LOGINHe was supposed to be my brother. The cold CEO everyone feared. The man who controlled the entire country's business world. But one night, he looked at me and calmly destroyed everything I thought I knew. "We're getting married." I laughed, but he didn't. Now every door in my life is closing, every choice is disappearing, and the one man I'm not supposed to love refuses to let me go. Because to Lucien Hale, this was never forbidden. It was inevitable. And the most terrifying part? The closer I get to him, the harder it becomes to run.
View More“So you’re back with your rich family now?” Maya, my blood sister, said. I could clearly hear the resentment in her voice.“Maya,” I said softly. “Hi.”She laughed. “Hi?” she repeated. “That’s all you have to say after disappearing into luxury for six years?”My fingers tightened around my phone.“I didn’t disappear,” I said carefully. “You knew where I was.”“Oh, I knew,” she replied quickly. “London...private university...private jet rides... living the dream.”“Must be nice,” she added.Guilt flickered through me, but I kept my voice calm.“I didn’t choose how things happened.”“No,” she said. “You just benefited from it.”I closed my eyes briefly.“Maya-”“Do you know when I left the orphanage?” she cut in.“Yes,” I muttered. “Five years ago.”“Eighteen, Ava. I was eighteen." she repeated. “I stayed there until I aged out. No rich family came back for me.”Her words weren’t loud but they hit hard anyway.“I tried to stay in touch,” I said softly.“You called sometimes,” she corre
AvaThe moment he left my room, my legs gave out. I didn’t even realize when I sat down on the bed.My heart was still racing and my thoughts were running faster than I could hold onto any of them.Marry him?Lucien?I placed my hands on my face to try to calm my breathing. But the more I thought about what he said, the more the past started rearranging itself in my head.Small things, things I never questioned before, like the day he told me not to call our parents Mom and Dad.I was nine.We were having dinner, and I remember calling Seraphina “Mom”. Lucien’s voice cut in immediately.“Don’t call her that.”I had looked at him, confused.“Why?” I asked.“Because they’re not your parents,” he said flatly.I remembered how quiet the table had gone.Seraphina had tried to smooth it over, saying I could call them whatever made me comfortable but Lucien didn’t agree.Back then, I thought he was just being rude and cold. I thought he didn’t like me.Never in my wildest dreams did I think
Lucien’s POVI watched her run upstairs.The sound of her steps faded quickly, but the tension she left behind stayed in the room.My mother exhaled slowly.“Lucien, why did you have to do that like that?”I didn’t answer.She turned toward me. “She just got back. It’s too soon.”I folded my napkin neatly beside my plate before responding.“I’ve waited long enough.”My father leaned back in his chair, watching me the way he always did when he was deciding whether to argue or not.Seraphina shook her head. “I know you have,” she said. “But you could have waited a little longer. Ava is only twenty two.”I looked at her calmly, then responded, “That means she’s old enough.”She pressed her lips together, clearly unhappy with that answer.Across the table, my father sighed.“And how exactly do you plan to get her to agree?” he asked. “You saw how she ran upstairs.”I leaned back in my chair.“She’ll be fine.”Seraphina frowned. “Lucien.”“She’s overwhelmed,” I continued, cutting her off w
AvaI took a breath and walked down the stairs.I didn’t see him yet, but I heard his voice. It was deeper than I remembered, the kind of voice that didn’t need to be loud to be heard.“I’ve been busy,” he said.Seraphina clicked her tongue. “Busy is not an excuse, Lucien. You disappear for months and think visiting now fixes it.”“I call,” he replied.“Once in a while,” she shot back. “You didn’t even visit when Ava was still abroad.”I slowed my steps without meaning to.Alaric sighed softly. “You two have been having this same argument for years,” he said. “Let him breathe.”I reached the bottom step just as Seraphina looked up and saw me.Her face softened immediately. “There you are.”Lucien turned, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.He was taller, somehow impossibly taller than he was six years ago. I didn’t even know how that was possible. I had seen him on screens, interviews and articles. The media loved him.But none of it came close.He was wearing black from head t


















Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.