Someone dropped a glass. It shattered loudly.
Eric grabbed her wrist.
“You’ve lost your mind,” he hissed.
Victoria pulled her arm free and signed the document.
Within minutes, the marriage was official.
That night she rode beside Logan in silence in the back of a dark limousine heading to the Maddox estate outside Los Angeles.
The bedroom waiting for them was enormous and elegant.
But Logan didn’t approach the bed.
Instead, he removed his coat and lay down on the couch.
“You’ll have my name,” he said calmly. “It will protect your empire. But you won’t see my face or share my bed until you truly understand who I am.”
Over the next few days tabloids exploded with rumors about their strange marriage. Investors questioned Victoria’s judgment.
Eventually she demanded answers.
Logan didn’t argue. Instead, he took her to an old community center across the city.
The moment they arrived, children ran toward him laughing.
They hugged him and called him their “invisible guardian.” He secretly paid for their food, school supplies, and shelter. His wealthy brothers had never cared about the place.
Victoria realized something shocking.
The man society called a monster was quietly saving lives.
A few days later she saw him practicing sword training in the estate courtyard before sunrise. His shirtless body showed no scars or deformities. Just strength.
For a split second, the wind lifted the cloth covering his face.
Victoria caught a glimpse of a sharp jawline.
Handsome.
He covered his face again quickly.
Later, during a business trip across the Nevada Desert, someone sabotaged their car by cutting the fuel line.
A violent sandstorm rolled in.
Logan shielded her with his body until they found shelter between rocks.
While cleaning a cut on his shoulder, Victoria asked softly, “Why do people hate you so much?”
“Because I show them what they really are,” he replied.
When she handed him water, he loosened the cloth slightly.
For the first time she saw his mouth. Then his eyes.
They were bright gold. Almost like liquid amber.
They leaned closer without realizing it.
Just as their faces nearly touched, a rescue helicopter appeared overhead.
The moment vanished.
When they returned to the estate, black flags hung outside the mansion.
Guards surrounded the property.
Eric and Jason stood waiting with dramatic expressions of grief.
“Your father died tonight,” Eric told her.