Semua Bab Craving his control : Bab 91 - Bab 100

I’ve always known power could be intoxicating. What I didn’t know what no one prepared me for was how devastating it could feel when you’re no longer sure who’s wielding it.Helena.She used to be a fascination. A storm wrapped in diamond armor, something I could contain, manipulate, even mold.Now she’s fire.And I’m the fool holding the match too close.The boardroom smelled of tension and aged oak. The silence was surgical. Cold. Deliberate."Mr. Vale," one of the board members cleared his throat, his voice the only thing braver than the room's quiet. "We were told you'd present your counterstrategy. A response to Ms. Declan’s aggressive acquisition proposal."I stood slowly, buttoning my charcoal suit jacket, gaze fixed on Helena at the end of the long table.She looked stunning. Regal. Not a hair out of place. She didn’t blink when I met her eyes. She never blinked."Of course," I said, my voice calm even as my thoughts scrambled.Because I didn’t expect her to beat me to the pun

The sun had barely risen when the first wave of repercussions hit.The morning after Lucien’s proposal—no, demand—for a merger, the world felt different. Colder. Thinner. Like I was walking on glass, knowing the slightest wrong step could shatter everything.But I didn’t care.I couldn’t afford to care.Lucien was right. Our lives had never been just business. Or just love. They were always a collision of both, explosive and consuming.The coffee cup in my hand trembled ever so slightly, but I steadied it before taking a sip. The first sip should have burned, but instead, it tasted sweet. Strong. Like a victory only he and I could claim.But the weight of the coming storm was already heavy in my chest.The fallout had already started.---The next few hours passed in a blur.My phone buzzed incessantly with emails, messages, and calls from the board of Declan Corp. They weren’t pleased. At all.The merger wasn’t a partnership as Lucien had framed it. No. This wasn’t a romantic entangl

The rain hadn’t stopped since dawn. It slammed against the tall windows of my penthouse like an unrelenting warning — rhythmic, cold, and furious. I stood at the edge of the marble balcony, the city lights below warping behind the downpour. Somewhere beneath those shadows was Helena.And she was slipping away.I hadn’t meant for it to go this far. But when you spend your life building armor, you forget how to bleed — until it’s too late.Her voice echoed in my head, a thousand times louder than the thunder:"You don't get to decide what I feel for you anymore, Lucien. You've buried the truth for too long."She was right.I had buried it. Drowned it. Starved it.But love has a way of rotting beneath the surface if you don't let it breathe.And now… I was drowning in it.Three Days EarlierHelena had stormed out of the boardroom — after the revelation about the Xander Foundation.Not even my silence could protect her anymore.She knew.She knew that my father’s name was scrawled all ove

The cold was no longer just outside the windows—it lived inside me.I stood in the Declan estate’s great hall, the chandelier above casting fractured light onto the marble. My heels clicked as I walked toward the massive portrait of my father, the man who once ruled this empire with iron fists but gave his heart to my mother without restraint.And now, it was my turn to choose.Lucien’s confession still echoed in my mind. The night he broke—when his carefully cultivated control slipped and I saw the boy beneath the man. He told me about his mother. The abuse. The money. The scars that didn’t fade with time.But was that enough to forgive everything?"You're quiet today," Geneva said behind me, walking in with a stack of legal documents."Am I ever loud?"She smirked, then sobered quickly. “The board’s voting tomorrow. You’re ready?”I turned. "I was born for this.""Lucien filed a formal letter of withdrawal from all legacy rights to the Vale trust—he’s giving up everything.”I blinke

The sky was blushing with the softest shades of dusk as our car wound up the quiet hill, the one place I never thought we’d return to. The estate had been sold, renovated, and repurposed, but the bones were still there—remnants of the past lingering in the air like perfume trapped in velvet.Lucien hadn’t spoken much during the drive. He didn’t need to. His hand found mine and held it tightly, the pressure between our palms speaking all the things our mouths no longer needed to say.This was the place we had broken—where I had dared him to feel and he had run. Where we’d been two storms too furious to merge. But now? Now we’d survived the wreckage. This wasn’t about domination anymore. This was about truth. About us.I stepped out first, the pebbles crunching beneath my heels as I took in the sight of the newly restored glasshouse. It had once been a ruin of vines and decay. Now it glowed with warm lights, soft music playing from within.I turned to him. "You remembered."Lucien smile