The Billionaire's Vail のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

"I would rather die than marry him!" Lyra's voice shook, pacing the length of her father's study, her heart pounding against her ribcage. Her mind races with the weight of the decision being laid upon her, the contract clutched in her father's hands looming like a death sentence. It feels as if the very walls are closing in on her, inculcating an unnatural weight upon each breath.Lyra," Richard Caine's voice was soft, his face lined with exhaustion. Once-proud shoulders now slumped in defeat at the weight of their situation. He refused to look at her, choosing instead to gaze down at the papers on the desk in front of him. "You have no choice. This is the only way we can save our family. You don't sign, and everything your grandfather built, everything I've tried to protect, will disappear.The enormity of what was happening to her landed like a block of lead in her chest. Her whole life had been building to this, though she'd never imagined it would come to this-an agreement, bindin

Lyra's breath faltered, the low timbre of Dante's voice washing over her like ice. He had a way of stepping into a room-a silent force that just seemed to drain all the oxygen right out, leaving nothing for anybody else. The sight of him now, standing with the same darkness, made her stomach roil as the weight of his thoughts suffocated her."Miss me?" Dante's lips twisted into an almost imperceptible smile, and he shut the door behind him with deliberateness. There was just that undertone of menace running in his voice-the predator cornering his prey. He was never ruffled, and his movements were calculated to such perfection that no one could tell what he really had in mind.Her eyes widened, and her pulse quickened as she sat up, straight on the bed, her muscles tight with tension. "What do you want?" Lyra's voice came as a whisper, shaking with fear that was barely held inside.Dante stepped closer, and it was like a storm cloud looming overhead, filling that gap between them. His

It was silence that smothered her in the room. Lyra did nothing but stand upright, leaning her back against the cold wall and staring blankly at the door that had just closed behind Dante. Her heart was now heavy in her ribcage, having sat there a while; it was like an anchor that dove deep into the abyss which a stranger had warned her of. All she had wanted was the truth. She had begged for it, but now that it was clawing its way into the light, she wasn't so sure she wanted to face it. Lyra's hands still shook with the weight of his touch. The warmth of his fingers to her shoulder had lingered long enough to remind her of the man she thought she knew-the man she once loved. But that man was a stranger to her now. Her eyes, roaming around the room, searched for something, anything, to moor her in this sea of thoughts. Her gaze finally came to rest on the mirror by the door. It reflected back an image, but the woman in the glass was no longer one she knew. The dark circles under

Her feet resounded down the hall as she walked away from Dante, her back to him, in some sort of defiance that silently screamed, "I've had enough."But Dante was a man accustomed to having his every word obeyed and revered, and so he would have none of it; his voice boomed down the corridors like thunder, demanding attention, silencing all other sounds."Lyra, stop right there!" he yelled, the words hanging in the air like a challenge as his feet stamped upon the floor in that display of authority that seemed to shake the very foundations of the building.Lyra stopped and squared her shoulders, the movement slow, as she slowly turned to Dante, flashes of anger mingling in her eyes, determination lighting them with every passing second. "No, Dante, I will not remain silent for your sake," she said calmly, resolute, without a note of quavering, like unshaken granite. "I blame my dad for everything," she said, the words spilling out like a confession, like a weight that had been lifted

Aiden's voice shook with fear and disbelief: "Why death, sir?" The words fell like a challenge in the air-a challenge to Dante's resolution, as he sought to get to the bottom of this cruel penalty imposed on him. He was shocked-actually, appalled-that such failure would have the highest order of consequences that was catastrophic, and the aftermath of such a huge penalty sent his mind reeling.But I'm trying to help, sir," Aiden said, his voice breaking with emotion as he asked for mercy, for an understanding, and the words just tumbled out of his mouth in a crazy plea to lessen the severity of the sentence. By his tone, it could be told that he was emotional; he was deeply disturbed with the prospects of death, and his voice just seemed to quiver with a mixture of fear and anxiety."Aiden," Dante called out in a firm voice, his words cutting through the air like a knife as he summoned Aiden to attention; his eyes gleaming with cold, calculated light."Yes, sir," Aiden replied, his vo