2026-03-31 20:19:48
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CHAPTER 237
"Nobody is asking you to accept anything." Victor closed the portfolio gently and tucked it back under his arm. "I came here as a courtesy. If the family does not wish to proceed, I will respectfully withdraw. However, I would suggest considering the offer before making a decision. Opportunities like this do not present themselves often."Richard rubbed his jaw slowly. "How many families in Ashford Hills have requested your services this year?""Fourteen." Victor answered without hesitation. "I accepted two.""And this makes three.""This was the first one I accepted."The room fell silent again. The weight of that statement pressed down on everyone differently. Eloise blinked. Vivian's mother's hand tightened on the chair back. The grandmother's expression shifted by the smallest degree, something moving behind her eyes that she quickly buried.Richard looked at the patriarch. The old man was already looking back at him."Whoever arranged this has serious influence." Richard kept his
CHAPTER 236
The footsteps stopped at the threshold. A man stepped into the study with the measured ease of someone who had walked into far more intimidating rooms than this one. He was tall, mid fifties, wearing a charcoal suit that was cut with the kind of precision that only came from tailors who did not advertise. His hair was silver at the temples, combed neatly to one side. He carried a leather portfolio tucked under one arm and a slim black briefcase in his other hand.He stood in the center of the room and looked around with calm, unhurried eyes. Not arrogant. Not submissive. Simply a man who was completely comfortable with where he was and why he was there."Good morning." He dipped his head slightly. "I apologize for arriving without prior notice. My name is Victor Langston."The name landed differently on each person in the room.Richard's arms uncrossed. His brow lifted. His mouth opened slightly before closing again. He took a half step forward, his eyes scanning Victor's face as if c
CHAPTER 235
"Do not manage me, Eloise." Richard cut across her words without raising his voice. The calm was somehow worse than the shouting. "I spent months calling that man worthless. I offered him money to disappear. I told him to his face that he was a leech and a failure and that he would never be part of this family."He paused. His eyes moved to the floor for just a moment before coming back up."I was wrong. And it nearly cost me my daughter."The weight of those words pressed down on every person in the room. Richard Montgomery did not admit to being wrong. Not in business. Not in family matters. Not ever. Hearing those words come from his mouth carried more force than any argument or insult that had been thrown across the study that morning.The patriarch looked at his son with an expression that moved through surprise, then understanding, then something very close to pride. He said nothing. He simply nodded once.Eloise's face had lost its color. She stood with her arms at her sides, h
CHAPTER 234
The patriarch's fingers curled tighter around the head of his cane. The warmth that had been in his eyes moments ago when discussing wedding venues and flower arrangements had vanished completely. What replaced it was something older and harder. The look of a man who had run out of patience with people who refused to see what was standing right in front of them."Let me remind every person in this room of something." His voice was low and rough, scraping across the silence like gravel. "That boy upstairs took a bullet near his spine. A bullet. Not a scratch. Not a bruise. A piece of metal entered his body while he was carrying my granddaughter out of a building full of armed criminals."He looked at each of them in turn. Eloise. Vivian's mother. The grandmother."If Carden had not gone into that warehouse, Vivian would not be sleeping safely in her room right now. She would be gone. Dead. Or worse." His cane struck the floor. "And yet here you all stand, picking apart the man who bled
CHAPTER 233
Before Richard could argue further, the study door swung open. Eloise stood in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, her expression already darkened into something between disbelief and outrage. She had clearly been standing outside long enough to hear more than she should have."Have you two completely lost your minds?" Eloise stepped into the room, her voice sharp enough to cut glass.Richard turned toward her, his brow furrowing. "This is a private conversation, Eloise.""It stopped being private the moment I heard the word wedding." Eloise crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "You are planning a grand ceremony for that man? That penniless, no name drifter who wandered into this family like a stray mutt and somehow convinced everyone he belongs here?"The patriarch's expression cooled. "Watch your tongue.""My tongue is the only honest thing in this room right now." Eloise stepped closer, her chin jutting forward. "Yes, he saved Vivian. I am not heartless. I acknowledge th
CHAPTER 232
The Montgomery villa was quieter than usual that morning. Carden had been back from the hospital for three days now and was resting upstairs in the room he shared with Vivian. The doctors had cleared him for discharge but ordered at least two more weeks of limited movement. No heavy lifting. No physical strain. No stress.Richard stood by the window in the patriarch's private study, his arms folded, looking out at the garden below. The patriarch sat behind his oak desk with both hands resting on his cane, the morning light falling across his weathered face."I have been thinking about this since the hospital." Richard turned from the window. His expression was serious but carried none of the usual hostility that appeared whenever Carden's name came up. "Their marriage was rushed. No ceremony. No celebration. We practically shoved them into a government office and told them to sign papers."The patriarch nodded slowly, his fingers tapping the head of the cane. "It was not ideal.""It w
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