he’d bought it, explaining that he’d thought she might like it and decided to go for it. As for renovations, he wanted to wait until she officially agreed to everything; after all, they’d eventually need their own place—living with Zane forever wasn’t exactly an option.By now, the news of Alaric and Vespera’s engagement had spread everywhere. Alaric was practically ready to announce it to the world on social media, but thankfully, Aurora stepped in, suggesting he keep things low-key since he was the company CEO. Plus, Vespera wasn’t exactly a fan of the public spotlight.Alaric reluctantly held back but couldn’t resist dropping hints in his friend group chat every other day. Heath and the rest were used to it by now—except Lysander, who constantly complained that he was drowning in a sea of "lovey-dovey vibes," being the lone single guy among them.When Auror
The next morning, Alaric woke up, remembering last night’s events. He pinched himself—no, it wasn’t a dream. Vespera had actually said yes.He jumped out of bed, showered, changed, and even straightened his tie before driving to her studio. There she was, focused on work, wearing a stylish dress and light makeup, looking absolutely radiant.When he walked in, Vespera looked up, surprised. “Finally awake?” she asked with a smirk.Alaric simply nodded, taking her hand without a word and leading her downstairs. She stumbled after him, asking, “Where are we going?”Alaric gently nudged her into his car, driving her toward a villa. Vespera was clueless and a bit shocked, glancing around, unsure of what was happening.They finally arrived at a beautiful villa. Alaric opened the door, and she asked, “Did you just buy this?”&n
The next morning, Alaric was finally over his fever. When Vespera woke up, he was already waiting in the living room. After breakfast, they both headed to their respective offices.Aurora’s team reported they’d successfully returned to the Whitmore family’s estate. For her, that had been a fierce battle. For Vespera, however, the real challenge lay ahead: the design competition.Ever since her last conversation with Yvonne, where Yvonne had hinted that everything she had was due to Aurora and Alaric’s support, Vespera had been determined to prove herself. She wanted to be worthy of Alaric and was pouring all her energy into this competition.After submitting her designs, Vespera anxiously waited at home for results. When the winners were finally announced online, she saw her name in second place. The relief and pride were overwhelming. She had finally achieved something worth sharing with Alaric. Now, with the award ceremony in the UK, she had no choice but to let him know.Expecting
Vespera had reclaimed her brand, and Alaric seemed to be maturing by the day, treating her like she was his entire world. Everything seemed to be falling into place.After that showdown in Alaric’s office with Elowen, she hadn’t shown her face again. Vespera figured it was over, that Elowen had finally given up. Everyone else thought the same.But on the day they took graduation photos, Aurora disappeared. Heath and Alaric eventually tracked her down — Elowen had taken her. Vespera was frantic, blaming herself for not protecting Aurora better.Heath and Alaric couldn’t stop Aurora’s flight at the airport, so they booked tickets to the UK to get her back. Vespera had too much to handle here to join them, so she only saw Alaric off at the airport.He held her close, whispering, “Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon, and Aurora will be safe.”Vespera hugged him back tightly. She trusted him. Alaric and Heath would get this done — Elowen had crossed a line that couldn’t be ignored, and she knew
This past week, Aurora had been tirelessly setting up to counter Evelyn and her allies, Yvonne and Elowen. Meanwhile, Alaric, working alongside Aurora to reclaim Elowen’s brand.A week later, the press conference went ahead as planned. Alaric helped Vespera pick an outfit, stayed until she’d finished her makeup, and then drove her to the venue himself.The conference, led by Evelyn, was a disaster for her team. They failed to take over Aurora’s company, couldn’t drive her out of the Pendleton family, and made no progress in placing Yvonne and Elowen as CEO and head designer. Their plans had backfired entirely.Leaving the venue, Yvonne, clearly shaken, stepped in front of a car without looking and was hit, blood pooling around her. Vespera, stunned and dizzy at the sight, would have collapsed if Alaric hadn’t steadied her.Frantically, Vespera fumbled with her phone to call home, stammering, “It’s Yvonne… she’s bleeding so much…”As someone unaccustomed to such violence, Vespera was t
Alaric looked at Vespera with an innocent expression and said, “It’s not what you think. I’m not a creep.”“Not a creep?” Vespera glared at him. “Then what were you doing in my room?”Alaric almost groaned. “If I told you I was here to give you a massage, would you believe me?”“Total creep!” she shouted. “Sneaking into my bed while I was asleep!”Alaric shot back, “I did not! When I woke up, you were the one curled up on me!”Vespera paused, recalling the moment she woke up. Okay, maybe she had been cozying up to him. Wait a second—was he implying she was the one acting out of line?Seeing her hesitation, Alaric grinned smugly. “See? You were just as comfortable with it!”“Get out!” Vespera yelled.Alaric left the room, trying not to smile too much. Sure, nothing happened, but just getting to hold her felt amazing. Although… his shoulder was sore from her leaning on him all night, so he headed back to his room to grab a few more hours of sleep.Vespera, alone in her room, listened as
Vespera walked ahead, casual and carefree in a T-shirt and shorts, no makeup, and even bare of high heels, while Alaric trailed close behind with a jacket in hand, grinning like a fool. Everyone in the lobby couldn’t help but notice—their usually composed CEO was tagging along, practically beaming.Catching up to her, Alaric draped his jacket over her shoulders. “How could you leave without dressing warmer? You’ll end up with a stomach ache tonight,” he said, his voice soft with affection.Vespera felt a warm flutter in her chest but stayed quiet, letting his jacket settle around her as they walked out. Alaric was thrilled she hadn’t brushed him off; emboldened, he slipped his hand into hers, wrapping her cold fingers in his.For a moment, she stiffened, then relaxed, letting her hand nestle securely in his. Together, they headed to the parking lot, Alaric practically floating with joy. This felt better than winning the lottery!Bringing her home, Alaric felt out of his depth—things h
Alaric stood in his office, with Elowen right in front of him, her hand tugging at his tie, a faint smirk hidden beneath her slightly indignant expression.Seeing the scene, Vespera nearly turned around and left right then and there. But she reminded herself of her purpose for coming today. She was done hiding from Elowen. Even if Alaric wasn’t hers in the end, she’d be damned if he ended up with someone like Elowen.So Vespera strode into the office, fixed her gaze on them, and asked, “What’s going on here?”At the sound of her voice, Alaric spun around, fumbling to free his tie from Elowen’s grip. But Elowen held tight, glancing over at Vespera with a slight smile. “Miss Thornfield? You’re here?”Vespera closed the door behind her, gave a slight nod, and asked again, “What exactly is this about?”Elowen smirked. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanted to ask Alaric if I could borrow a few people to help promote my new fashion line. Not sure if he’s on board with it, though.”“Not a chance,