Claimed by the Crown Heir novel Chapter 34

She hung onto his every word, completely subservient.

When he delivered Seraphina to that client's bed, Stella might not have wanted it, but she knew. And yet, she did absolutely nothing, silently endorsing her husband's horrific actions.

If Vanessa hadn't followed her father to the hotel that day, if she hadn't noticed that Seraphina was drugged...

A seventeen-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her would have been destroyed forever.

Vanessa pushed a glass of warm water across the table, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"If she's going to be so blindingly irrational, why do you even bother visiting her?"

"Maybe I'm just addicted to the warmth of the past. Maybe I'm holding onto the pathetic scraps of a mother's love buried deep inside. Do you know what happens every time I visit? She never asks if I'm doing well. She just berates me for sending that bastard to prison. She blames me for ruining her family, for destroying her happiness."

Her voice choked up, fighting hard to keep the tears from falling.

"But what about me? Why doesn't she ever think about me... Why doesn't she think about the absolute hell I would have faced if they had succeeded, or if I even would have survived it?"

How could a person become so unbelievably selfish?

Vanessa offered a few gentle, aching words of comfort.

"Eat your dinner. Don't exhaust yourself over people who aren't worth it."

"Yeah," Seraphina forced a fragile smile. "At least I still have you and my uncle."

...

Lucas Lowery had sent out a small army to scour every inch of the city, yet they couldn't find a single trace of Vanessa.

Things at the company were a disaster. Titan Holdings seemed to have planned this all along, cornering him at every critical meeting and aggressively countering his every move, leaving him scrambling to survive.

He had once held absolute control over Vortex Group, but now he was rapidly losing his decision-making power. The suffocating pressure of being attacked from all sides was threatening to break him.

Late that night, reeking of alcohol, he stumbled blindly into the Clearwater Cove villa.

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