The Engagement's End, A New Beginning

my cheek. The low, powerful hum of a high-performance engine. The scent of expensive cologne,

the alley anymore. I was in the back of the luxury car, lying down on the back

quickly, and the world spun violently. A wave of nausea and dizziness w

ame one from the alley. Tha

lid across the chiseled planes of his face, illuminating eyes that were fixed on me with an unnerving intensity. He wasn't looking at me with pit

you?" My voice was

om him. It didn't feel like a reassurance. It felt like a stateme

the Landon family empire. The Thornes and the Landons had been locked in a bitter corporate war

t up straighter, to pull the tattered shreds of my dignity around me. My hand instinctive

et," he said, his voice dangerously soft. "I

't a qu

you kn

indow at the blurred city lights. "Because my father gave it to her, a

impossible. My mother had been gentle, kind, a painter who saw beauty in everything. She had died

th a sudden, protective anger. "My mother w

s of ice. "You believe that because it's the story yo

ith a collection of vehicles that probably cost more than the entire block I lived on. The dr

to the party to be mocked? Back to my apartment, which was paid for by the L

cold, heavy weight in my limbs. I didn't

le. He was my family's greatest enemy, a man who spoke of my dead mother with cold ha

a strong hand gripped my elbow. Julian's touch was firm, impersonal, but the contact sent a strange jolt through me, a spark of

of the Veridia skyline. The space was minimalist and modern, decorated in shades of charcoal, black, and cream. It was beautiful, but cold.

The loss of his touch left my skin feeling cold. "There's a gu

lost in the vast, empty space. "Why?" I finally asked, my vo

ouette. "Your ex-fiancé's family and my family are enemies. That's no secre

painful moment as if it w

d. "You said she destroyed your family. And... y

s. It was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Some things are be

walk away, d

voice. "You don't get to drop a bomb like that a

moment, he was silent. The only sound w

her, his wife, was devastated. On the night he was supposed to leave with Eleanor, she vanished. She took with her a significant amount of Thorne Industries research and development dat

d a traitor who played two powerful men against each other and ruined my family in the process. And that

lie. It had to be. A twisted vers

ours, there are... connections. Energies. The locket reacted to you. It re

pearance, my tear-stained face, my trembling hands. There was

aughter of Eleanor Ashford, publicly discarded by the Landon heir. You ar

ty room, the weight of his words crashing down on me, more devastating tha