*****As soon as Grace’s voice cut through the air in the room, it carried a chilling heaviness… the kind of coldness that wasn’t just heard of, but felt in the bones, rapidly sliding across the room like an invisible frost, and leaving goosebumps in its wake.In that very instant, everyone stiffened, their breaths hitching, but none more so than her parents… the very targets of her words.Unlike the others, who merely shivered all over at the chill in Grace’s voice, Williams and Susan went completely rigid, their bodies locking in place as though bound by her icy command, their faces drained and stunned.They could see what others couldn’t... the silent storm brewing in her eyes, revealing to them that her emotions had shifted beyond indifference.It was now judgment... disappointment that had been honed into something harsher.And worst of all? They couldn’t fight it.That’s right.They couldn’t summon even the slightest courage to refuse her, the emotions in her gaze and vo

***** At first, Grace had only assumed her parents wanted to discuss the contract on her behalf. That had been tolerable. But the sight of a pen's ink on the page mocked her. This wasn’t a discussion… it was consent. A consent given without her and against her. But the question is… why? Why would her parents... her own parents do something so vile? Grace tried desperately to make sense of their train of thought, but she failed drastically, her hands trembling as the words of the contract replayed in her mind, each line cutting deeper than the last. This agreement wasn’t just a deal to make her a powerless figurehead. No, it was worse… much worse. It was enslavement… Mason’s slave. The thought alone made Grace’s breathing come heavy and unsteady. She wanted to scream, rip the document apart, burn the room down, and scatter the ashes. But instead, her voice cracked out, sounding raw and seething with millions of emotions. “Why?!” she growled, her voice containing not

*****“Wifey… you dropped your key.”The voice was so sudden, so unexpected, and so absurdly out of place that it instantly sliced straight through the thick tension suffocating the room.In the following second, every head jerked at once, everyone startled by the unexpected voice. Then Nico’s and his family’s hearts slam in his chest, their pulses spiking in unison as they found the voice oddly vividly familiar, like it belonged to one terrifying enemy.With this, Mason and Honey’s faces drained of all color, paling so fast that they looked like chalk statues about to crumble, a bone-deep fear radiating from them instinctively, like prey that had just heard the growl of a predator in the dark.Their father and grandfather weren’t any better, and together with everyone else, the four turned stiffly… almost in military synchronization, toward the direction of the voice.And when their eyes landed on him…They all froze in place, everyone unable to react.A handsome youth stood

*****Xavier, completely oblivious to the elderly patriarch’s emotion, held Mason in his glare for a second longer, his eyes sharp as glass and cold like ice.Then finally… after a moment had passed, he exhaled loudly through his nose and gave an exaggerated snort, fuming unhappily“Honestly, you can go on cursing people to die all you want,” he muttered, his tone low and tinged with complete disdain and cold indifference.He appeared slightly furious and unhappy, his tone devoid of warmth… sounding only cold and simmering fury. “But don’t you dare drag me into your little death wishes.”And just like that… as though Mason hadn’t just asked him why he hadn’t died, the pale guy ceased to exist for him.With the dismissiveness of a man swatting away a fly, Xavier turned his attention back to Grace, his frown melting instantly, replaced by that bright, almost reckless smile of someone incapable of hurting even a fly.“Wifey,” he called out cheerfully, his voice far too light and b

*****At this moment, Xavier’s eyes were wide as full moons, his jaw hanging loose in disbelief. He looked as if someone had just experienced the greatest shock of his life.He didn’t simply appear surprised… he looked so wounded and gutted, as though Grace had stabbed him straight through the heart.And whether that wound was genuine or the brilliant performance of a man who knew how to manipulate hearts, no one could say.Yet it felt real… so real that even Grace, who until now had locked herself away in the fortress of her own grief, faltered.Her parents’ betrayal had already left her fragile, broken-hearted, silent, and closed off, yet Xavier’s shattered expression slipped right through her defenses.For a fleeting moment, she lowered her head in shame, an unmistakable expression of remorse and shame flickering across her eyes She looked almost like a child caught red-handed and too ashamed to lift her head. But while all eyes were dazedly darting between Xavier’s raw a