Chapter 7 - The Broken Titan
Lucia spun around, her long brunette hair whipping across her shoulders.
Reed was standing in the doorway of the dark office. He had returned from Tokyo three days early. But he didn't look like the terrifying, untouchable apex predator anymore. He looked incredibly pale, exhausted, and physically fragile. He leaned heavily against the doorframe, his sharp black suit hanging slightly loose on his frame.
His dark eyes immediately dropped to the open leather sketchbook resting on his desk.
The cold, unreadable mask completely, violently shattered. Pure, unadulterated panic flashed across his handsome face. He had spent six months meticulously building a wall of ice to protect her, and she had just ripped it entirely to the ground.
"You weren't supposed to see that," Reed whispered, his deep voice cracking with raw, agonizing vulnerability.
"You're dying," Lucia choked out, tears of profound, overwhelming heartbreak violently flooding her eyes. She didn't back away from him. She took a slow, deliberate step forward. "You bought my father's life, you made me your legal wife, and you're leaving me your entire empire... and you weren't even going to tell me?"
Reed physically staggered backward, his chest heaving with heavy, painful breaths.
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"I didn't want your pity, Lucia," Reed choked out, tears finally breaking through his stoic facade. "I loved you from a distance for five years. When I got sick, and I saw you drowning in debt... I just wanted to make sure you were safe before I was gone. I wanted you to hate me so it wouldn't hurt when I left."
👉 Lucia marched directly toward the weeping billionaire, completely refusing to let him die alone in the dark.
