The Billionaire and the Scandalous Heiress

pte

ternoon mist, like an old memory that we didn't really want to see again. The pale lights of the airport reminded him of a scene from a film noir, cold an

ver really known, looked like a lion in a crystal cage. Still still, still relentless. She knew him by his gestures, his order

ut nothing in his eyes betrayed affection. No more than any burst

most neutral voice, as if it were a formality. Then

t one piece in a big chessboard, and her return was nothing personal. It was all a question of duty, of survival. The succession of the Dorne was not deci

xcuse. Never. He expected immediate commitment from her. She knew it, and he knew it too.

ace. Then he sighed, as if he had just made a decision. "Your role hasn't changed, Elisa. You have t

ct, she needed distractions. But she was silent. She knew that

Of the empire. Alexandre had told her about a dinner, a dinner that was being prepared, where she would have to shine, prove herself worthy of her name, and face imp

man always impeccable in his posture, surrounded by models with eyes heavy with desire. He wore a charming smile, but a smile of a man who neve

han, you need to understand that he is far from the family. He's too... he'

uin, the one who lived in the shadow of his own name, the one she had always wanted to understand but who remained like a broken mirror that she could never

ed out, without even thinking about it. "

en, closed. "That's not surprising," he had said coldl

her she could protect. No, he had become another version of his father. Maybe even worse. This distance he had

convince already convinced men. It wasn't for her, that. She wasn't there for politics. But she knew: in this family, it wasn't the choice that mattered. What mat

distant, muffled. She wanted to throw everything away. To burn everything. But sh

perfect mask, an expression of calculated coldness. She sat down at the table, in front of the men who devoured her with their eyes, but whom she knew how to

nd fifty, with receding hair and thin glasses, a hypocritical smile

together the words. She knew that this dinner was just a game, a game where the masks had to

bear. The men talked business. Exchanges of figures, projects, ambitions. But not

these financial details," Alexandre had said,

. He was right. None of this intere