LOGINAlina's POVFor a few seconds, I couldn't even understand what I was looking at. Roman stood directly in front of me, his hand still wrapped around Georgia's wrist, his expression colder than I had ever seen it before. My heart was beating so hard that I could barely hear anything around me, and the only thought running through my mind was, what the hell was Roman doing here?I had no idea he was coming. I hadn't told him about the banquet, and yet somehow, he had walked into the middle of the biggest disaster my family had ever created and stopped a knife from reaching me. The entire hall seemed just as confused as I was. People were looking between Roman and me, whispering again, trying to figure out who this intimidating man was and why he had reacted to me like that. I heard someone ask, “Who is he?” while another person whispered, “Isn't that Roman Carusso?” Someone else immediately replied, “What is he doing with Alina?” I barely registered any of it because Roman finally releas
Alina's POVFor a few seconds, nobody in the hall seemed to know how to react. The whispers died down one by one until every pair of eyes was fixed on my father, Georgia and Lila. My father was still staring at the DNA report in his hands as if refusing to accept what was written on the paper could somehow make it disappear. His face had gone completely pale, and I could see his hands trembling slightly as he read the results again and again.“This can't be real,” he muttered, shaking his head, “This can't fucking be real.” He suddenly looked towards Georgia, and the confusion on his face quickly turned into anger, “What the hell is this?”Georgia opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “Georgia!” he shouted, making her flinch, “Who is he?”The entire hall seemed to hold its breath as he confronted his wife. “What the fuck is all this? Lila is not my daughter? Who the hell is her father?” he demanded, his voice echoing through the room.Georgia looked around desperately, clearly tryi
Alina's pov“Alina.”The way my father said my name was enough to make the entire hall erupt into whispers. It started with a few murmurs from the tables closest to the stage, but within seconds, the sound had spread across the entire banquet hall. People leaned towards each other, covering their mouths with their hands as they exchanged looks, while others simply stared at me without even bothering to hide their curiosity. I caught pieces of conversations as I walked through the crowd. “Isn't that Warner's eldest daughter?” someone whispered, followed by another voice saying, “I thought she was no longer a part of the family.” A woman near the centre table leaned towards the man beside her and quietly said, “Apparently there has been some serious trouble between the Whitmores. Look at Warner's face, he clearly wasn't expecting her.” Another voice came from somewhere behind me, “Then why is Lila standing beside him? Wasn't this supposed to be her announcement?”I almost smiled. Peopl
Alina's POVThe drive back home was unusually quiet. I sat beside Grandpa in the backseat, staring out of the window as the city lights passed by, but my mind was nowhere near the road. I kept replaying the dinner in my head, especially the way his parents had looked at me and called me an outsider.For some reason, that one word had managed to stay in my head long after the dinner was over. Maybe because I had spent most of my life feeling like I didn't belong somewhere, and hearing it again from the people who were apparently going to become my in-laws had brought all of those feelings back.But then there was Roman. The way he had immediately defended me without even thinking twice, the way he had told me that I belonged there and that he could imagine ruling the world with me. I still couldn't understand that man. One minute he was irritating me and making me want to throw something at his head, and the next he was standing beside me on a balcony, looking at me like I was the only
Roman’s POVAlina stared at the screen for a few seconds before slowly lifting her eyes towards me. The shock on her face was obvious, and for the first time since I had shown her the video, I realized that perhaps she was not going to react the way I had imagined. “What the fuck is this?” she asked, her voice low but clearly shaken. She looked back at the phone and then at me again. “Isn't he missing? The police are looking for him. How do you have a video of him?”I leaned against the railing and watched her carefully. “Because he didn't go missing. I took him."For a moment, she simply stared at me as if she was waiting for me to laugh and tell her I was joking. When I didn't, her expression changed completely, “Took him? Roman, what the hell does that even mean?”“It means exactly what you think it means.” I took the phone from her hand and slipped it back into my pocket. “Roy Henderson didn't disappear. I had him taken away.""What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?"I wat
Roman's POV“You are the only one I can imagine ruling this world with.” The words left my mouth before I could even think about how they would sound to her. Alina stared at me with a strange expression, almost as if she was trying to figure out whether I was being serious or simply trying to get under her skin. I couldn't blame her. Since the moment we met, most of our conversations had ended with her glaring at me, telling me how annoying I was or threatening to kill me in one way or another.But this time, there was no joke hidden behind my words. I meant every single one of them.In the past two days, I had spent more time learning about Alina than I had expected to. I had looked into her childhood, her education, her work, her relationships and the people who had shaped her into the woman standing in front of me. I had learned that she had been bullied when she was younger, that she had spent years being made to feel like she wasn't good enough and that even the person she truste







