Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 261 - Chapitre 270

Regina’s POVMorgana’s eyes widened with what she wanted me to believe was confusion.Her hands twitched slightly on the table in front of her, cuffed as they were, but even the restraints didn’t stop her from trying to loom larger than she actually was.“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice silky, laced with mock innocence. “Where did Frederick even come from? Isn’t he… your lover?”The audacity of her question made my lips twitch with a smirk I barely controlled.I’d walked into this room with nerves strung taut like piano wires, but now, seeing her slip so naturally into her act, I realized, finally, I had the upper hand.I tapped my fingernails lightly on the table, slow and deliberate. Morgana flinched at each sharp click, betraying the smallest crack in her carefully constructed armor. “Ah, so you’ve heard about him,” I said, letting my voice carry the weight of knowing something she couldn’t guess. “Or at least, you think you have.”Morgana’s brows fur

Regina’s POVI had shut myself in my office for days now. The blinds stayed drawn, my phone muted most of the time, and I only left the desk to refill the lukewarm coffee that went untouched more often than not.I knew Lindsay was outside, working harder than anyone to keep the company afloat, but I couldn’t face her. I couldn’t face anyone.It wasn’t fair, I knew that. Lindsay didn’t deserve my silence. Neither did the rest of my team. But after the humiliation at the Reinhardt Group’s showcase, after the whispers and the muffled laughter, after the cameras, I couldn’t bear anyone’s eyes on me. Not when all I could imagine was that video playing over and over in their minds.It felt like the walls were closing in.Even though Alexander had fought tooth and nail to scrub the articles from mainstream media, it hadn’t mattered. The internet was a hydra, cut off one head and two more sprouted. Sketchy blogs. Half-baked gossip sites. Forums where faceless usernames typed their judgment as

Regina’s POVI never thought I’d grow tired of the sound of camera shutters, but that was before my name became fodder for the vultures.The day had barely begun when it started.Mia was with me, skipping along the front steps of the Veyron estate as I dug for my car keys. She was humming something, off-key, silly, but the sound warmed me. That warmth vanished the moment I saw the car parked at the curb.A dark van, windows cracked, lenses glinting.And then the man stepped out. Not just any man. A journalist. One of the same ones who’d ambushed me before when something about my private life was suddenly made public. His expression was eager, almost feverish.“Miss Veyron!” he shouted, loud enough to make Mia flinch. “Miss Veyron, can you comment on the footage shown at the Reinhardt event? Were you aware of what Maxwell Chamberlain’s company was accused of?”I tightened my grip on Mia’s small hand, pulling her behind me. “No comments,” I said through clenched teeth.The journalist su

Regina’s POVThe moment hung between us like a live wire, humming, dangerous.I should have pulled back. I should have taken the comfort Maxwell had given me, his ridiculous gallantry outside the office, the small act of tending my hand, and left it at that.But something inside me, something deep, raw, and clawing, refused to be still. It had been weeks of suffocating humiliation, weeks of biting my tongue as whispers and stares followed me.Weeks of burying the tremor in my chest that no amount of control could quiet.And now here he was.Maxwell, of all people. The one I’d sworn to stay away from. The one I’d promised myself I no longer needed.And yet… when his fingers brushed mine, still faintly tingling from the ointment, my chest tightened. My pulse roared in my ears. My body betrayed me before my mind could catch up.I moved first.My hands shot out, clutching his collar, yanking him toward me with more force than I intended.Our foreheads clashed hard enough to sting, but I d

Maxwell’s POVI hadn’t known she would be here.Getting called in by the Reinhardt Group made Maxwell feel a lot of emotions.Because it reminded him of what happened in the fallout of the showcase and how Regina had been treated.And it reminded him of the time even before that, about Joshua spiking Regina’s drink, planning to take advantage.I wanted to smash something to pieces when I thought about that, preferably Joshua’s face but I knew I couldn’t be impulsive in the middle of the fraud case, which was still undecided whether they were going to move forward or not.But in the email, something like relief had also passed over her because getting this meant they most likely had been chosen for their next big project. Which meant that Regina wouldn’t have to spend time near that scumbag of a CEO.It was all too good to be true.When Regina stepped into the conference room, the air changed. I felt it in the pit of my stomach, sharp and heavy, the kind of jolt you feel when a car sto