cusation had landed like a blade. She had expected Aurora broken, bleeding
k over. Fifteen y
t in a lie to a wounded innocent in the span of a single breath. She buried her face in Collin
shirt, her slender fingers clutching the fabric. "How could I ever do something like tha
"You're unbelievable." His voice shook with self-righteous fury. "You assault her in front of everyon
s spread in a gesture of reason. But his positioning betrayed him. His body was angled toward Ivy, his shoulder half-turned to Aurora. "Aurora,
ang. "Do you need proof, Julian? In this house, every word I say has always be
losed. No words came. Because
face was blotched red beneath its careful makeup. "You have disappointed me beyond words! After
ra's lips. It was dry, crac
id you raise me, Mother?" The word came out like a
om wen
e while you were here in this house, in this warmth, with your perfect adopted daughter. And when I finally found my way back - when I came home -
anor. Their faces tightened. Something
had a replacement. And when I came back, broken and different and not the daughter y
ce was he
merged. Donovan's jaw was set like sto
a man who had spent a lifetime being obeyed. "That is enough. Aurora, go to y
. No belief. No
man she was supposed to marry. Disappointment. Anger. Disgust. Th
d then, something
ay, leaving behind a still, hollow calm. Li
the stairs. She turne
ai
fted completely - no longer the pretend mediator, but the businessma
ather's will, the trust in your name holds thirty percent of Beaumont Enterprises. It's a critica
ts ago, she was a vicious liar. No
linked it away. When she spoke, her voice was honeyed, trembling with manufactured concern. "Father... is Julian worrie
The focus had snapped from family drama to family fortune
he turned back sl
father's cold command, her eldest brother's naked calculation - a
hat I was almost abducted tonight. Not that your adopted daughter hired men to hurt me. Thirty
e next, lingering on each in turn.
e looked at
remor. "From this day forward, I, Aurora, voluntarily renounce the Beaumont name and
posure cracked - a hairline frac
" Eleanor's voice w
a perfect, obedient daughter." Her eyes flicked toward Ivy, still cradled in Collin's arms. "Y
hreshold and looked
t want to
ed his phone with a hand that shook - not with grief, but with col
ly. Before the lawyers sort out the trust, she gets nothing. Not a single
to make her crawl back, to prove that she was no
composure. Instead, the smile on her face widened - a look of pure, unalloyed liberation, th
sh," she s
father who saw her only as shares on a ledger, the brothers who had chosen a strang
ed out t
a tomb sealing. But for the first time in her life, Au
/1/123617/coverbig.jpg?v=b083c9fa18d9acb47b1ff4fc7d4aab28&imageMogr2/format/webp)