Never Again Yours (Isadora and Magnus) novel Chapter 490

Victor simply wrapped his arms around her waist, his hand coming to rest over the gentle curve of her belly. His voice was low and rough, “Are you cold?”

Isadora shook her head.

“Victor.”

“Yeah?”

She blinked slowly, her voice distant and wavering. “I’m not really that special. I don’t think I’m strong. Sometimes I even cry… though not all that often.”

Victor’s dark eyes, deep and glossy as obsidian, softened with a gentle smile. “I’m looking for a wife, not an opponent. Why would I want someone who’s tough all the time?”

“Isadora, listen to me. As long as it’s you, you’re the best there is for me.”

Isadora felt her eyes grow warm, a prickling heat threatening to spill over.

Since when did this man become so good with words?

*

In a cramped, shabby apartment on the edge of town, Rowena’s father, Keeley Blaine, and her mother sat hunched and grim-faced, their expressions haggard and worn. Though they were only in their sixties, they now looked decades older.

Never in their lives had they imagined things would turn out this way. Losing their savings was bad enough, but after returning to Capitolion, they couldn’t even step outside without keeping their heads down, glancing over their shoulders, living like fugitives.

And when they asked their daughter what she’d gotten herself into?

Rowena would just snap: “Mind your own business! And for God’s sake, be careful when you go out!”

She’d promised, not so long ago, to take them abroad, to enjoy the good life.

But that dream had crashed and burned. Instead, they were worse off than ever—poorer, lonelier, more desperate than before.

Her latest boyfriend had taken everything she had left, then turned violent. Even they, her own parents, hadn’t been spared the bruises.

Every time they thought about it, their hearts ached with bitterness.

They’d spoiled their daughter rotten as a child, let her believe she was better than everyone else, destined for something greater. Who could have guessed it would become her fatal flaw?

Rowena’s mother sighed heavily. “You’ve already been divorced once. Wasn’t Abbott Beaumont’s mess enough for you to learn your lesson? You pick a new boyfriend and still can’t see through him. What’s the use of good looks? Can good looks put food on the table?”

Rowena stalked back and forth across the room, her face mottled with bruises, eyes flat and empty.

She’d never meant to come back. She’d planned to get money from Deanna and finally start a life of her own.