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Chapter 22

Author: Ruby
last update publish date: 2025-12-16 13:53:11

Damien POV

I knew that the moment when grandpa's name flashed across my phone screen., It was late in the morning, just as I was going through quarterly projections that I did not care about. I allowed it to ring twice as long as it was necessary--out of habit, out of rebellion--before I answered.

“Yes,” I said, curtly.

“Come home for lunch,” Edward said, voice calm, unhurried. “Today.”

I frowned. “I have meetings.”

“You can cancel them.”

That alone told me this wasn’t a request.

“For what?” I
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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

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  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 45

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  • 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

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  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 42

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  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 16

    Sophia POVThe ride to Hayes Global felt longer than it ever had, even though I barely remembered how I reached here.My eyes were burning from crying through the night. Nick was still at the hospital waiting for mom to get conscious while I was here in the office, walking through Edward Hayes cab

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 15

    Sophia POVEvery step felt uneasy on the pavement, I did not know where I was going. I had to be away from himAway from Damien Hayes.Away from the words he threw at me like knives.The word's echoes were cruel. They will never leave my mind.After a while, I finally got a cab. I quickly got insid

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    Sophia POVI soon completed my work in the office and returned home to prepare to attend the party.By the time evening arrived, my room looked like a battlefield of rejected clothes.I didn’t have anything fancy, nothing that screamed “high-level business party,” nothing designer or shimmering or

  • Gilded Hearts   Chapter 13

    Sophia POVAs I came out of Damien's cabin, I felt my legs stumble My body felt moved by someone else, with my mind stuck back in that place, his fingers holding my arm, his breath too close to my face.I didn’t look back.I couldn’t.My own heart beat fast. It beat in an irregular way. It was not

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