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Chapter 14

Author: Dee-Jay
last update publish date: 2026-07-29 20:27:05

Suzan's POV

5:30 AM.

The first light of dawn crept across the Manhattan skyline in thin streaks of violet and pale gold. Long before the alarm on my nightstand could sound, my eyes opened.

I hadn't slept more than three hours, but there was no weariness in my bones, only a cold, crystalline stillness.

Before the chaos of Wall Street, before the lawyers, the cameras, and the inevitable showdown with Draven, there was the only part of my morning that truly mattered.

I swung my legs out of the sof
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  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 25

    Draven’s POVI should have been thinking about the company.Instead, I was staring at the confidential files spread across my desk, realizing I had been reading the exact same paragraph for nearly ten minutes. Nothing registered. My mind kept pulling me back to a single five-year-old girl asleep in an apartment across Manhattan.Her ridiculously oversized safety goggles. The gold star sticker carefully smoothed onto my suit jacket. The sharp, funny way she had observed me over pancakes as though I were an underperforming executive under evaluation.I leaned back into my leather chair, staring up at the quiet shadows of my office ceiling.Family.The word should have meant nothing to me. Instead, it had lodged itself beneath my ribs like a dull, aching weight.I had spent my entire adult life surrounded by people who wanted pieces of me. Investors wanted returns. Directors wanted promotions. Competitors wanted blood. Women wanted access to the Sterling empire.And Cassandra...I closed

  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 24

    Suzan’s POVBy a few minutes to ten, the warmth of breakfast had completely disappeared beneath the hard, unyielding edges of corporate reality.The moment the private elevator doors opened onto Sterling Pharmaceuticals' executive floor, Draven changed.I watched it happen right beside me. His shoulders squared. His expression hardened into carved marble. The rare, genuine warmth that had lingered in his eyes while Emerald dubbed him "Sir D" vanished beneath the familiar, cold mask of the CEO.It was almost unsettling. The man who had eaten pancakes under the strict supervision of a five-year-old had vanished. In his place stood Draven Sterling, heir, corporate predator, and CEO of a global titan currently bleeding billions.I stepped out of the elevator behind him, Edward and two members of our scientific team following close in our wake.The executive floor was alive with frantic energy. Assistants hurried between offices carrying confidential folders. Employees spoke in hushed, hu

  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 23

    Suzan’s POVThe apartment smelled of coffee before I even opened my eyes.Not the bitter, utilitarian scent of the instant coffee Edward settled for whenever he was too absorbed in research to care about flavor.This was rich. Freshly ground. Expensive.I frowned slightly, my mind still clearing the fog of sleep. Sarah usually brewed tea this early, insisting coffee made children "unnecessarily adventurous."A sleepy smile tugged at my lips. Unless... Emerald had somehow convinced her that caffeine was the secret ingredient behind Nobel Prize winners. The thought almost made me laugh.I stretched beneath the duvet before reaching for my phone on the bedside table.6:18 AM.Too early. Beyond my bedroom windows, Manhattan was wrapped in the soft blue luminescence of dawn, the city only just beginning to wake.For a brief moment, I lay still, listening to the ambient sounds of the apartment coming alive. Cabinet doors opened and closed in the kitchen. Someone laughed softly. Tiny feet p

  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 22

    Suzan’s POVEmerald leaned over the table, resting her chin in her hands as she looked up at Draven. "Mr. Sterling?""Yes, Emerald?""Why don't you have a little girl like me?"My breath locked in my throat. Every nerve in my body went taut as iron. I froze, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as I waited for his answer, praying my face wouldn't betray the sudden, terrifying panic surging through my veins.Draven didn't pull away from her. His expression grew tender, shadowed by a quiet, lingering grief."I used to think..." he began slowly, his voice raspy with emotion, "...that I wasn't built to be a father. I thought I had too many responsibilities."He reached out, his broad fingers gently brushing a stray lock of dark hair away from Emerald's forehead, a gesture so natural, so instinctually paternal, that it brought an agonizing sting to the back of my eyes."But standing in this room today..." Draven whispered, his gray eyes lingering on her face, "...I realize I was ju

  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 21

    Draven's POVThe soft click of the apartment door echoed through the quiet hallway behind me.For a second that felt like a long moment, I didn't move. My hand remained wrapped around the brass doorknob, as though some invisible force was asking me to stay just a little longer.It had been years since I had experience of a home that felt... alive.Not the sterile perfection of my penthouse, nor the imposing silence of Sterling Manor. This place had been different. It smelled faintly of roasted garlic, fresh bread, and the lavender detergent Sarah apparently preferred. There had been laughter around the table, chairs scraping against hardwood floors, Edward's dry humor, Sarah's gentle scolding, and Emerald's endless stream of questions.It wasn't extravagant. It wasn't carefully orchestrated. It was simply home.I released the doorknob and turned toward the private elevator. Just as the doors slid open, a tiny voice cut through the hall."Mr. Sterling!"I stopped immediately. Small foo

  • The Antidote To His Ruin    Chapter 20

    20Draven's POV I had negotiated multi-billion-dollar acquisitions. I had stared down hostile boards and argued before congressional oversight committees without my pulse quickening by a single beat.None of it had prepared me for being led down a hallway by a five-year-old girl whose entire hand barely wrapped around two of my fingers."Come on," Emerald urged, tugging impatiently with surprising force. "You walk too slowly."A low laugh escaped me before I could catch it. "I've generally been accused of the opposite.""Well, those people were wrong," she stated with absolute authority.I allowed her to pull me toward the last door on the left. The moment I stepped over the threshold, the air caught in my throat.Seeing the room through her eyes made every phone call with the design team worth it. When they had presented four generic concepts early yesterday morning, I had rejected every single one.‘She’s curious,’ I had told the head designer. ‘Don't paint it pink just because she

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