Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

“I never claimed to be a saint, but dragging you and your uncle into this mess. wasn’t part of the plan.”

Whitney couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

“I’ve heard you were the golden boy, the apple of everyone’s eye. What did Ludwik have? Nothing. So

why stoop to snatch away even the little he owns?”

“Do you even grasp the depth of a family feud? The pressure’s on me too, you know. Business is a

cutthroat game. Sure, my brother had it rough growing up, but he’s outshone me in every way. That’s

what really grinds.

my gears.”

Whitney nodded emphatically, “So, you’re just a bitter, petty man, jealous of him. But he’s not so easily

defeated by the likes of you.”

“Is that so? Yet he’s the one in hiding now.” Orion stood up lazily, extending his hand, “Anyway, it was a

pleasure doing business.”

Fuming, Whitney turned on her heel and left, her stomach churning with rage.

At the Ether Cafe downtown, Ludwik stared blankly at the ‘papers” before him, his strikingly handsome

face lost in thought.

He glanced at his watch.

Sensing his impatience, Felix promptly made a call. Returning with a peculiar expression, Felix

announced, “Whitney was just… just meeting with Orion, and she’s on her way here now.”

The pr

pen tip lightly dropped onto the papers, and Ludwik paused, then cracked a wry

smile.

He tossed the ‘papers‘ to the lawyer beside him, his features set in firm resolve.

Elaine sat nearby, observing every subtle shift in the man’s demeanor, a slight smirk playing on her

lips.

Suddenly, there was the sound of hurried breaths.

Elaine turned her head. She was the first to see Whitney arrive.

Whitney’s gaze instinctively sought out Ludwik, who sat in a secluded booth, his figure svelte in a black

suit. His face was still pale, his frame noticeably thinner and somewhat ill–looking, yet he appeared

much improved from a week prior.

A flicker of emotion crossed her eyes. She hurried over, but Elaine sitting in a wheelchair near the

entrance.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of

Why was she here? Had they been inseparable these past days?

As Elaine met Whitney’s uneasy glance, her gaze confirmed it: Yes, she had been with Ludwik all this

time. Elaine’s smile deepened as Whitney passed by, her voice laced with malice, “Whitney, make the

most of this meeting. Cherish your final moments with him.”

What did she mean by that? Whitney stumbled, her brows knit tightly with confusion.

There was no time to ponder. She saw Ludwik’s attention shift back from the window to her.

Approaching quickly, her heart pounding with a mixture of dread and hope, Whitney took a deep breath

and asked with a tinge of desperation in her eyes, “L, what papers do you want me to sign?”

“Divorce papers,” Ludwik réplied curtly.

Whitney froze as if turned to stone. Her slender fingers on the table suddenly went limp, then clenched

tightly,

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finally trembling as they retreated beneath the surface.

Her face drained of color, she stumbled backward, knocking over a chair.

“Ms. Valentine, please keep your composure. This is a divorce settlement. You may review the

contents, but Mr. Lippert’s time is precious. You have five minutes,” the lawyer interjected, pushing the

papers toward her

As Whitney stared at the stack of papers, her heart felt as though it had been pierced by their sharp

edges, bleeding, a searing pain engulfing her.

The world around her darkened, obscuring Ludwik’s handsome features from her view

Whitney slowly covered her chest, sat down, and shook her head with a hollow laugh, “No, I refuse to

divorce.”

“And what right do you have to refuse?” Ludwik’s voice was a cold blade, cutting through the air.

Whitney scrutinized him, realizing he had changed since his return, Gone was the hysterical man from

the day his mother had met with misfortune, his anger unchecked.

No longer the violent, vulnerable man from his sick days.

Now, he was like an icily detached statue, indestructible.

He had become the formidable Mr. Lippert once again.

In his eyes, there was no trace of emotion she could discern.

Leaning back in his chair, he looked at her with undisguised disdain and sneered, “Our marriage was a

sham, a farce. Nothing was real, much like you, utterly fake.”

Whitney paled, her body shaking. “L, please don’t say that. I truly love you…”

“Just sign the papers,” he said, unwilling to waste more words on her.

His expressionless face concealed a deep, cold fury.

From his eyes, Whitney saw the depth of his loathing for her.

The lawyer spoke up. “Ms. Valentine, the marriage agreement originally included a compensation for

bearing a child after a year, but Mr. Lippert has rescinded it. You’ll leave with nothing”

“I never wanted your money.” Whitney replied weakly, the irony of those billions hanging between them

unspoken.

“Of course,” Ludwik said slowly, a cruel smile on his lips, “considering you’ve likely received a fair share

of loot from Orion already. Were you dividing spoils with him today?”

Whitney’s gaze turned ghostly, “I didn’t… Orion called me out of the blue. I swear I never met with him

privately.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever you do from now on, even if you become the town’s harlot, it’s none of my

concern.” His flippant words were the cruelest, and they were not spoken in anger.

What depth of hurt must a man endure to turn so suddenly heartless and cold?

Whitney wished she could tear out her heart and show him its purity, covered in wounds and

grievances. She had done nothing wrong.

Why wouldn’t he believe her? Tears spilled down her cheeks, an unending stream that fell onto the

table, onto the divorce settlement. Numbed, Whitney picked up the papers, no longer wanting to face

him in such an agonizing standoff.

“Do you really want me to sign, that badly?” she asked between sobs.

Ludwik’s piercing gaze didn’t waver, but his brow furrowed slightly.

Whitney nodded blankly and forced a laugh, “Alright, I agree. Let’s divorce.”

In that moment, something shattered in Ludwik’s heart.

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He watched coldly as it broke into shards, each piercing his soul, reminding him of how venomous he

found this woman to be.

Whitney began to sign the papers, her hand trembling as if a bug were crawling across the page.

Quickly closing the papers, she handed them back to the lawyer, her eyes hollow as she watched the

documents being taken away.

Ludwik rose to his feet, his thin lips slicing the air with words as sharp as a blade, “Find the time, and

take care

of the child.”

Boom!

Thunder crashed, cleaving Whitney from head to toe, every one of her 206 bones throbbing with pain.

She looked up, disbelief etched across her face, staring at the cold, austere profile of his face. “Ludwik,

no…. you can’t be this heartless, it’s your child, your own flesh and blood!”

“A cursed child brought about by your scheming, I want nothing to do with it,” the man uttered with

chilling detachment.

Whitney cried, but a bitter laugh escaped her lips. Once, he had tenderly measured newborn onesies

with his palm, speculating with her about the size of their child at birth.

Once, he had fussed over her with overbearing affection for their unborn child.

Where had all that love and tenderness gone?

Why had it all disappeared?

Where did things go wrong?

Chapter 178