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Chapter 19

Author: Ruby
last update publish date: 2025-12-13 20:32:10
Damien POV

The summons came without explanation.

The voice of Claire on the phone was brief and official.

Mr. Hayes, your grandfather wishes the entire family at the manor to-night.

Entire family.

That in itself was sufficient to make me nervous.

Edward Hayes did not assemble us unless something irreparable was imminent.

The Hayes Manor was as it always was, spotless, imposing, steeped in tradition. The kind of atmosphere under which decisions were taken that transformed lives as crystal glas
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  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 47

    Sophia POVI don’t think I actually slept,.Not properly.It was the kind of night where your body gives up before your mind does,. Every time I drifted-, something dragged me back—the cold floor beneath me-, the stiffness in my spine, or worse,.His voice.It didn’t echo loudly.It lingered.Morning came quietly,.A thin strip of light slipped through the curtains and stretched across the room—stopping just short of where I lay on the floor,.Of course it did,.I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before forcing myself to move,. My muscles protested immediately-, a dull ache settling deep into my back and shoulders,.I sat up slowly-, inhaling through it,.I stood, adjusting my clothes, smoothing out creases that didn’t really matter,. The room still carried the silence of last night,.Damien was on the bed,.Asleep.Unbothered.For a moment, I watched him.Not with anger.With distance.Then I looked away.I picked up the pillow he had thrown at me,. It felt heavier now—not phy

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 46

    Sophia POVBy the time the dishes were washed and the kitchen was finally quiet again-, the apartment had settled into a heavy silence,.The city lights outside the glass walls flickered against the dark marble floors-, stretching long reflections across the living room,.I dried my hands slowly-, hanging the towel back in its place,.My body felt exhausted-, but my mind refused to quiet down,.Dinner.The table.His words.You’re staff in this house now.The sentence replayed in my head like something stuck on repeat.I inhaled slowly.Fine.If that was the role he had decided to force on me, then I would survive it. Just long enough to find something else,. Just long enough to walk away from this place without needing anything from him,.I turned off the kitchen lights and walked toward the hallway,.The bedroom door stood slightly open,.For two months, that room had been ours.Not perfect. Not easy.But… real.Apparently I had imagined most of it.I pushed the door open,.The room

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 45

    Sophia POVBy the time dinner was ready-, the kitchen smelled faintly of roasted garlic and warm spices,.I had spent longer than necessary preparing it,.The dishes sat arranged on the counter-, steam rising softly from them,.Rice,. Stir-fried vegetables,. Grilled chicken,.Simple, clean food,.Not extravagant.But done properly.I wiped my hands on a towel and carried the plates to the dining table,.The apartment was quiet except for the distant hum of the city outside the glass walls,. Footsteps echoed from the hallway,. Damien entered the dining area just as I finished setting the table,.His presence filled the space immediately,.He was wearing a T-shirt and joggers as his gaze moved from the table to me,.“So,” he said calmly, “the staff has begun working.”I ignored the comment.“Dinner is ready,.”He pulled out a chair and sat down slowly-, studying the plates in front of him like they were objects under inspection,.For a moment he didn’t speak,.He simply picked up his f

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 44

    Sophia POVThe drive back from Hayes Global felt heavier than ever.This morning, I had walked in with quiet defiance.Now, I walked into the penthouse with clarity.He had done this deliberately.I could have argued there. I could have demanded answers in the lobby-, insisted on being escorted upstairs-, forced someone to call him out of that board meeting,.But I didn’t,.I didn’t want whispers trailing behind me in marble corridors. I didn’t want my humiliation turning into office gossip by lunchtime. Hayes Global was still a place I had respected—still a place I had worked hard in. I wouldn’t turn it into a spectacle.So I left.As I returned to the apartmentEvery step echoed in the silence of the apartment as I set my bag down on the console table. The space felt too large. Too empty. Like it was waiting.Before doing anything else, I pulled out my phone.Edward Hayes.For a moment, my thumb hovered over his name.I wasn’t calling to complain. I wasn’t calling to accuse his gran

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 43

    Sophia POVDarkness came back in fragments.Not gently.First, the cold.It crept across my skin before my mind fully woke-, cool air brushing over my bare shoulders, my legs, and my stomach,. The sheets beneath me were smooth and expensive-, but they felt like ice,.Then the silence.Too quiet.My eyes fluttered open,.The room was dim-, the city lights bleeding faint gold through the curtains. For a second-, I didn’t move. My body felt heavy, disconnected-, like I had borrowed it from someone else,.Then memory rushed back.My breath caught sharply,.I pushed myself upright too fast-, dizziness spinning the room,. The blanket slid from my lap, and the realization hit with humiliating clarity,.I was still half naked,.Only my underwear clung to me,. My T-shirt lay discarded near the foot of the bed,. My pajama bottoms were somewhere on the floor,.Damian was gone,.The side of the bed where he had stood loomed empty,. The door to the bedroom was slightly ajar,. No sound from the hal

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 42

    Damien POVThe heavy doors of the penthouse felt like a prison I had finally unlocked.I checked my watch. Past midnight.Three months.For three months, I had played a part. I had been the good grandson. The kind husband. I had sat through dull dinners-, nodded at meaningless conversations, and pretended I cared about Sophia’s small, insignificant life,.Today, the lawyers confirmed it,.The inheritance was mine.I didn’t have to pretend anymore,.I pushed the door open, a dark sense of freedom curling through me,.She was there, waiting—like she always did. Her eyes held that soft, irritating concern that had once made my skin crawl,.“You’re so late-,” she said quietly,.“I know.”I dropped my jacket and loosened my tie,. The mask slid off with the fabric. I didn’t need to smile at her again. I didn’t need to soften my voice.She stood, reflexively helpful. “Do you want dinner? I can warm it up.”I didn’t answer,.I walked straight toward her-, closing the space between us until sh

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 35

    Sophia POVParis passed in soft layers rather than sharp moments.It dissolved into itself—days folding gently into one another, mornings that began with tentative plans and ended somewhere else entirely.Walks that stretched longer than intended.Coffee breaks that refused to be rushed. Conversati

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 34

    Sophia POVDinner didn’t turn into anything dramatic.And that, somehow, made it memorable.The restaurant settled around us as the courses arrived, —warm light-, clinking cutlery, the low murmur of French slipping past our table like background music,. Damian ate slowly-, asked me what I thought o

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 33

    Damian POVI was checking my phone when the elevator doors opened,.I looked up out of habit—nothing more—and forgot how to breathe,.Sophia stepped into the lobby like she belonged there,. Not because of the hotel, or Paris, or the fact that my last name followed hers now—but because she looked se

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 32

    Sophia POVFor the rest of the week-, I perfected the art of absence,. I woke early-, left before Damian stirred-, and filled my days with Andrea—cafés tucked into narrow streets-, long walks along the Tiber-, museums where no one knew my name or my last name or the price tag attached to it,. I lea

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