MasukThe chaos outside wasn’t just about the press — it exposed the sharp contrast between the Ashford brothers themselves. 🔥❄️Theo, calm and strategic; Max, fiery and reckless. Yet both, in their own ways, are willing to protect Veronica.But with tempers rising and secrets leaking, how long can they keep the storm outside from breaking what’s inside? Drop your comments. Let me know your thoughts!
Veronica's POV:"Three years ago," he began, "Max and I were at an island party. Private house, small group, people we knew well.We were relaxed in a way we rarely get to be with low security, no formal obligations, just a few days of actual quiet." He paused."That is when we met the Ontario men. That is what they introduced themselves as... Ontario-based businessmen. Investors. The kind of people who turn up at those gatherings occasionally and blend in well enough that you don't immediately question their presence."I said nothing. I kept my hands in my lap and I listened."Max looked at them once and went back to his drink. You know how he is... he never likes buisness and he was pissed off that people were approaching us in times when were supposed to party. He just wanted to enjoy the weekend and ignore whatever pitch was coming."Theo's mouth pressed into a brief, flat line as he said. "But you know me.""You networked," I said."I networked," he said. "Every room I have ever
Veronica's POV:The security guard at the manor gate was a man I had never seen before, which told me they had rotated the staff again.Max did that periodically... shuffled the faces so that no one on the outside could build a reliable pattern.Under normal circumstances I would have appreciated the thoroughness.Standing outside in the evening air in a wheelchair, with Diane hovering anxiously behind me and a surgical blade I had used as a threat still sitting in my coat pocket, I found it considerably less charming."What do you mean I'm not allowed inside?" I asked.The guard was young, broad-shouldered, and wearing the particular expression of someone who had been trained to be immovable and was determined to demonstrate that training regardless of who was standing in front of him. "Mr. Ashford doesn't allow visitors without a prior appointment, ma'am. I'll need to verify clearance before I can open the gate."I stared at him."I am Maximilian Ashford's fiancée," I said, and I li
Veronica's POV:The ambulance hadn't moved since Chase's men had boxed us in.The driver and the guard in the front seat were useless to me... as they were in front seat.Only Diane was with me. She sat pressed against the far door beside me, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed straight ahead with the determined blankness of someone who had decided the best strategy was to become invisible.Which left me alone with Chase.I had not looked away from him since he'd finished speaking. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of looking away."You're wasting your time," I said."Am I?""Whatever you're about to say, Chase, I've already heard versions of it. I know how you work. I know how this goes." I kept my voice level on with him. "So say what you came to say and then get out of here."He studied me for a moment."What do you really think," he said, "that the Ashford brothers genuinely wanted to help a damsel in distress like you? That they just saw you, decided you needed
Veronica's POV:The ceiling of my room had become my entire world.I was done. Done being handled. Done being protected.Done being shut out like I was some fragile thing that would shatter the moment I stepped outside.“I’m going downstairs,” I said, gripping the armrest of my wheelchair as I looked at the nurse. “Take me to the elevator.”"Diane, bring the wheelchair."My nurse looked up from the medication tray in the corner, and I already saw the hesitation forming on her face before she'd even turned fully around.She was a kind woman... and I had nothing against her personally... but right now her kindness was standing directly between me and the elevator, and I had no patience left for it."Miss Veronica," she started carefully, "you really should be resting. Dr. Haines said your blood pressure has been low.""Bring. The wheelchair."She brought it. Slowly, reluctantly, the way someone does when they've already decided they're going to refuse the actual request but want to appe
Max's POV:I stepped through the manor's front gates, my security men were running behind me in a half-moon formation.We'd been tracking the signal for twenty minutes... a stationary figure, standing just beyond the iron fence line, positioned with gun directly beneath Theo's window. The same window that had a fresh bullet hole in the glass an hour ago.And there he was.Chase Whitmore.He stood with his hands loose at his sides, looking almost bored... like a man waiting for a cab rather than someone who'd just fired a round into a billionaire's estate.He was dressed in all black, collar turned up, that infuriating half-smile already pulling at the corner of his mouth before I'd even opened mine.My six men surrounded him in seconds, closing the circle tight, and the flashlight beams crossing over his chest like a cage of light.He didn't flinch."Finally." I stopped three feet from him. "We catch you."Chase tilted his head slowly, the smile sharpening at the edges."Don't rejoice
Veronica's POV:He took my free hand, the one not tied to the bed, and held it gently, his thumb brushing across my knuckles."Veronica Whitmore," he said. "You're the most infuriating, brilliant, beautiful woman I've ever met.You make me want to be better. You make me want to actually deserve you, which is probably impossible but I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying anyway.You see through all my bullshit, you call me out when I'm being an idiot, and you make me laugh even when everything is falling apart.I know we started this as something casual, but somewhere along the way it became real for me. You became real for me. And I don't want to pretend anymore. I don't want this to be a performance or a PR move or a way to save your reputation. I want it to be real. I want us to be real."He lifted the ring, holding it up between us."So I'm asking you properly, officially, for real. Will you marry me? Not fake engaged. Not temporarily together until we figure out the mess wi
Veronica's POV:"Thank you so much," I said to the maid... with genuine gratitude, warming my voice as I gathered my dishes and brought them to the sink.She was already there, rinsing plates under the stream of water in a robotic way...Usually it was only her loading the dishes into the dishwashe
Veronica's POV:I was seated between the two brothers... in the center of the oversized couch—Theo to my left, Max to my right.The movie played on the massive screen in front of us, something action-packed that Max had chosen, but I wasn't really paying attention to the explosions and car chases.
Veronica's POV:I pulled out the chair and sat down, smoothing the papers in front of me with trembling fingers. The header read: "Tri-Party Arrangement Agreement" in Theo's precise, professional font.Of course he'd given it an official title.I started reading, my eyes scanning the numbered sectio
Veronica's POV:The drive back was quiet.Not the comfortable kind of silence—but the kind that presses against your ears, forcing you to listen to your own thoughts whether you want to or not.My body still felt warm, hypersensitive, as if it hadn’t caught up with my mind yet.Every nerve remembere







