ログインMAXWELL'S POV:I stand in front of the cameras, my hands in my pockets, my face calm and steady. The lights are bright, hot on my skin. The journalists are leaning forward, their pens poised with their recorders ready. I have done this before because I have faced the media before. I know how to handle them. I adjust my suit jacket and stare right into the main lens."Elara is my beloved niece," I say. "I love her. She is a good person. And she deserves to be happy."The questions come fast and furious."Are you saying you support her relationship with Alistair?""I am saying I support her," I say. "She is family. And family stands together.""Even after everything she did?""Especially after everything she did," I say. "That is what family does. We forgive, we heal and we move forward together."I look out at the crowd. I see the faces of the journalists. I see the cameras. I see the world watching."Elara is my niece," I say again. "I love her. And anyone who tries to hurt
CELESTINE'S POV:I knew the quiet peace of our lives was not going to last forever, but nothing could have prepared me for the sudden wave of news that hit us this morning. Seeing my family targeted like this makes my stomach turn. I hold my phone in my hand, staring down at the glowing screen in total shock as the notifications keep piling up.I open one of the links. It is a tabloid article, and the headline makes my blood freeze."Elara Ashcroft-Valancourt: The Daughter of a Murderer.""Elara's Secret Past Exposed.""The Truth About the Thornwell Heiress.""Why did she collide with those who wants to bring her adoptive parents down?""Why did the Ashcroft and Valancourt forgive such a shameless girl?""Why did Alistair dates her when he knows she wanted to destroy and kill his family years ago?"A wave of pure disgust rolls over me. The press is dragging her through the dirt all over again, twisting old pain into public entertainment. I close my eyes tight and force mysel
ALISTAIR'S POV:I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing. It vibrates nonstop against the nightstand, shaking the whole table.It is early, too early. The sun is barely up as I reach for my phone, groggy and confused, and I see the notifications. Dozens of them. Hundreds of them. Messages and emails and alerts flooding my screen.I open one.It is a link to a tabloid article. The headline makes my blood run cold."Elara Ashcroft-Valancourt: The Daughter of a Murderer.""Elara's Secret Past Exposed.""The Truth About the Thornwell Heiress.""Why did she collide with those who wants to bring her adoptive parents down?""Why did the Ashcroft and Valancourt forgive such a shameless girl?""Why did Alistair dates her when he knows she wanted to destroy and kill his family years ago?"I sit up. My heart is pounding. I scroll through the article.The headlines are brutal. The story is filled with half-truths and outright lies. They are dragging Elara's past through the mud. Th
MIRA'S POV:I am so fucking furious right now, as in I am literally raging. I am burning with a fury that has been building for weeks, a fury that has been simmering beneath the surface of my carefully constructed facade, waiting for the moment when I could finally let it loose. I set my cup down on the table so hard that the coffee splashes over the rim.Elara confronted me. She walked into my penthouse like she owned the place. She threatened me. She made me feel small and powerless and weak and I fucking hate feeling small and powerless and weak.I am the one and only Mira Patel and like I bloody said before, I have money, power and connections. I have everything I have ever wanted. I am not supposed to feel small and I am not even supposed to feel powerless or even feel weak.But Elara made me feel all of those things all at once.And now she is going to pay.I decide to escalate. I hire a private investigator. A woman named Evelyn, who has a reputation for finding things
ELARA'S POV:I feel a surge of anger but I push it down."Why are you doing this?" I ask.She tilts her head. Her eyes are dark and unreadable."Because I love Alistair," she says. "I have always loved him. And I am not going to let you have him.""He does not love you.""He will. Once you are out of the picture."I step closer. I feel the heat of my anger rising again."You need to stop," I say. "You need to leave us alone. Or I will destroy you."She laughs. It is a cold, brittle sound."You cannot destroy me," she says. "I have more money. More power. More connections. You are nothing, Elara. Nothing without the Valancourt and Ashcroft wealth or backings."I look at her and I feel a quiet certainty and cold resolve inside me."We will see," I say.I turn and walk out of the penthouse. The door closes behind me. I stand in the hallway for a moment, breathing hard, my heart pounding in my chest. My fingers curl into tight fists at my sides.I have made my point. I have
ELARA'S POV:Two days have passed since the break-in. Two days of sleepless nights and endless questions and the slow, grinding process of trying to piece my life back together. The police have come and gone. The forensic team has dusted for prints. The security company has installed new locks and cameras. But the fear remains, a cold knot in my chest that I cannot seem to untangle. I catch myself looking over my shoulder every time I step into a room.I have not been able to sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see the destruction. The torn sketches. The slashed fabric. The mannequins knocked over like fallen soldiers. Everything I have been working on for months, destroyed in a single act of malice. My hands still shake whenever I think about the ruined clothes sitting on the floor.I have been doing my own research. I have been tracking Mira's movements, her connections, her patterns. I have been digging into her past, her finances, her relationships. I know she hired a private
The first time Kier met Sable Morwenna was at a charity gala about six months after his father died.He was standing by the bar, looking miserable, drinking too much and wishing he could leave. And then this woman just appeared next to him, like she had materialized out of thin air."You look like
Kier Thornwell looked like he belonged on a magazine cover even when he was just standing in an elevator. Thirty eight years old. Strong jaw and sharp cheekbones. Eyes so dark brown they looked black. A mouth that rarely smiled, but when it did, women forgot their own names. Six foot two. Carried h
The forgotten anniversaries. There had been three of those. Three times she had dressed up nice and made dinner and waited and waited and waited until finally getting a text that said "working late sorry" with no exclamation points, no emojis, no nothing.The cruel comments. Those were worse."You
Celestine Valancourt stood in the bathroom of her penthouse apartment, her bare feet cold against the imported marble floor, staring at a little plastic stick that had just completely and utterly rearranged her entire universe. There were two little pink lines staring back at her. Two little lines







