LOGINEvangeline Grace Meadow. Everything about her life was going so perfectly—almost exactly as she had planned in her notebook—and she was proud of all the achievements she had gained in her 27 years of life. Getting a job as a full-time doctor at Seattle's largest hospital, living in the luxury apartment that every person in Seattle dreams of, having a handsome fiancé who loves her—at least that's what she believes. However, her perfect life turns into the most painful misfortune when she finds out her fiancé is cheating on her in front of her eyes. Until one night, when she was trying to release all her pain, she met a mysterious man with a sharp smile and eyes as blue as the Caribbean sea. A brief encounter. A brief conversation. That man—Exel… his touch... his gaze... his fingers that gripped tightly in the most perfect spot Eve could imagine. All of it burned Eve to the bone—making her willingly beg for the next touch. Unfortunately, both Eve and Exel know that their brief encounter on that one hot night will never happen again—and there shouldn't be. Yet again, one short night managed to change her life. She meets Exel again under... very different situation that makes them bond because of her pregnancy that happened without them knowing it. So what happens when Eve finds out that Exel's life isn't as beautiful as his smile? Not as bright as the light of his eyes. Instead, Exel lives in the darkest underground life—a life full of danger and real horror. But what if Eve was curious about those dangers? What if she was tempted by the sweet sin Exel's offered? * * * When Everyone called her Eve because her name was Evangeline, but he called her Angel because she is his real angel.
View More“Put that down. Dance with me.”
Elara froze mid-step.
The voice came from behind her — low, controlled, the kind of voice that cut straight through the layers of ballroom chatter and champagne glass clinks. It didn’t rise. It didn’t need to. It simply commanded.
Her fingers tightened around the tray she was carrying. Her heart gave a startled kick as she slowly turned.
And then she saw him.
Adrian Valcourt.
Up close, he didn’t look like the photos plastered across business magazines and city billboards. He looked sharper, colder, impossibly more real — tall and tailored in a black tuxedo that seemed made for him and only him. His presence didn’t just draw attention. It suffocated it. He was the kind of man people pretended not to stare at while staring anyway.
Elara’s breath stalled. “Sir… I’m working.”
“You won’t be for the next three minutes.”
Before she could argue, he removed the tray from her hands with a smooth, unhurried gesture and passed it to another server without lowering his eyes. The server nearly stumbled trying to take it, clearly terrified by the proximity.
Elara wasn’t sure what terrified her more — the boldness of him, or the fact that the room around them had gone unnervingly still.
“I can’t just leave my shift,” she whispered.
“You can. You’re already doing it.”
He extended his hand.
Not politely.
Not softly.
But with quiet, absolute expectation.
The orchestra, as if sensing the universe had shifted, changed tempo into a slow, sweeping waltz. Guests parted without needing instruction. Eyes followed. A senator’s wife gasped. A young woman in a silver gown glared at Elara with venom.
Elara felt the heat of every stare. She should walk away. She should run. She should blend back into the hum of the event where people like her were invisible.
But her hand rose toward his almost against her will, like something magnetic pulled her toward him.
His fingers closed around hers.
Warm. Certain. Too sure.
Adrian guided her onto the center of the polished marble floor. The dancers who had been there moments ago stepped aside in a clean circle, as if this moment belonged only to the two of them.
His hand slid to her waist.
Her pulse jumped so hard she felt it in her throat.
“You’re tense,” Adrian murmured.
“You just interrupted my job,” she breathed.
“I improved your evening. There’s a difference.”
Her lips parted in shock. Who said things like that? Who meant them?
His steps were smooth, precise, impossible to fight. She followed because there was nowhere else for her body to go. His presence crowded out logic, out oxygen, out everything except the uncomfortable awareness of him.
“You could have chosen anyone here,” Elara whispered.
“I didn’t want anyone here.”
Her breath caught. “But why me?”
His gaze shifted — something sharp, something unreadable, something that made her chest tighten.
“That,” he said softly, “is not a conversation for this room.”
His voice held a weight she couldn’t decipher but felt in her bones.
Around them, whispers thickened. Someone snapped a photo. A businessman muttered something about impropriety. The event planner who’d hired her stared from the edge of the crowd, face pale with panic.
Elara forced herself not to look away.
His hand tightened slightly at her waist, guiding her through a turn that made her hair brush his shoulder.
“You’re doing well,” he said.
“I’ve never danced a waltz in front of two hundred people.”
“You’ve never danced one with me.”
Her pulse skidded.
She hated that it affected her. She hated more that she didn’t understand why it did.
“What do you want from me?” she asked, voice barely above a breath.
Adrian’s jaw shifted. “I want you to stop looking around as if someone else deserves this moment.”
Her face warmed instantly.
“You don’t even know my name,” she said.
“I do.”
Her stomach dipped. “How?”
He didn’t answer.
