The afternoon breeze carried a crisp scent, rustling the leaves in the courtyard of the mansion where Isabella had brought Gregory. On paper, his wound was healing nicely; the surgical area was clear of infection, and the physical pain had subsided into a mild, dull throb.​Physically, he was better. Emotionally and mentally, he was bleeding out.​Gregory sat in a specialized wheelchair, a blanket draped over his lap to conceal the empty space on his left side. Beside him, Isabella sat on a teak bench, holding two cups of hot coffee.​“It is peaceful here,” Isabella said softly, handing him a cup.​“Yeah,” Gregory replied, his tone flat. He took a sip, his eyes staring blankly at the stone fountain in the center of the garden.​Suddenly, a gust of wind caught the sheaf of design documents Isabella had set on the low table between them, blowing a loose page into the air and onto the grass a few feet away.​Without thinking, Gregory reacted on pure reflex. His body acted on thirty years

Robert opened the passenger door of his Rolls-Royce for her, but when he saw her pale, distant expression, his hand froze on the handle. A look of disappointment and irritation flickered across his features.​“Are you seriously scared over a one-legged cripple, Alice?” Robert asked, his voice dripping with annoyance. “I just told you the fool had his leg sawed off. He’s rotting in some charity ward, and you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or do you actually still care about him?”​Alice raised her eyes to Robert for a second, swallowing hard as she sat back against the leather seat. “It’s not just the leg, Robert,” she said quietly, adjusting her high heels. “There’s something else… something I didn’t get the chance to tell you earlier.”​Robert slid into the driver’s seat, starting the engine with a low, aggressive rumble. He didn’t look at her as he pulled out of the parking lot into traffic. “What else could there possibly be?” he asked, his brow furrowed with curiosity.​“Before I

Silence lasted a few minutes in the conservatory after Gregory lowered his phone, having texted Isabella’s address to the secretary. The screen flickered black, reflecting his stunned expression.Isabella walked back into the glass room carrying a tray of fresh iced tea, her elegant footsteps echoing softly. She took one look at Gregory’s frozen posture and the grim intensity in his eyes, immediately setting the tray down.“Gregory?” Isabella asked softly, stepping closer with concern evident in her tone. “What is wrong?”Lucas and Sophia looked between Gregory and their sister. “Isabella,” Lucas spoke up first, his voice hushed. “Someone called him. He looks completely shocked.”Gregory slowly turned his head to look at Isabella. His voice was steady, but laced with an emotion so heavy it pierced the pin-drop silence in the room.“Isabella… the Hilton Group,” Gregory began, his fingers tightening on the armrest of his wheelchair. “The secretary to Catherine Hilton just called me.”Is

​The morning of the Sovereign Enterprises gala arrived, signaling more than just a partnership between two empires.​Inside the executive boardroom of Wynter Co., the atmosphere was tense. Error messages continued to cascade down the wall-mounted monitors. Empty coffee cups and crumpled printouts littered the conference table where six senior network engineers sat in quiet defeat.​Marcus, the CTO, looked like a corpse in a wrinkled suit. His eyes were bloodshot and his hands trembled as he stared at his laptop.​“It’s no use, Ms. Wynter,” Marcus muttered as Alice stepped into the room, dressed in a bathrobe with her hair tied up in a bun for her event styling. “Mr. Carnegie’s cybersecurity team spent all night trying to brute-force the server encryption. Not only did they fail, but Gregory triggered a lock. It permanently wiped our secondary backup nodes.”​Alice felt a cold rush of panic coursing through her veins. “What does that mean for our pre-launch numbers?”​“We’ve lost over

Robert nearly spilled his champagne. He shot Alice an irritated look and shook his head at her sudden outburst.“Alice, get a grip on yourself!” Robert hissed under his breath. “Did you miss the last name? The host said Hilton, not Watson!”“B-but… the name–”“It’s just a coincidence!” Robert cut in with an arrogant laugh. “Gregory is a common name! Do you honestly think he could ever be related to the Hilton family?”Robert took a slow sip of his drink, his face filled with contempt.“I’d bet my entire life that Gregory could never set foot in a place like this,” Robert mocked, turning his back to the stage.But the moment the arrogant words left his mouth, Alice’s gaze drifted past his shoulder toward the quiet lounge near the side pillars.Her breath caught. Her hand suddenly went slack, and the champagne glass slipped from her fingers.CRASH!The glass shattered against the marble floor, spraying sparkling wine across the hem of her red dress. Several nearby guests turned at the s