2024-08-21 09:43:49As Alex approached the house entrance, Sophia noticed that Alex
was behind her."Haven’t you had enough?"
"Believe me," Alex replied, "running into you is the last thing I wanted today."
Sophia stepped out, blocking his path.
"So, what is it then? Are you here to remind me of the biggest mistake of my life?"
"Mistake?" Alex’s tone grew colder.
"I could say the same. You think I enjoyed waking up and realizing I’d wasted my time with someone so shallow?"
"Shallow?" Sophia’s eyes flashed with anger.
"You’re just bitter because you know I’m right. You’re nothing but a loser, a gold-digger."
Alex laughed, shaking his head.
"You’re delusional. I don’t need anything from you, least of your money."
Sophia stepped even closer, her finger jabbing the air between them.
"Then what do you want? To ruin my life even more?"
"No, I’m not here to ruin anything." Alex locked his eyes with hers. "I’m meeting my fiancée."
"Your fiancée? You have a fiancée?" Sophia shocked.
"I’m here to meet someone named Sophia Lancaster at this address," Alex’s patience wearing thin.
"I’m not looking for you. So, if you can help me out, call her, and I’ll leave as soon as possible."
WTF?!
Sophia paused, her expression shifting from shock to realization.
"Wait... you're here for that Sophia Lancaster?"
Alex coldly replied.
"Yes! Can you please just get her? I don't have time for games."
Sophia bit her lip, trying to mask the confusion swirling inside her.
"There’s no need to call anyone. I’m... I’m Sophia Lancaster."
They stood there, staring at each other in stunned silence.
Just then, a voice called out from inside the mansion.
"Alexander Leonhart!"
An old man stepped out, his face lighting up with a wide smile.
"Master told me you would come today! What are you doing out there?"
"Grandfather," Sophia called.
The old man, Abraham Lancaster, turned towards them, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
He looked between them, his smile growing even wider as if he had been waiting for this moment.
"So, you've met Alex, your fiancé. It’s great to know you both know each other."
Sophia quickly interjected, "We are not—"
"Call your parents, Sophia," Abraham said, cutting her off.
"Gather everyone in the Great Hall. I have an announcement. You both are going to get married today."
Sophia stood, shocked.
"Finally, my long-held wish can be fulfilled today," Abraham’s voice trembled with happiness.
He walked over to Alex, his hand reaching out to grasp Alex’s.
"Come, let’s go to the Great Hall. You’ll meet your in-laws."
Sophia watched them walk away, disbelief and anger surging through her.
She had lost her virginity to that man, and now she was supposed to lose her future too.
"This can't be happening!"
She had dreamed of an extraordinary fiancé, someone worthy, someone heroic, not any rubbish!
Instead, she was now being handed to a man she could have picked off the street.
As CEO of Lancaster Group, known for her beauty and bright future, how could she marry such a man?
What would people think?
"No," she decided. "I'll stop this marriage, no matter the cost."
***
In the Great Hall, Abraham guided Alex to an honored seat.
"How is Master?"
"Still healthy after a hundred years," Alex replied.
"You’re young, successful, and humble. I’m fortunate to have a grandson-in-law like you. Sophia is a good person; please give her a chance to get to know you better."
Alex nodded politely, but he doubt the possibility.
Sophia didn’t look like she wanted the chance.
"Wonderful, wonderf—" Abraham laugh joyfully.
However, just then, an angry voice cut in.
"Are you insane?! Sophia cannot marry him!"
Lady Lancaster, Abraham's wife, angrily stormed into the Great Hall.
She was flanked by their two sons and two daughters-in-law, with Sophia trailing behind them.
