The sunlight from the window settled on her scarred face. She sighed a little, moving her head to hide her eyes from the rays. She muttered a curse under her breath because the sunlight still hurt her eyes anyway, then she opened her eyes and raised herself slowly up on the bed. Her gaze went around the room, the first thing she saw was Nicholas, still in a suit shirt and plain trousers, leaning against a seat and sleeping.Seeing him brought back the memory of how he and her ended up here. Unintentionally, a warm smile pulled up her lips. To think he actually spent the night watching over her. Immediately she thought of that, her gut twisted and her smile vanished, replaced by the sad feeling of guilt.Her mind took a moment to think of all the things he did for her because he trusted her without knowing she had been betraying that trust since the beginning. She sighed, somewhere deep down in her heart she felt like she might be a monster because of this. She clicked her tongue, look

When normal people got terribly injured, they usually spent the whole recovery time in bed. But Nora, being Nora, was dragging Nicholas around a mall as soon as she could walk without falling over."This is a funeral, not a gala," Nicholas reminded her for the millionth time."That's just what you think," she replied in that mysterious way of hers.Nicholas waited, but she went on scrutinizing a row of black tuxedos like she was trying to find a flaw, humming under her breath."Well?" he said. "Are you going to explain?"She gave him a smile that said she had been waiting for this question."Do you want to take a guess?" she asked.Nicholas gave it some thought."I take it that funerals in the Belford family aren't actually for mourning the deceased?" he said wryly."Bingo," she replied. "So you know what to expect."Of course he did.All the founding fathers were gathering once more, right after the death of the patriarch. Right after his identity as the patriarch's successor had bee

Nora had been right. The patriarch's funeral was nothing like a funeral. In fact, it looked more like a Briggerton themed party. The members of the Belford family were walking around in their best dinner clothes, sampling hors d'oeuvres and sipping champagne, talking and laughing. There were enough guests in that hall to fill a football field, all of them dignitaries from every corner of the world, and not a single one looked like they were there to mourn anybody.Instead, they looked like they were celebrating something.As Nicholas walked in, he had to tamp down the urge to set this place on fire with all the despicable people inside it. He could hear Nora's voice like she was right next to him.'All eyes will be on you at that event. More than ever, you must appear unaffected by anything that has happened.'All eyes were indeed on him. He could feel the people gawking at him, no matter how hard they tried to pretend like they weren't watching his every move. One particular glare st

"Damn it!" Nadya shouted, throwing her coffee at the wall. "Who did this to me? How dare they?!"The assistants standing in a row against the wall flinched, watching her warily."What do you mean you can't do anything about this?" she screamed. "Get out, all of you! I don't want to see your faces ever again. In fact, you're fired!"The assistants knew better than to protest. They scurried out of the office like rats, and Nadya slumped into her seat, still fuming."How is this happening to me? Me!" she continued to complain.Her gaze returned to the tablet in front of her, and more specifically, to the article displayed on the screen. It had only been a week since it happened, but the incident at the funeral was already making headlines. Even worse, most of her customers had announced that they were going to boycott La Femme Fashion House, and were encouraging other people to do so as well. A well-known model already has millions of fans vowing to follow her example and avoid all La Fe

Nadya kept staring incredulously at Nicholas, like she expected him to suddenly declare that he was joking.Unfortunately for her, that wasn't going to happen. He watched her calmly, waiting to see what she would do.Nadya was many things, but she wasn't a fool. She wouldn't have lasted this long as a founding father if she had been one.She was smart enough to understand her current situation. She had lost her reputation, her credibility as a CEO, and her place in the Belford family, all at once.She was about to suffer the very same fate she had killed her sister to avoid: becoming a nameless bottom feeder.It was clear to everybody present that she didn't trust Nicholas. In fact, she would be foolish to do so. But it was also clear that she didn't have any other hope. It wasn't like there were a lot of people lining up to help her. Still, it was one thing to know that you had no other choice, and it was another thing to set your pride aside and do something like this.When Nadya con