LOGINCHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT — VIVIENNE’S WARNINGRAIN’S POVThe voices drifted down the long corridor like poison wrapped in silk.I had only meant to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen that morning, still in my nightdress. Instead, I froze near the back staircase, hidden behind the heavy velvet drapes, as Vivienne’s voice cut through the night.“…disgraceful. She is your ward, Lucien. A charity case from the gutter. If you think the rest of us are blind to the way you look at that girl, and threat like she is the air you breathe when she is just your daughter then, you are delusional. Stop obsessing over that thing, she is just a girl you helped from the orphanage. End it. Before I am forced to end it for you.”There was a pause. I couldn’t hear Lucien’s reply, but the low, dangerous timbre of his voice made my stomach twist. Vivienne laughed bitterly.“Protect her? You’re ruining her. And when this explodes—and it will—you will drag the entire Vale name through the mud. For her.”I ba
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE — HIS FAVORITE WEAKNESSRAIN’S POVBreakfast had been torture, but the rest of the day was turning into something far more dangerous.The Vale family estate felt like a gilded cage wrapped in silence and watchful eyes. Every hallway, every antique mirror, every shadowed corner seemed to wait for one of us to slip. Lucien made it impossible to pretend we were nothing. At breakfast he had defended me with that glacial tone that brooked no argument, poured my water with those long, elegant fingers, and adjusted my chair so the morning sun wouldn’t glare in my eyes. To the others he was ice. To me, every glance was molten.I told myself I would avoid him after the library. I failed before lunch.Now, hours later, the house was quiet. Vivienne had retired to her private sitting room with Evelyn. Sophia was somewhere sharpening her claws. Thelma had gone riding, or so the staff said. I slipped into the conservatory on the east wing, drawn by the late afternoon light filt
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR — TEN DAYS UNDER HIS ROOFRAIN'S POV The launch party ended in a haze of champagne and forced smiles, but the real storm began the moment we stepped into the cars.I thought Lucien would take me straight back to the penthouse — back to the place where our secret still felt somewhat contained. Instead, as the driver pulled away from the glittering estate, Lucien’s voice cut through the silence like cool steel.“We’re staying at the family house for the next ten days. I have business in the area that requires my presence.”My stomach dropped so fast I nearly gasped. Ten days. Ten whole days under the same roof as Vivienne, Evelyn, Sophia, Thelma, and the rest of the cold-blooded Vale family. Ten days of pretending I didn’t know exactly how Lucien’s fingers felt between my thighs, how his voice sounded when he groaned my name like he was losing his mind.I glanced at him. He sat beside me in the back seat, one leg crossed over the other, looking every inch the untouc
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE — SOPHIA’S LITTLE RECORDINGRAIN’S POV The moment Sophia hit play, my entire body turned to ice.It was my voice.Soft, broken, and unmistakable. The breathy little whimpers I’d tried so hard to keep quiet upstairs. Then came Lucien’s voice groaning like a curse and a prayer at the same time. Even through the phone’s tiny speaker, the sounds felt intimate. My stomach dropped so violently I thought I might be sick right there in front of everyone.Before I could spiral into full panic, Marcus moved like lightning. He snatched the phone from Sophia’s hand, his expression shifting from lazy amusement to something sharp in a heartbeat.“Turn that off,” he said, voice low and lethal. “Right now. Before you make Lucien your enemy for life.”Sophia only smiled like a cat who had finally caught the canary. She clearly thought she had recorded Lucien and Evelyn in some filthy moment upstairs. She had no idea it was me. Not yet.Thelma recovered faster than any of us. She
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWORAIN’S POVThe party did not calm down after Lucien’s speech.If anything, it got louder.People moved in circles of money and perfume, laughing too brightly, drinking too smoothly, talking about deals and legacies like they had invented both. The string quartet had stopped, but soft music still floated through hidden speakers. The courtyard glowed gold under the lights, and everyone looked polished enough to belong in a magazine.I stood near one of the tall tables with a glass of something I had barely touched, pretending I was not aware of Lucien every second.It was impossible.I felt him before I saw him.Every time he crossed the courtyard, every time his voice drifted over the crowd, every time someone stopped him to speak and he turned with that cold, perfect control, some part of me tightened.The worst part was knowing what had happened upstairs.He wanted me.And now I knew it.I was trying very hard not to smile like an idiot over that fact when Thelma a
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONERAIN’S POVThe outfit Lucien left for me was sinful.I knew that the second I unzipped the garment bag and saw the dress.It was black. The kind of dress that looked simple until I put it on and realized the fabric clung to every curve like it had been made with Lucien’s hands in mind. It stopped above my knees, the neckline modest enough to behave, but the back dipped lower than anything I had ever worn in his presence.I stood in front of the mirror too long.My lips still felt swollen from his kiss. My breast still tingled from where his hand had been.A knock came at the door.“Rain?” Thelma called. “Are you decent?”“Come in.”She walked in, took one look at me, and froze. “Oh my God.”I turned awkwardly. “Bad?”“Disgustingly good,” she said, grinning. “If Uncle Lucien picked that, he’s either very brave or very stupid.”Heat rushed to my face. “Why would you say that?”Thelma gave me a look. “Because men are simple creatures, babe. And my uncle is still a man