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Chapter 790
By seven in the morning, every door in the east wing of the Tiffany house was locked, and nobody would tell the idiot why."What was the scream?" Alexander asked the cook innocently, at the kitchen door."What scream?" the cook snapped."At sunrise," he said patiently. "From the tower.""There wasn't any scream, Your Highness," she said, nervous. She didn't look at him. "You must have dreamed it.""Everybody dreamed it, then," Alexander said mildly. "The dogs dreamed it too. They were barking for an hour.""Breakfast's in the servants' hall," the cook said sharply, and shut the door in his face.Upstairs, behind the locked doors, he could hear the house running about in a panic: the doctor's car on the gravel at half past seven, Pauline's voice, sharp and low, and once, very clearly, Patricia's."That's impossible!" she shrieked.Felicia found him in the yard, in the grey morning light, feeding the hounds."Something's happened up there," she whispered. "The maids are crying. Madam Pa
Chapter 789
The grey car drove north along the coast road, rain streaming down its windows, the sea black on the left. In the back, Alexander changed out of the wet waiter's jacket into plain black clothes that fitted him exactly. A flat wooden box lay beside him."What's in it?" he asked."Your face, sir," the driver said flatly, without turning round. "Mr. Moss had it bought from a black market."Inside, on grey velvet, lay a mask of white porcelain: no mouth, two narrow slits for eyes, and a hairline crack across the brow mended with gold."Old," Alexander said softly."Three hundred years," the driver said, reading it off a card, dry as paper. "It belonged to a court physician who treated an empress and preferred not to be thanked.""Did the empress live?" Alexander asked, curious."To ninety. The physician was never identified." The driver put the card away. "Mr. Moss says he'd like both of those things to happen again."Alexander put the mask on. When he spoke again, his voice was lower and
Chapter 788
"Baroness," Alexander said politely. "May I ask you something?"Four hundred people held their breath under the three gold chandeliers.The Baroness put down her oyster fork. Beside her, Pauline's face went smooth and still, like a pond freezing."You may not," the Baroness said coldly. "Married-in men do not ask. You were told.""I was told," Alexander agreed, calm. "I'm asking anyway. It isn't for me.""Oh, he's asking, Mother!" Cordelia laughed, high and delighted. "At your birthday! In a waiter's jacket!""Be quiet, Cordelia," the Baroness snapped. She looked at him. "Well? You've stopped my quartet. Ask."He picked up one of the gold-edged cards that lay beside every plate.Under the menu, in curling letters, it said: The Tiffany Foundation: eighty years of care for the sick and the needy of the coast."Your foundation helps the sick," he said quietly. "It says so on every table. There's an old man on Harland. His name is Tom. He's seventy, and his heart is failing. The hospital
Chapter 787
The Grand Hotel's ballroom held four hundred people, and on the night of the Baroness Tiffany's eightieth birthday it held four hundred and twelve.Three gold chandeliers hung over a white marble floor. A string quartet played on a low stage, and at the head table, under the middle chandelier, the Baroness sat in black lace and pearls, small and straight, her white hair pinned so tightly it looked painful.Alexander arrived at the service door, because he wasn't allowed to use the front.Pauline was waiting for him there, tall, in dove grey, with something white folded over her arm."Put this on," she said coldly.He unfolded it. It was a short white waiter's jacket with brass buttons and the Grand Hotel's crest on the pocket."I'm a guest," he said, soft and puzzled."You're a married-in husband below the married-in husbands," Pauline said, smooth and cold as a menu. "There aren't enough chairs. There are, however, a great many trays." She handed it over with two fingers, as if it we
Chapter 786
"Thank you," Alexander said. "It's very clean."Preston stared at him. Then he laughed again, louder, and went away shaking his head.Felicia put the bags down. Her hands were trembling."We've both slept in worse," Alexander said. "Unpack. We're expected upstairs."The Baroness received him in the long drawing room, standing at the far end, by the fireplace.She was eighty, small and straight, with white hair pinned so tightly it looked painful and an ebony cane she clearly didn't need. She did not come forward or sit down. She let him walk the whole length of the carpet to her, past three sofas full of her family.Beside her, a tall woman in grey held a white card."My daughter Pauline," the Baroness said. "She'll explain how things are done.""Your Highness." Pauline didn't curtsy. She read from the card in a smooth, pleasant voice, the voice of someone reading a menu to a child."In this house, the women of the line sit at the head of the table. The married-in husbands sit below t
Chapter 785
The Treasury inquiry took one day.Two inspectors flew in from the capital on the morning plane, grim men with grey folders, and took statements all day in the harbour office."Name?""Ivo Brask. Fisherman.""Did the Comptroller order you not to touch the boats?" the inspector asked."He did. Loud. Twice.""And when the launch began to sink, did he rescind that order?""He shouted something," Ivo said. "Nobody had a pen."The van driver was next. "I read his order out over the loudspeaker," he said. "Twice round the harbour. Prison for anyone who touched a boat. I've got the paper here, sir. He signed it.""So the order was clear," the senior inspector said to Fennick. "Nobody was to touch a marked boat.""Very clear," Fennick said. "He said it to a thousand people. He said anyone. He said prison.""And the launch?""Forty years old, sir. The harbour master had condemned her twice.""I condemned her three times," the harbour master said. "It's in the log. Nobody in the capital ever re
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Reader Comments
but he doubted the possibility
good novel
like seriously