Lorenzo swallowed hard, his knuckles turning white against the leather steering wheel as he forced his emotions down. "Alright, Roxana. Hang on."He smoothly adjusted his route, steering the Bugatti directly into the exclusive, high-society commercial district until he pulled up before a grand, majestic five-star skyscraper: The Lancaster Eclipse.He killed the engine, stepping out of the vehicle and lifting Roxana back into his arms.He turned his head to look at Tessa, who was stepping out of the rear seat with a deeply flushed, nervous expression.She looked at Lorenzo’s handsome face, a secret, forbidden spark of attraction igniting in her chest, but remembering that he belonged entirely to her superior, she quickly lowered her head to avoid overstepping her boundaries."Tessa, do you want to come inside and secure a room for the evening?" Lorenzo asked politely, his voice calm."N-No, Master Lancaster!" Tessa stammered quickly, her face turning bright red as she backed toward the

He looked down at her quiet, resting features, the delicate line of her jaw looking small and vulnerable against the massive bed.A profound, aching tenderness softened the harsh lines of his face.In this urgent, chaotic moment, they were nothing but a pretend couple playing a dangerous game of survival for the public eye.He was a Lancaster sovereign, a man who held the keys to the most dominant global conglomerate in the city, yet he would rather let his own blood run cold than take a single, unmerited advantage of a woman who couldn't defend her own soul.Lorenzo leaned down slightly, his lips gently, reverently pressing a brief, reassuring kiss against her cool forehead."You saved my life when we were children, Roxana," Lorenzo murmured, his deep baritone a quiet vow that vibrated into the empty space of the suite."You pulled my suffocating body out of the freezing ice when the entire world wanted me dead. Now...I will do absolutely everything to protect your kingdom. Anyone wh

Vexed and hyper-fixated, Chloe rapidly scrolled through her private directory, her thumb flying across the screen until she dialed Barry Sterling’s private hospital suite at Oakhaven General.The line crackled with static, ringing three long, agonizing times before the receiver clicked open.Barry’s weak, heavily medicated voice came through the speaker, sounding distant and thoroughly exhausted. "Chloe? What the hell do you want? I'm trying to rest. The doctors just gave me another dose of sedatives for my chest injuries.""Barry! Listen to me very carefully right now!" Chloe hissed, her face contorting into a mask of pure, frantic desperation as she paced the length of the marble hallway."My internal contact inside Vance Tech just reported that Assistant Tessa has returned to the building! She claims that Roxana has been rescued from your family’s ancestral compound! How could your elite security detail fail to get rid of a single fragile girl and a broke student?!"On his luxury h

"Because I want to keep our family alive, you idiot!" Jonathan roared back, his chest heaving under the foam binders as he laid down the final, brutal rule of the Sterling succession."Listen to my voice, Barry. You have proved yourself to be entirely useless to my legacy. I am establishing an official decree today: whoever among you and your younger brother Leo can successfully track down Lorenzo and secure his written forgiveness for our family...will inherit the entire multi-million dollar Sterling underworld empire. If neither of you can bring his signed forgiveness to my desk before the week ends...then I will personally donate every single one of our global assets, our real estate, and our offshore funds to the international public charities before I die! Now, get me out of this disgusting room!""Dad! No! You can't do this to me!" Barry screamed, trying to scramble out of his medical sheets, his hands clawing at the empty air as the bodyguard smoothly turned the motorized steel

Chloe choked out, her voice a low, gravelly whisper of pure venom as she forcefully wiped the tears from her face, her eyes flashing with a wild, desperate hatred.She violently turned toward the bed, her boots stepping over the shattered glass fragments. "Fine! I will give you his home address, Barry! It's the standard, low-class residential dormitory near the Oakhaven south university sector! Let's get the car from the valet! Let's go find your broke student!"Limping heavily against a pair of aluminum medical crutches, his face swollen and his pinstripe trousers stained with dried blood, Barry Sterling slowly, agonizingly dragged his broken frame out of the hospital bed.Supported on his right side by the shaking, weeping frame of Chloe Hawthorne, the two disgraced high-society heirs moved toward the exit like a pair of broken ghosts, their vanity completely stripped away by the shadow of the ledger.Justin Howard remained standing by the window in absolute silence, his face a holl