His Wedding Gift to Me

Even without the words Blackwood Holdings attached, Lucian Blackwood’s name alone could send shock waves through legitimate businesses and the criminal underworld alike.

Julian remained untroubled.

“You don’t need to worry about him. I have reliable information that he’s already submitted his withdrawal to the committee. He won’t be bidding. He should still be at the summit in Switzerland. He isn’t due back until next week.”

The news caught me completely off guard.

Lucian had actually withdrawn?

The day before he left Fairhaven for Switzerland, we had run into each other at a restaurant.

I had just come out of the ladies’ room and almost walked straight into him around a corner.

“Interesting hobby, Mr. Blackwood. Do you always hang around women’s restrooms?”

Lucian stood with his arms folded, leaning against the wall.

The warm, dim light softened the sharp lines of his face, but nothing could soften the authority that seemed bred into him. He didn’t have to do anything to make people feel smaller.

He looked down at me, his eyes cold.

“Julian proposed?”

His voice was thin with mockery, but there was something else beneath it. I couldn’t identify it, and I didn’t care to try.

“Yes. Why? Jealous?” I stared back at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

His mouth flattened.

Then he stepped closer, and the strong smell of liquor hit me.

I instinctively moved to retreat.

He took a long step to the side. His tall body closed over the space in front of me, pinning me in the corner without leaving a way out.

He lifted a strand of hair beside my ear with his fingertips.

“Are you that desperate for a man, Stella? Julian fucking Whitmore—”

My expression turned icy. I swung a hand at him.

The slap never reached his infuriatingly handsome face.

He caught my wrist in midair.

His palm was burning hot.

I thought he really must have been drunk that night. Red stained the outer corners of his dark, narrow eyes, bright enough to look like fire.

He watched me with something that was almost a smile. His gaze was unfathomable.

“What? One word against Julian and you’re ready to tear my throat out?”

“Lucian Blackwood!”

Just before my patience snapped completely, he released me.

He stepped back, slipped one hand into his pocket, and looked at me lazily.

“Let me give you a wedding present. What do you want?”

I answered without thinking.

“The Southbank site.”

I didn’t believe a word a drunk man said. Since he wasn’t going to give me anything anyway, I might as well ask for the impossible.

Lucian narrowed his eyes and studied me for a few seconds.

Then he gave a quiet, dismissive laugh and walked away without another word.

That had been the last time we met while I was alive.

The last words we ever exchanged.

I had assumed he was just talking.

I had never imagined he would actually withdraw.

That site was an enormous investment opportunity. Everyone wanted a piece of it. If Lucian entered the bidding, I wasn’t confident I could beat him.

But now…

Had he really stepped aside because of one thing I said?

Why?

I couldn’t make sense of it.

He was ruthless about business. Profit came first, and he never accepted a bad bargain.

Hearing that Lucian had withdrawn, Richard sounded much more relaxed.

“Good. Make sure you’re ready. Win Southbank, and those old bastards on the board won’t be able to say you’re hiding behind Stella and living off her anymore.”

Something cold flashed in Julian’s eyes.

His voice, however, remained as gentle as ever. Every word seemed to defend me.

“Dad, Stella’s very capable. She really has done a great deal for the company over the years—”

“You’re too kind. Whatever abilities she has, we’re the ones who cultivated them. She owes this family everything. Even dying for us would only be paying us back.”

To Richard Whitmore, I was a pawn. Something to use until there was nothing left, then throw away.

That didn’t hurt me anymore.

The only person who could still hurt me was Julian.

I had thought he was different from the rest of his family.

In the end, he was the one who took my heart and drained my blood.

He had been the cruelest of them all.