Chapter 40

The grand villa was unusually quiet that afternoon, the marble floors echoing faintly with Adonis's footsteps as he followed the maid through a long hallway of painted panels and dim light. He had been summoned personally. That alone was a surprise.

He had only ever heard rumors of the paralytic young miss who rarely left her room. Kimberly. A name whispered through the corridors with sympathy and mild reverence. He had seen her only a handful of times, always from a distance, pale as porcelain, seated silently by a window or being wheeled into a different wing.

The maid paused and knocked lightly on a door before opening it.

"Miss Kimberly, Mr. Adonis is here."

Adonis stepped into the room, eyes scanning the lavish interior. The curtains were pulled back, allowing the sunlight to fall gently across a velvet chaise where Kimberly sat in her wheelchair, cloaked in a pale blue shawl, her beautiful hair cascading over her shoulders like soft silk.

"Thank you for coming," she said softly, her voice fragile but clear. "Please, come closer."

Adonis obeyed, standing stiffly near her chair. "You wanted to see me, Miss Kimberly?"

"Yes." She smiled, shy and sweet. "I wanted to thank you. For saving Ana… If you hadn't stepped in that night…"

"It wasn't a bother," Adonis replied curtly, shifting his weight. "She was in danger."

Kimberly's gaze lingered on his face, and for a moment she seemed lost in thought. There was something fascinating about the contrast in him. His cold, distant demeanor and the quiet strength he carried.

"You're a quiet man, Mr. Adonis," she said.

"I speak when necessary," he answered dryly.

A small laugh escaped her lips. "Would you… stay a little while? Read to me? It gets dreadfully quiet in here."

Adonis blinked, taken aback. "Read?"

"Yes. Just a few pages. Please."

There was no malice in her eyes. Just innocent yearning. Adonis sighed, walked to the nearby shelf, picked up a book, and took a seat across from her. Opening it, he began to read, voice low and steady.

Kimberly listened, enraptured not by the words, but by him. By the way his lips moved, the rare flicker of emotion in his voice, the quiet command he held even in stillness. For the first time in weeks, she felt a flutter of joy in her chest.

Across the city, a lavish dining room buzzed with clinking silverware and tense air.

Soraya sat stiffly beside her mother, who was in full performance mode; smiling, flattering, giggling at every word from Madam Osman as though she hadn't noticed the condescension being flung like knives across the table.

"Oh, Madam Osman, Ivan is such a rare young man," Soraya's mother said with a light laugh. "So handsome, and brilliant. We are truly blessed."

Madam Osman sipped her wine and smiled with veiled disdain. "Yes, he is exceptional. Which is why we're quite careful about the sort of family he associates with. You understand."

Soraya's mother chuckled nervously. "Of course, of course…"

"After all," Madam Osman continued, her eyes sharp, "breeding and background must be considered. The right sort of people… don't just appear from nowhere."

Soraya clenched her jaw. Her mother may have chosen ignorance, but she couldn't sit and watch their family name get trampled under a silk shoe.

"Madam Osman," Soraya said, her voice sharp and loud enough to halt the servants, "you've insulted my mother and me in the most graceful way all evening. But let's get one thing straight."

Everyone turned. Her mother's eyes widened in alarm.

"It's not your son who is doing my family a favor. It's him who's lucky to even be considered. He's a spineless, pampered, overgrown boy whose biggest accomplishment is being born into a rich family."

"Soraya!" her mother gasped.

"Ivan should be grateful I agreed to this farce of an engagement." Soraya stood up, her voice rising. "Because if this is how his mother behaves, I can't imagine the rot festering beneath the golden wallpaper of your mansion."

Madam Osman's eyes flared with fury. "How dare you...!"

"I dare," Soraya snapped. "And I'm done."

With that, she stormed out, leaving her mother scrambling to apologize and salvage what little could be saved.

At the Palanca mansion.

"Soraya what was the meaning of that behavior? Do you know what would happen if they decide to cancel the engagement. We'll go bankrupt. We'll lose everything all because of your stupidity " Mrs Palanca furiously berated Soraya.

"Mother, l can't marry into such a family. Didn't you see that woman's attitude towards us? She was looking down on us". Soraya retorted.

"You can't continue to be obstinate to the end. Your father and l wants what's best for you". Mrs Palanca spoke incessantly to her daughter who doesn't seemed to give a damn about her worries.

"Your father just wants you to marry into the Osman family to help him out on his business. Don't you know that the company is facing big financial losses?"

Soraya wanted to ignore her mother's unreasonable ranting but the more she heard, the darker her face became.

She laughed derisively and sneered,"So mother is perfectly okay with selling your daughter off into a disastrous marriage life all for the sake of profit?".

"Doesn't your conscience hurt a little". She shouted angrily.

Smack!!

Mrs Palanca slapped her. Soraya held her cheek as she looked at her mother with teary and hurtful eyes.

Angrily pointing her finger at her, Mrs Palanca berated, "You this unfilial child. Is this how you'll repay your parents for all the years we've raised you?. I'm not asking you to spend a lifetime married to that family. Just get married then our company received the investment we need. You can choose to divorce after a year or two. It's no big deal"

Soraya looked at her mother with disgust, feeling completely disappointed in her.

"Even if you kill me l won't let you people ruin my life for your selfish gains". she said.

At the Osman residence,

Madam Osman burst into her son's room like a whirlwind.

"Ivan!" she bellowed. "That insolent girl! She humiliated me! I want that engagement broken immediately! Do you hear me?"

Ivan, who had been lounging on his sofa, barely looked up from his phone.

"Mother…"

"She insulted our family, spat in our faces, and walked out! I won't have her name tied to ours."

"Don't cancel it," Ivan said calmly.

Madam Osman froze. "What did you just say?"

Ivan looked up, eyes gleaming darkly. "Make sure Soraya becomes my wife. At all cost."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "You've completely lost your mind. She's disrespectful! Disobedient!"

Ivan smiled slowly. "Exactly. She's fire. The first woman who's ever dared to put me in my place. And now I want her even more."

"You're under her spell already, aren't you?" Madam Osman hissed.

"No," Ivan replied coldly. "I'm just not letting her go."

Madam Osman left, seething. The girl hadn't even entered her house yet and already, she'd turned her son into a willing prisoner.

And something told her… Soraya was just getting started.