LOGINLUCIENDr. Hayes studied the scans on the monitor for a long moment before turning to face me."Mr. Blackthorne, I'll be direct with you. What we're seeing here has no straightforward clinical explanation."I sat in front of him with Adrian standing behind me, my brows instinctively furrowing as various possibilities flashed through my mind.“What do you mean?”Had my condition worsened?I turned the possibility over briefly, then pushed it aside and looked at Dr. Hayes's face instead.He looked solemn, but there was something else there too. A mixture of fascination, doubt, and amazement.It was as though he had encountered something he could hardly believe himself.“Have you undergone any form of treatment in the past few months?” he asked. “Anything at all.”“Nothing,” I said. “I've been either at home or at the office.”He nodded slowly, then looked back at the screen. His gaze returned to me a moment later before he let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh—short, quiet,
HELENEThe moment the phone slipped from Lucien's hands and left me staring at the ceiling, I could no longer hold back the fear threatening to overwhelm me."Lucien!"I called his name again, but there was no reply.Only the faint, steady sound of his breathing reassured me that he was still there. It was the only thing keeping me from losing my composure entirely.The pallor of his face before the phone slipped from his grasp, the way he'd tried to reassure me despite the pain—both images kept replaying in my mind.Worse, I had no way of knowing whether he was still conscious.The more I thought about it, the colder my hands became.No.I shook my head sharply.I couldn't afford to panic. Lucien needed me now more than ever.With that thought, I forced myself to take one slow breath."Lucien, if you can hear me, stay with me." My voice came out less steady than I'd intended, and I let it. This was already the best I could manage. "I'm going to call Adrian. He'll be there soon. Just
LUCIENI never imagined I was capable of missing someone with such intensity, but three weeks of Helene being in Country H had taught me just how wrong I'd been.It couldn't even compare to the time she'd gone to stay with her grandparents.That had been different.This time, we weren't separated by a few streets, but by countries, and somehow, that distance made her absence far more pronounced.Nights were the worst of it.Ever since I'd kissed her the night before her departure, I'd rarely managed to get through one without dreaming about her.Rubbing my aching temple, I glanced down at my watch.It was already well past closing time, yet I had no particular desire to return to an empty house.Then I remembered that our daily call would be in roughly two hours, and my mood brightened almost immediately.It seems I couldn't avoid going home after all.The corners of my lips lifted at the thought.Over the past three weeks, I'd learned something about Helene through our calls: she did
HELENEIf there was one person who was happiest about my business trip being postponed, it was undoubtedly Lucien.And he wasn't even trying to hide it.In fact, the moment I told him I would be staying behind, the way he tried—and ultimately failed—to contain his delight had been almost comical.But in the end, I didn't actually get to spend much time with him. I was busy at the studio, while he had the company to deal with.Still, over the next four days, he made a point of dropping me off at work every morning and picking me up every evening.Thanks to that, everyone at the studio soon knew that I was married.And, apparently, to Isabel's cousin at that.They teased me relentlessly about it until I had no choice but to put on a scowl and scare them into shutting up.Meanwhile, the Jordan situation had finally been resolved.After our lawyer forwarded the evidence to the other photographer's legal team, they quickly recognized that the entire matter had been a misunderstanding, with
HELENEThe expression on Isabel's face darkened."That's the other problem. We can't reach him," she said. "The emails we've sent remain unread, and the phone number he provided isn't going through either."She sighed. "I hope this turns out to be nothing, but the fact that he chose this exact moment to go unreachable doesn't help his case."I fell silent.Her concerns were well-founded, and I had no useful counterargument.After a moment, I found my voice."Have you looked into the other photographer's previous work? Were any of the photographs..." I paused, ignoring the trace of discomfort in my chest before continuing, "similar to anything Jordan had submitted in the past?""No." Isabel shook her head. "That was the first thing we checked when we were contacted. Fortunately, only this one photograph is in question."A breath I hadn't realized I was holding finally escaped my lips."Helene," Isabel called suddenly.I looked at her and found her brows slightly furrowed."I know you
HELENEWhen she finished, I simply stared at her.The fury burning inside me had very little to do with the insults directed at me.She could call me a replacement if she wanted. She could call me desperate. She could believe whatever she wished about my reasons for marrying Lucien.What I couldn't accept was the way she had taken the circumstances of Lucien's accident, his disability, and everything he had suffered to reach this point and twisted them into something contemptible.She had reduced him to nothing more than a man in a wheelchair who had become undesirable to the woman he was supposed to marry."You know," I said slowly, "I couldn't understand why Lucien didn't seem particularly pleased to see you, despite the fact that you arrived here with Rafe and Dominic."Her expression twisted."But now I understand.""What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped, her face reddening with anger. "You might not know this, but Dominic is my cousin. That means I've known Lucien and the o
HELENEThe seating arrangement was almost identical to two days ago.My mother and Noemie sat together on one sofa. I sat alone on the opposite one. My father and Camille occupied the two armchairs.Only this time, there was no need to wait for anyone to arrive.Everyone was present.“I know this i
HELENEMorning sunlight filtered through the curtains and spilled across the bed.Feeling the warmth brushing against my skin, I cracked my eyes open and glanced at the baby-pink alarm clock resting on the bedside table.6:09 AM.Still early.With no pressing obligations weighing on my mind, I clos
LUCIEN“I plan to skip the engagement ceremony and move directly to your marriage with Noemie.”My mother, Vivienne Blackthorne, delivered the decision out of the blue as we ate dinner at my place.My hands paused briefly over the steak knife—only for a fraction of a second—before I resumed cutting
HELENE Rather than being stumped by my questions, Camille smiled.“I’ll answer your questions one by one,” she said calmly. “First—Lucien.”“You don’t want to marry him? But Helene, at the very least, you’re familiar with him. He’s cold, yes, but he’s also known to be a gentleman.”She tilted her







