The Secret heiress

a man at the bottom of the room. He was not a stranger. A cold wave invades him as long as his eyes

. An image of him that she had always avoided, a memory that she believed buried, brutally re -emerged. His breathing was heavier, and a

nd it, drowned in a fog of deaf echoes. She couldn'

oked calm, master of him, but something in the way he advanced a sense of dan

greet her immediately. He looked at her for a moment, almo

ys, her heavy tone of innu

ed. No, that was more than that. The man in front of her was a spe

voice, seeking to hide her dis

he knew he knew. None of the two was fooled. He was always intere

e, he said with a fun of fun in his voice. Bu

a reason. It was never trivial when a family member appeared at an evening like th

g to say, she replied, w

el radiance in the eyes. Then, without war

the wrong time. They always end up bursting on the surface. No matter how m

had on her. He knew, and he played with this knowledge like a cat with a mouse. Bu

, she says, his tone always as fr

from being in control. He delighted with this power, he liked to play

ispered, before turning away. The chains of

wed. Every second in her presence had brought out buried memories that she did not want to face. Julian was mo

sphere was too heavy. But each step brought her back to a truth that she could not flee, to a

han reason. Nathan's gaze, the intensity of his presence, mingled with that of Julian. She had never thought that these

r how much she tried to hide them. And Julian, with his cold smile and

l, the brutal change in his behavior. He knew there was something that was nodding. He had seen her enter, confident, masteri

de. She was standing straight, her jaw tight, and Nathan could read in her as in an open book. But he quickly reali

spects - from the intense complicity to raw vulnerability, but this frozen mask, this coldness that she was revealing, he had never encounter

directed towards her. She seemed to be absent, lost in thoughts that he did not understand. Then, their eyes finally m

not leave her, trying to capture this new facet of Ga

t sweet voice, as if he were aware of the s

ith a more tense than authentic smile. His silence said more

he replied in a tone that be

nces, and he was screaming that something was wrong. Not in t

tells me, he whispered, a tou

rself against a truth that she didn't want to face. She was frozen, taken between the desire to

lking about, Nathan, she ends up sayi

he was a stranger. And this distance, she was not accidental. It struck him in the heart. Their complicity, so obvious before, was already undermined by forces that he could

otions behind an impenetrable wall, but in the presence of Nathan, this wall was cracking. Why should he al

ss, and the words were formed by themselves, al

vulnerable, Nathan, she said without reall

own that her own emotions were on edge. Nathan's gaze, his constant attentions, had started to erode his confidence in herself, to give birth to doubts abo

rcing look crossing space between them. He let her breathe, he let her fight with her own contradi

t dared to recognize. He could see that she doubted them, what they were together. She was looking for herself, she was getting lost in her own f

not to let her escape this time. He knew there was only one way of br

l of a truth that he had never said. I am dangerous for you. But it

oticed it. She was too busy looking for a

d not yet faced what she felt. Not yet. And he would wait until she realized that the