CHAPTER 21: The Moment He Knew

Victor Blackwood did not believe in fate.

He believed in leverage, timing, and calculated decisions.

Which was why, when he arrived at the Lin residence that morning, it wasn't to woo a bride or play nice.

It was to cancel an engagement.

An engagement made in tradition, not logic. In whispers, not love.

He didn't want to marry some stranger—especially not a girl from a family so mired in old bloodline politics and half-forgotten legacies.

Or so he thought.

Until the door opened.

And she walked in.

She wasn't wearing silk or heels. Just a crisp ivory blouse and tailored slacks, her hair still damp from a shower, eyes slightly puffy with sleep.

But the second she saw him, Isabella Lin froze.

Victor didn't breathe.

The world—the room—the reason he came—disintegrated.

So did his logic.

Because the girl standing in front of him wasn't a stranger.

It was her.

The one who saved his grandmother.

The one who haunted his thoughts.

The one who kissed like silence and thunder.

The one who didn't back down.

Isabella Lin.

Was his fiancée.

Clarissa Lin beamed. "Isabella, dear, this is the young man I told you about."

"I know," she said softly, staring directly at him.

Edward Lin added proudly, "He's here to confirm the engagement."

Victor opened his mouth—to speak, to deny, to resist—but no sound came out.

Isabella's eyes didn't waver.

Victor could see it now—how those eyes had stared him down at the summit, how they watched him quietly each time he tried to impress her, how they'd never flinched from his intensity.

And something inside him shifted.

He didn't want out.

He wanted in.

So deeply, so irrationally, it scared him.

Clarissa clapped her hands. "We'll begin preparations immediately! Victor, we're so pleased you've accepted."

He forced a smile, still dazed. "Of course."

Isabella's voice cut cleanly into the air. "I didn't agree yet."

Everyone turned to her.

Clarissa blinked. "Darling, we—"

"I'm not saying no," she said. "But I'll decide on my own terms."

Edward opened his mouth to object, but Victor raised a hand, silencing the room.

"She has that right," he said. "I wouldn't want her any other way."

Their eyes met.

And in that moment, no one else existed.

Later, as Victor sat in the back of his car, head tilted against the leather seat, Markus asked from the front, "So, did you end the engagement?"

Victor's lips curved into something between a smirk and surrender.

"No," he said.

"Why not?"

Because she's the girl who walked into my life wearing secrets and silence like armor.

Because she looked at me like I was just another problem to solve.

Because she didn't flinch when I kissed her.

Because she made me forget why I came.

Because she's mine.

Victor didn't say any of that out loud.

He just whispered, "Because I changed my mind."

That night, the chat lit up.

[AshenWolf]: "You ever feel like the world just tilted and suddenly nothing else matters?"

[SkyeEcho]: "Yes. I just found out I'm engaged to someone I can't decide whether to strangle or kiss."

He stared at that reply for a long time.

Then typed:

[AshenWolf]: "Maybe do both. I wouldn't stop you."

Next Chapter Teaser: Victor now knows she's his fiancée, but Isabella is still unaware that her longtime online friend and this insufferable man are the same person. When he invites her to meet his grandfather next, another piece of the puzzle begins to shift into place.