Todos los capítulos de I Offered My Body, He Asked for My Heart: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

By midnight, Elena had stopped caring where she was going.She had left the Ashford mansion with one suitcase, a dead phone battery, and enough humiliation to last several lifetimes. After sitting in the back of a taxi for nearly an hour, she had ended up at one of the most expensive hotels in the city. She had no reservation, no plan, and absolutely no intention of going home.Home.The word almost made her laugh.She ordered a drink at the hotel bar and finished it before the bartender had even finished wiping the counter."Another."The bartender studied her. "Are you sure?"Elena lifted her eyes. "Do I look like someone who makes good decisions tonight?"He hesitated, then poured another.By the third glass, the anger had become easier to carry.By the fourth, Adrian's face was beginning to blur in her memory.Vivian's voice followed.You always had everything, Elena.She slammed her glass onto the counter."Then take it all," she muttered. "I don't want any of it anymore."The ba

Elena knew something was wrong the moment she walked into the Ashford family office and saw Vivian sitting beside Adrian instead of across from him. The two of them looked almost absurdly comfortable together, as though they had been married for years rather than carrying on an affair behind her back. Vivian was wearing a delicate diamond bracelet Elena remembered giving her for her twenty-fifth birthday, while Adrian had one arm resting casually behind the back of her chair. Across the table sat Elena's father, his expression cold and impatient, and beside him was a lawyer with a thick folder already open. Elena stopped at the doorway and stared at them. She had expected a divorce meeting. Instead, she had walked into what looked suspiciously like a celebration of her replacement.Her father glanced at the clock. "You're late."Elena slowly pulled out the chair opposite them. "Good morning to you too, Dad.""Don't start."She almost laughed. "I haven't said anything yet.""You've cau

Elena had spent the entire night wondering whether going to Vale Tower was the stupidest decision she had made since marrying Adrian. The answer was probably yes. Still, at eight fifty-eight the next morning, she stood in the lobby of the tallest building in the city, staring up at a ceiling made of black glass and wondering what kind of person voluntarily walked into the territory of a man everyone else seemed terrified to approach. The receptionist had barely glanced at her name before her expression changed and she immediately picked up the phone. There was no questioning her appointment, no request to wait, and certainly no surprise that Lucien Vale was expecting her. That bothered Elena more than it should have. She had never met this man properly until yesterday, yet somehow he had known enough about her situation to summon her here. A private elevator took her to the top floor. When the doors opened, Elena stepped into an office that looked nothing like the extravagant

Elena had spent the entire morning telling herself that she was not going to Vale Tower. She had even gone as far as making coffee, opening her laptop, and spreading the documents across the hotel desk with the intention of investigating Vantage Meridian herself. Forty minutes later, she was standing in front of the very building she had sworn she wouldn't visit, glaring at its black glass entrance as though it had personally betrayed her. The problem was that she had found something during her investigation, something she couldn't make sense of without Lucien's help. She hated admitting that. After everything that had happened with Adrian, the last thing she wanted was to become dependent on another powerful man. Still, she had learned one thing during the past few days: pride was expensive, and she could no longer afford it.When she entered Lucien's office, he was seated behind his desk, reading a report. He glanced up once, and Elena immediately knew she had made the right decisio

Elena had barely stepped out of the hotel the following afternoon when she received an invitation she had no intention of accepting. The message was from Adrian's mother, politely requesting her presence at a charity luncheon hosted by the Ashford Foundation. Elena read it twice before laughing under her breath. Three days ago, they had stripped her of her position, her home, her husband's name, and nearly everything she had spent years building with them. Now they wanted her at their charity luncheon as though nothing had happened. She should have deleted the invitation, but then she noticed the final line.Your father believes it would be in everyone's best interest if you attended.That was enough.Elena put on a simple cream dress, tied her hair back, and went.The ballroom fell strangely quiet when she walked in.Conversations didn't stop completely, but they softened enough for her to hear the whispers following her across the room."That's Elena.""She actually came?""I heard