"I want you to marry my daughter." The proposal hung in the air. Ten seconds into the silence that Elias didn't speak."Is Bianca aware about this?" He finally broke the silence.The old man shook his head lightly."What really matters is how she feels about you." "I understand your intention, Pa. Morreti," Elias said sincerely. "But any relationship that would last should be built based on agreement of both parties. You have no idea how she's going to feel when she has an idea you arranged a marriage for her. Moreover, you might be wrong about how you think she feels about me.""I'm protecting her." The old man added."Protecting her without her consent is a trap, Mr. Moretti." Elias said and the room fell into silence. The air conditioner buzzed loudly.The old man looked at Elias. He admitted it silently.. Bianca should be aware of it if he was going to arrange a marriage for her.He wanted protection for her granddaughter, the heiress of the family, and the only way he could

"I'm surprised the Almighty heiress of the Moretti family has no class," Amara snorted. She walked around the room in a circle, her heels echoed sharply with every step. "choosing to partner with someone like him, a mere construction worker, a man who couldn't even afford to cater for his own existence." She paused and tilted her head slightly to the side, smirking sharply. "Do I call you gullible? Myopic? Or you’re just a woman who partnered with a criminal?""Who the heck is this?" Bianca's familiar voice came through the speaker, cold as ever.At the other end, she had just walked into her room and shut the door behind her, still wearing the same outfit from the pavilion. It was still surprisingly smooth despite the activities of the day. She pressed the phone to her ear, a deep frown tightening her brow."Amara," Amara retorted with a lazy tone. "Elais' ex-husband. You slapped my mother, I'm not going to forgive you." Bianca's frown loosened slightly. She also began walking the r

Amara snorted. "You've been fooled by him. He could have trapped me in that marriage forever! Three years, I was with him, he behaved innocently, he was submissive, but i never knew he was stealing from me, my research, leeching off my money. He betrayed me! And you're his next prey!" She slid the printed documents across to her. "If you're unreasonable with my request, I'll make you drown with him. I have several copies of the research he stole from me and sold to you that you never cared to authenticate because you wanted to revive your family healthcare sector..." Bianca skimmed through the documents one after the other as she continued ranting on."..he stole everything, to bring me down. I'm not coming down. Never. He's going down, with you if you don't do what I demand!"Bianca looked away from the document back to her. Amara already expected her to start trembling or negotiating, but the ice queen's expression remained as solid as reinforced steel.She waved the documents lig

Bianca's cheek flushed red in embarrassment.Every heartbeat hammered in her ear. Elias' chest rose and fell in steady breath under her palm. The contact felt electric, charging up her heartbeat faster and faster like the organ was about to rip through her rib.Close up, her beauty zoomed into Elias' eyes under the bright roof light that left nothing hidden. Her face was meticulously carved, every feature it carried, shaped to perfection. The soft silk of her gown shifted slightly under his arm wrapped around his waist. The expensive perfume and whatever brand of shampoo used for her hair treatment suffocated Elias' nostril.Bianca was beautiful in the way art was— cold and Impossibly untouchable, the woman every man had been chasing and getting rejected, was right in his arm, looking vulnerable.Her beauty transcends Amara's.This was no glam-up. It was natural.Bianca's ringing phone shattered the silence. She pulled away from him, snatched the phone, still trying to control her ha

"Marry me, Amara," He said bluntly.Silence fell over the phone.Amara's expression went through a cycle of emotions from confusion to disbelief and then shock.A marriage proposal when her company was on the verge of collapse? "What are you doing, Richard? Are you planning to sabotage things for me right n—""I'm offering to make things work smoothly for you." Richard cut her off clean. He leaned in, his voice convincing and confident. "You need me, Amara. Without me in that room, you'll be finished.""Are you threatening me right now?" Amara raised a brow, unable to comprehend where Richard was driving at. "What did you intend to benefit from this because I can't understand the contextual agreement between marriage and the help you're offering."Richard chuckled softly, it wasn't quite a smile. That was him mocking Amara's naivety.Richard believed the legendary Doctor is just a tale, or maybe an old man decomposed six feet in the soil. He claimed the title, and Titan Medics is sni