My love My neighbour

The Manhattan skyline glittered under the early morning sun, a sea of glass and steel reaching toward the heavens like a crown fit for a queen. But today, no building shone brighter than the digital billboard that stretched across Times Square, dominating the heart of New York City.

ISLA WILDE. CEO. BACK IN NEW YORK.

The headline blinked on loop, bold and hard.

Inside the 48th-floor office of Blackwell & Co, Lucian Blackwell stood motionless, eyes locked on the screen across the room. The sleek espresso cup in his hand had long gone cold, forgotten.

He didn’t need the news to know as his gut had screamed this truth the moment her name surfaced again in industry whispers and social media chatter.

Isla Wilde was back.

His ex-wife.

The woman who had shattered his world five years ago.

Lucian’s chest tightened. He hadn’t seen her since that day, the day their world had fallen apart in a sterile hospital room filled with too much white light and too many unanswered questions.

The moment when Isla had cried, trembling and broken, begging for a miracle that never came.

A moment he had failed her.

A moment when he hurt her.

His assistant’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“Sir, the press conference is starting live. You need to see this.”

Lucian barely nodded, the silence hanging heavy as the video began to play.

Isla stood at the podium, a vision of power wrapped in a pristine white pantsuit. Her dark hair was swept back, eyes sharp and unreadable beneath her perfectly arched brows. The microphone caught her steady voice, calm, commanding and bossy.

“I’m pleased to announce that Élan Vogue Milan is expanding operations to the United States. And in that effort, I’m proposing a merger with Blackwell & Co.”

The room seemed to shrink around Lucian.

The merger. The name. The unrelenting fierce fire in her gaze.

“What the hell is she doing here?” he muttered, his voice low and rough.

“She’s taking over,” his CFO answered without looking up.

Phones buzzed, emails flooded in, and the media erupted instantly. Isla Wilde’s return was a shockwave that sent tremors through every corner of the business world. Investors whispered, stocks shifted, alliances wavered all the way around.

But Lucian heard none of it.

All he could see was the woman who once loved him with everything, who once trusted him.

And all he could feel was the ghost of what he lost.

The pain of losing the woman he once loved.

***

Two hours later, the Blackwell & Co. boardroom was colder than winter.

Lucian sat at the head of the mahogany table, eyes fixed on the door as it opened with deliberate precision.

Isla entered like a storm in heels, every step sharp, confident.

The room fell silent.

A haunting silence.

“You’re ten minutes late,” Lucian said, his voice brittle but controlled.

“I gave you five years,” she replied smoothly, her lips curling into a faint, knowing smile. “I figured ten minutes was nothing.”

The weight between them was palpable, thick enough to suffocate the air.

The board members shifted in their seats, eagerto watch the first battle in this war.

Lucian studied her, the subtle lines at the corner of her eyes, the flawless posture, the way her presence commanded the room without a word.

“I didn’t agree to a merger,” he said, tone clipped.

“You will,” Isla said, sliding a thick folder across the table with measured precision. “Unless you want your investors to keep pulling out. I’ve already met with half of them.”

Lucian flipped open the folder, scanning the pages filled with signatures and figures. His name was there, along with hers, all binding and irrevocable.

“You planned this,” he accused.

“I perfected it,” she said, eyes glinting cold steel. But for a heartbeat, her gaze softened.

“You owe me this, Lucian. More than you know.”

She turned sharply and left, the scent of her perfume lingering like a memory he could neither grasp nor forget.

---

Lucian sank back in his chair, his mind racing through a torrent of memories and regrets.

The hospital room , sterile, suffocating, where she had fought for their child, and he had stood helpless, paralyzed by his own demons and the manipulations of his mother.

Claire Blackwell.

The woman who had wielded power like a weapon, turning the family against itself.

The woman who had whispered lies, buried truths, and orchestrated betrayals that left scars deeper than any battle.

Lucian’s jaw clenched.

He thought he had lost Isla to grief and pain, but now he saw she was back to fight and this time, she was stronger.

And so, was he.

***

Later that evening, the city lights blurred outside Lucian’s office window as he stared at the folder on his desk. The merger proposal was more than business; it was a battlefield marked with old wounds and new stakes.

He opened his phone and scrolled to a photo from their wedding day.

Isla looked radiant in white lace, her smile bright and unguarded.

He swallowed the bittertruthh: that day was a beginning and an end.

***

Meanwhile, in a sleek penthouse apartment across the city, Isla allowed herself a rare moment alone.

She poured a glass of red wine and sat by the window, gazing out at the city that had once tried to break her.

Her phone buzzed. It was a message from Leo Stone.

“Meeting tomorrow? I have news about Claire.”

Isla’s fingers trembled slightly.

Leo was her unexpected ally, a man with connections which were deeper than most could imagine, and a past tangled with Claire’s dark secrets.

Together, they were poised to unravel the truth.

But Isla knew this fight would test everything, her strength, her heart, and the fragile hope of redemption.

And now she was ready.

***

Back at Blackwell & Co., Lucian paced the length of his office, the weight of the past and the challenge ahead pressing down on him like a heavy weight.

“She’s not just back, she's here for war.” Lucian whisper, voice low and rough.

The merger was no longer just a business deal; it was a war.

And the Ice Queen had returned.

***

Hello everybody

I hope you all liked the first chapter of the book

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