She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 840

Under the table, Lucian's fists clenched so tightly the veins bulged against his skin.

"You found a replacement that fast?" His voice was a sub-zero whisper, but it vibrated with a tremor he couldn't completely suppress. "I figured after you betrayed me and left me for dead, you'd at least have the decency to pretend to be heartbroken for a few days."

Loyce finally stopped eating and looked at him.

Her eyes were as calm and still as a deep, black lake. There was no anger, no sorrow, and absolutely zero desire to explain herself.

"Mr. Shapiro," she said, her tone utterly indifferent. "Are we acquainted?"

Lucian choked on his next breath.

"You took his flower," he heard himself say, his voice raw and raspy.

Loyce glanced down at the beautifully wrapped rose resting beside her plate. A faint, mocking smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"I did," she said, raising her eyes back to his. "Is there a problem?"

Was there a problem?

Of course there was a damn problem.

But he couldn't articulate what it was.

Who she took flowers from, who she ate dinner with, who she married—what did any of it have to do with him? He was the one who had been abandoned and betrayed. So why was he sitting here consumed by rage? Why was he suffocating on this bitter, venomous jealousy?

His heart felt like it had been violently ripped open, the freezing wind howling through his chest, leaving him shaking down to his fingertips.

Lucian took a jagged breath. According to Sigrid, Loyce was a toxic mistake from his past. He needed to walk away. He had absolutely no reason to sit at this table.

But he didn't move.

He sat there, bolted to the chair, staring at her like a starving animal.

"You..." he started, his voice cracking. "Why did you do that to me? Did we have some kind of ugly falling out?"

Loyce's hands paused. She looked at him, her appetite instantly gone.

She dropped her knife and fork onto the porcelain plate, grabbed her purse, and stood up. "Lucian, Yorick was right. With my status, all I have to do is snap my fingers, and a hundred men will throw themselves at my feet. I've thought about it. If you're weak enough to let Stellar Trust put you on a leash, then you aren't the man I thought you were. You aren't worth the hell I'd have to go through to get you back."

"Finding a man who comes with less baggage—and who loves me more—sounds like a much better deal."

She shot him one final, icy smile and turned to leave.

Crash!

Even stripped of his memories, the Lucian she knew was always so easy to handle.

His brain had forgotten her, but his body hadn't. That much was brutally obvious.

She reached up, framing his wet face with her hands, running her fingers through his damp hair. She pulled a candy from her pocket, unwrapped it with one hand, and slipped it into his mouth.

He was so furious he was shaking, but he still took it. He didn't even care if it was poisoned.

"Aren't you afraid I'm trying to kill you?" she whispered.

Lucian lowered his head and crushed his mouth to hers. He kissed her with a desperate, bruising force, sweeping the cool taste of peppermint from his mouth into hers. Their tongues tangled, sharing the sweet, minty heat as his arm tightened around her waist like a vice. It was like he was starving for her, addicted to the taste, trying to swallow her whole.

They kissed for a long time in the rain. Long enough for Loyce to feel the unmistakable, burning heat pressing hard against her stomach. Panting slightly, she finally pushed his face away.

Lucian refused to let her go. His chest rose and fell rapidly against hers. "That candy takes the pain away," he rasped. "Loyce, my head is killing me. Whenever I try to think about you, it feels like my skull is splitting open. Why?"

"You have a bomb in your head," she said, staring dead into his eyes, her voice stripped of any warmth. "If you betray Stellar Trust and Sigrid, it detonates. You'll be a corpse. Do you believe me?"

He did. He believed her implicitly, for absolutely no logical reason. Even though everyone told him she had betrayed him and ruined his life, his every instinct screamed at him to pull her closer.

"You loved me, didn't you?" he whispered.