Her fifth daughter died, so she deleted his bloodline. novel Chapter 247

Chapter 17

Early in the morning, a procession of haute couture outfits was delivered to Nathaniel’s penthouse.

His assistant had never seen Nathaniel so meticulous-hours spent trying on suits, as if even a wedding wouldn’t have required this much effort.

The final outfit selected, Nathaniel retrieved an antique mahogany box from the safe-its gold-inlaid craftsmanship alone could fetch a million at Christie’s. They say he’d specially commissioned the box at auction just to house one particular jewel.

Just how priceless could the jewel be?

The lid lifted, revealing a sapphire bracelet nestled in velvet.

A sapphire bracelet?

The assistant stifled a gasp. For a man of his discernment, the piece was frankly pedestrian-worth

no more than six figures at most.

Yet Nathaniel cradled it like a holy relic, fingers tracing stones worn smooth by a decade of secret

handling.

Ten years to the day.

The memory struck like a shiv-his stepbrother’s goons pinning him in that stinking alley, brass knuckles gleaming as they debated which tendons to sever first. Then-her. That slip of a girl materializing from the shadows, outmaneuvering them with nothing but razor wit and a fake police

siren app.

As the thugs fled, she’d pressed this bracelet into his bleeding palm-“So you’ll remember today

wasn’t all bad.”

The design was a celestial puzzle-his sapphire sun-strand interlocked with her ruby moon-strand to form a single harmonia bracelet. Separate, they were elegant. United, the hidden clasp transformed them into an unbreakable mandala-two halves of a coded oath.

When he asked what she wanted in return, she’d grinned, “A pretty guy like you? How about pledging yourself to me?”

He knew she’d jested. But he remembered.

A brutal head injury had left him with a concussion that blurred her face in the alley’s gloom, their

Chapter 17

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She lived in his shadow to protect him. Now, she’s the one casting the shadow.

exchange fragmented.

For years, he’d searched. Every anniversary, he returned to that alley.

Three years ago, fate brought him there again-ambushed once more, only to encounter Emily.

He remembered it vividly-her watching from her car like a spectator. Had his face not caught her eye, she’d never have stepped out, let alone saved him.

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