The waltz reached its crescendo, the final notes sweeping the room like a held breath. Adrian slowed their steps, but he didn’t let go. For a moment, it felt like the music itself was waiting for him to decide it was over.
Only when the last note faded into silence did he release her hand.
But only for a heartbeat.
He took her hand again — this time not to guide a dance, but to slip something into her palm.
A small ivory card.
Elara looked down at it in confusion.
Before she could speak, Adrian leaned in, his breath brushing the side of her face.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “Ten. Valcourt Foundation.”
Elara’s pulse faltered. “Why?”
His eyes held hers, dark and deliberate.
“Come alone.”
That was not an answer.
It was a warning.
Or an invitation.
Or both.
“Sir—”
“Don’t be late.”
He pulled back, expression unreadable, and walked away through the crowd as if the earth itself cleared a path for him.
Elara stood frozen in the center of the dance floor with the card burning against her palm. People whispered around her — who was she, why her, what did he want — but the words blurred into a distant hum.
She stared at the card.
No logo.
No message.
Only his name embossed in gold foil:
Adrian Valcourt
Her throat tightened.
Why her?
Why dance?
Why tomorrow?
Why alone?
The questions tangled together until she couldn’t breathe around them.
She slipped the card into her pocket and backed off the dance floor with trembling steps, feeling every stare licking at her like heat.
Her shift resumed around her, but she moved as if underwater, carrying trays, smiling mechanically, replaying his voice again and again.
Come alone.
Ten.
Valcourt Foundation.
That night, she lay in her small, dim apartment staring at the ceiling, unable to blink away the heaviness in her chest.
Adrian Valcourt.
The man who danced with no one.
The heir who avoided gossip.
The billionaire who vanished from events early.
And tonight he
had chosen her.
Not just to dance.
But to summon.
As the hours dragged, one question refused to loosen its grip:
Why did Adrian Valcourt want to see her tomorrow?
Eve spent many years of her life thinking she might end up with the man who became her fiancé months ago. She never felt that there was anything wrong with her life or the plans she had laid out in her mind. Everything went normally, but perhaps she had to accept the fact that in her life, she not only had to face heartbreak but also witnessed a great betrayal that left a deep scar.Despite all the bad things that had happened in her life—loss, disappointment, pain, and sorrow that crushed her—he would never forget any of it. She would embrace every wound she had endured and carry it with her throughout her life, keeping a part of it alongside every happiness she might experience with the man she chose.And she was certain that happiness would be perfect if she spent it with Axel—together with all the flaws and scars they had faced together.The bright morning sun with white clouds adorning the blue sky was the best thing she could ask for on her happy day—one of the happiest days of
As Axel said last night, he had indeed been at her house since this morning. Eve had to admit that he woke up earlier and came to her house before she even had a chance to wake up.Well, her sleep was not as sound and easy as before—just as she thought last night. However, she managed to sleep by 3 AM, which was a decent achievement considering she once thought she couldn’t sleep until morning.“You always wake up late,” Axel teased her with a playful smile as he spread chocolate spread on his whole-grain bread. “You like chocolate spread, don’t you?” He asked while placing the bread on Eve’s plate.Eve knew her parents were quietly observing what Axel was doing. And it seemed they were also trying to find answers to their conversation last night—a conversation that was still not fully resolved.“The maid didn’t prepare much because Eve didn’t say you were coming for breakfast. If we had known, we would have prepared better.”“That’s not necessary at all, Mrs. Meadow. I like what’s pr
Eve still remembers every detail of the streets in New York even though it has been a long time since she visited her hometown. This place still remains a part of her life, although she realizes that another part of her life has settled in Seattle with all the complications she left behind.Her parents welcomed her as Axel's car entered the spacious yard of her family's mansion. There are a few details that are different from what she last remembered, but this place is still the mansion where she grew up from childhood to adulthood. She recalls every dream she once thought of as she walked through the mansion's yard. She remembers planning to leave her parents' mansion and live on her own—flying with her own wings.Now, she is no longer a teenage girl who carries a notebook everywhere to write down everything she wants to do. Now, she chooses to live freely—following whatever is in front of her and trying to get through each day with slow steps. Not because she has lost her dreams and
Axel seemed to have forgotten the last time he visited his parents' graves. He used to come here every time he visited New York on his birthday—exactly on the anniversary of his mother’s death. He would come with a single flower and place it on his mother's tombstone, leaving his father's grave empty because he didn’t know what flowers the man liked. After all, his father probably wouldn’t care about any flowers placed on his tombstone since the only thing that mattered to him was being reunited with his wife, Beatrice.However, this time, Axel did something different. Instead of a single red rose, he brought a large bouquet—something he clearly did not buy based on his own decision. And not just one but two bouquets with the same content and size as if they were intentionally made to be identical.“Ah, if Aunty Beatrice knew the mess Axel has made recently, I’m sure I’d see him scream in pain from pinching him. He deserves a spanking for troubling everyone,” Cailynn complained like a






Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
reviewsMore