LOGINMore chapters on the way...😻😻💜💜
The tension in the room grew thicker with Lucian’s last statement. Well... for the Vaughns. Because Elara couldn't stop grinning as she stared at Lucian with a loving gaze.For the Vaughns... The air felt wrong, too still, and too sharp, as if even the smallest movement might shatter whatever fragile restraint was barely holding everything together for them.No one breathed normally. Every inhale dragged, slow and heavy, scraping against the silence.Every exhale sounded too loud, like a mistake they didn't want to commit. And then... The door slammed open suddenly. There was no knock. It was a violent, bone-rattling crack that tore through the room so suddenly and so forcefully, it felt like the walls themselves shuddered under the impact.Every head snapped toward the entrance. Just who the hell opened the door like that?There stood... Nathan, Seraphina, Lisa, and Felix.They didn’t rush in despite the fire burning in their hearts.They walked in with a kind of quiet authority,
But then... “You were part of this family!” he barked, his composure cracking over and over as he tried to rein in his impulse. “You lived under our roof—” “As what?” she fired back instantly. That question hung in the air like a blade, making Aaron falter. She was right. How was she under their roof? Elara’s lips curved into something bitter. “Say it,” she challenged. “Go on, don't keep me in suspense.” Aaron said nothing. Because he couldn’t. There was no true answer to her question. “Exactly,” Elara said. Her gaze shifted briefly, sweeping over the others... the so-called family she once belonged to. “I was never your daughter,” she continued, her voice quieter now but filled with something far more cutting than anger. “I was the adopted one. The extra. The one you tolerated until your real daughter came back.” Evelyn stiffened and her eyes instantly shifted towards Lucian. Marjorie’s lips parted. “Elara, that’s not...” “Don’t,” Elara snapped, her eyes flashing. “Don’t
Aaron’s jaw tightened, the muscles ticking visibly as he took a step forward, his eyes locked on Lucian like a man itching for a fight he wasn’t sure he could win, but too prideful to walk away from. “You think you can just sit there and...” Lucian didn’t even look at him. Not even once. He was done talking to a wall. Heck! The reason he allowed them into the room was so that he could warn them to stay away from us inve and for all. He remained seated on the edge of the hospital bed, his posture relaxed, one hand gently wrapped around Elara’s, his thumb brushing slow, soothing circles over her skin like the Vaughns and Aaron’s presence didn’t exist, like his voice was nothing more than background noise. It wasn’t just dismissive. It was humiliating. And they deserved it. Naahh... they deserved more than that. Aaron’s voice rose, sharper this time, laced with frustration. “I’m talking to you!” Still nothing. Lucian’s attention never shifted. If anything, his grip on Elara’s hand
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said finally, quieter now, but no less strained. “You think you can just walk in and understand everything? You think you know her better than I do? I grew up with her! I've been with her throughout her life! You are just a stranger.” Lucian’s expression didn’t change. It was as if whatever that Aaron did couldn't get to him. “I don’t need to know her better than you did,” he replied. Another step forward. Now there was barely any space left between them. “I just need to know that I would never treat her the way you did.” That... That hit. Not like a blow. Like a truth Aaron couldn’t dodge. “You don’t know what I did,” he said, but his voice had dropped, lost its earlier force, like even he wasn’t entirely convinced anymore. Lucian tilted his head slightly, studying him, not with anger, not with hatred, but with something far more cutting. Like... Aaron was a nobody. “I know enough.” He said. Aaron’s hands curled into fists, his
The silence didn’t break when Lucian turned away. If anything, it deepened and tightened, as a noose pulled one inch closer without warning. Aaron felt it before he fully understood it. That terrifying, irreversible shift. Because Lucian walking away wasn’t dismissal. It was a judgment already passed. It was the kind of quiet that came after a verdict, when the sentence had already been decided and there was nothing left to argue, nothing left to salvage, just the slow, suffocating realization that whatever came next would not be negotiated. Aaron’s fingers twitched against the floor, nails scraping faintly against the surface as he struggled to push himself upright, but his strength betrayed him. His body refused to cooperate, as it had finally caught up with the truth his mind was still trying to outrun. “No...no, you don’t get just to walk away,” he choked out, the words raw and uneven, filled with something close to desperation. Lucian didn’t even stop to give him a glance
The silence that followed was deafening. No... this was the kind that came before something worse, something inevitable, something irreversible.It felt heavy, almost suffocating, like it was pressing down on everyone at once. It was hard to breathe, hard to think, as if even the smallest movement might break something fragile and dangerous.No one moved or spoke. Because the man standing there had just made one thing painfully clear... there was a line, and he had drawn it himself. And everyone in that room knew, without a doubt, that crossing it would come with consequences.Lucian stepped a few steps away from Aaron Close enough that his presence dominated the space entirely, far too close for Aaron to pretend there was any escape left to him. Aaron remained on the floor, his palm pressed weakly against the cold surface beneath him as though it were the only thing anchoring him to reality, his fingers trembling despite his effort to steady them. His mind lagged behind the mom
There were empires he could run without blinking, hostile negotiations he could crush with a single word, but this woman saying she planned to kidnap him into marriage apparently short-circuited him completely. Elara burst into laughter. Real laughter, light and uncontrollable, bubbling up from so
Lucian slowly lifted his head as Elara reached him, his dark gaze locking onto hers. Close now, she could see the tension in his posture, the tightness in his jaw even though his expression remained composed."I came," he said. His tone was detached, almost lazy, but his hands were clenched tightl
"Let's get out of here," Lucian said softly to her. Elara’s heart was beating so fast. Nevertheless, she nodded, small, almost imperceptible, yet filled with determination, and then followed Lucian out of the chapel, with every gaze in the entire building glued to their backs. People shifted in th
CHAPTER SEVEN Lucian Hale sat in the back seat of his black luxury car, his long legs crossed with dignity, his spine straight, his presence commanding even in silence, as his driver smoothly navigated the road leading back to the Hale residence. The city passed by outside the window but Lucian d







