LOGINKIER'S POV:She picks up a vase from the side table and throws it at me. I dodge and it shatters against the wall behind me, fragments of porcelain scattering across the floor."You cannot do this!" she screams. "I am your sister! You cannot just give me away!"She picks up a book. Then a lamp. Then a crystal figurine that our mother has had for years. She throws them all, one after another, her face contorted with rage and fear and with something that might be heartbreak.I do not move. I do not flinch. I let her throw things and scream and cry until she runs out of ammunition and collapses onto the couch, sobbing."I hate you," she says, her voice muffled by her hands. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."My mother is crying too, silent tears streaming down her face, her hands clasped in her lap."Kier," she says. "How could you? How could you do this to your own sister?"I stand up and walk to the window. I stare out at the dark garden, at the shadows of the trees, at the stars th
KIER'S POV:He turns back to face me. His smile is thin and cold."But I can beat him. I have resources that he does not. Connections that he cannot access. Methods that he would never stoop to. If you want me to destroy Lysander Ashcroft, I can do it. But it will cost you, and it is not just half your company and not just your sister but everything, Kier. Everything you have. Everything you are."I swallow. My throat is dry. "I understand.""Do you? Do you really? Because once you start down this road, there is no turning back. There is no redemption. There is no forgiveness. You will be mine, Kier. Body and soul. And I do not let go of what is mine."I think about Celestine. About the way she looked at me in that sitting room, her eyes cold and empty, her voice gentle but final and I also thought about Lysander, his hand on her stomach, his gray eyes full of triumph. I think about the child they are having, the child that should have been mine, the child that would have been mine if
KIER'S POV:I sit across from Vladimir Drakon in his London townhouse, a place that smells like old money with plenty violence, and I try not to let him see how much my hands are shaking.The room is decorated in shades of gold and burgundy, with heavy curtains that block out the afternoon sun and paintings on the walls that are probably worth more than my entire company. A fire crackles in the fireplace even though it is not cold outside, and the flames cast dancing shadows across Vladimir's face, making him look even more like the villain in a story than he already is.He is not a handsome man. That is the first thing you notice about Vladimir Drakon. He is very ugly, with soft hands that have never done a day of honest work and hard eyes that have seen things that cannot be unseen. His face is round and pale, his lips are thin, and his smile never reaches his eyes. His eyes are always cold, always calculating, always looking for the angle, the weakness, the opportunity.He is also
LYSANDER POV:But I was worried. The guards called me when Kier showed up, and I came downstairs immediately, ready to throw him out myself if I had to. But Celestine told me to wait, to let her handle it, to trust her. So I waited. And I listened.I heard him beg. I heard her laugh. I heard her tell him, gently but firmly, that she did not want him, that she would never want him, that no amount of plastic surgery would ever make him me.And I felt something I had not expected to feel.Pity.Not for Kier. Kier can rot in hell for all I care. But for the man he used to be, the man who had Celestine's love and threw it away, the man who will spend the rest of his life regretting it. That man, I pity.The security guards lead him past me. He does not look up. His face is wet and swollen and his shoulders are shaking and he looks like a beggar, like a warning, like a glimpse of a future I will never have because I am smart enough to hold onto what I have.I walk into the sitting room. Cel
CELESTINE'S POV:I stare at him for a long moment.Kier Thornwell, the man who made my life a living hell for three years. He is standing in front of me, thinner than before, his eyes hollow, his face gaunt, looking like he has not slept or eaten properly in weeks.And he just told me he would get plastic surgery to look like my husband.Something inside me shifts and hell no, it was not sympathy or pity and especielly not the old familiar urge to forgive and forget and give him another chance like I always do. Just... a sad kind of recognition. A realization that this man has lost his mind completely. That he is not capable of understanding what he did wrong or why I cannot forgive him or why no amount of plastic surgery will ever make me love him.I start to laugh.It is not a mean laugh but it is not a cruel laugh. I laugh because this is absurd. I laugh because this is tragic. I laugh because I cannot cry anymore, not for him, not for us, not for the years I wasted trying to love
KIER'S POV:I show up at Valancourt House one more time.It is not like the last time. I am not drunk. I have not been drinking at all, actually, not for three days, because I wanted to be clear headed for this, I wanted to be able to say what I needed to say without slurring or stumbling or forgetting my words. I wanted her to see me, really see me, and understand that I have changed, that I can change, that I will do anything to get her back.The drive from London takes two hours. I spend the whole time rehearsing. I am sorry. I was wrong. I love you. I have always loved you. I did not know what I had until I lost it. Please give me another chance. Please, Celestine, please. I regret everything.The security guards recognize me. Of course they do. I am the man who was tackled on the front lawn, the man who screamed her name into the night, the man who made a fool of himself in front of everyone. They stop me at the gate and tell me to leave and I tell them I am not leaving until I s







