Chapter 1
Hugh Johnston kissed Kelly Kessler so intensely in the Maybach that it left her dizzy. She was almost bare, while he was still fully dressed, and the difference made her face flush with heat.
He slid a hand around her waist and pulled her even closer, chuckling low in her ear. “The partition’s up. The driver won’t hear anything, and it’s not like he’d try to. So what’s with all the shyness?”
Hugh was usually distant, but now his body was moving with so much urgency. Kelly clung to him, her eyes filled with love. Just as the pleasure almost peaked, the sudden ring of a phone shattered the moment.
Hugh scowled at the disruption, but when he saw who was calling, he answered anyway. Breathing heavily, Kelly caught a glimpse of the caller ID. It was Joel Yeager, Hugh’s best friend.
“Hugh, are you out of your—”
Hugh’s expression hardened as he cut Joel off in flawless Idrenian. “Not a good time. Speak in Idrenian.”
Joel took a deep breath. After a moment of silence, he switched to Idrenian.
“You actually married Natalie? What were you thinking? You lost your sight trying to save her. Back when everything hit rock bottom, she turned her back on you and even ran off with someone else. She almost ruined you! And now you’re back with her?”
Kelly’s brain raced to make sense of the unfamiliar words. The moment it clicked, a cold shiver ran through her.
Hugh didn’t notice her reaction.
“The Ashworths will make her marry some old guy if I don’t. I can’t just stand by and let that happen,” he said.
“What about Kelly? She was the only one who stuck around when you went blind. She’s been there for you all these years. She’s basically in love with you. We can all see it!” Joel’s voice cracked with anger.
Hugh’s voice stayed even. “I’ll figure out how to keep it from her. She won’t find out.”
“How long do you think you can keep that up? Forever? Isn’t Kelly counting on you to marry her as well?”
The more Hugh heard, the more frustrated he became, and his voice grew impatient. “Keep all news about my marriage to Nattie quiet. Don’t say a word about it. I’ll get a fake marriage certificate for Kel soon.”
Then, he hung up before Joel could say anything.
Hugh looked down, tossed his phone aside, and dove back into Kelly. She couldn’t stop trembling. They both reached their climax.
While they were fixing their clothes, she opened her mouth to say something, but his phone buzzed again. It was that custom WhatsApp notification tone he’d set.
Hugh quickly checked his phone before telling the driver to pull over.
“Something urgent came up at the office, Kel. Can you get out here and grab a cab home?” he asked.
Kelly nodded silently, opened the door, and stepped out.
The black Maybach sped off down the road.
Standing on the sidewalk, Kelly stared at the never-ending line of cars, lost in a daze. She couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. They spilled down her face.
No one knew she’d learned Idrenian just to get closer to Hugh, which meant she’d heard every word he and Joel had said. Each sentence replayed in her mind, slicing through her like a knife.
And with that gut-wrenching heartbreak, old memories she thought were long buried came rushing back all at once.
Hugh was the lofty heir to the Johnston family while Kelly was just the housekeeper’s daughter.
Years ago, she’d followed her mother into the grand Johnston residence and had caught sight of Hugh playing the piano gracefully in the sunlight. She’d never heard anything so beautiful, nor seen anyone so refined.
Right then, Hugh’s name was carved into her heart for good. She never said a word about her secret feelings for him.
It wasn’t just that their worlds were miles apart that kept her silent. It was knowing exactly who held his heart—Natalie Ashworth, his childhood sweetheart.
Hugh had never kept it a secret how much he cared for Natalie, treating her like a precious gem. He got into a car accident when he was 17, trying to save her and lost his sight because of it.
From that day on, Natalie seemed to disappear without a trace. She never returned to the Johnston residence, and soon, she was seen with a new boyfriend.
There were other heirs lined up to inherit the Johnstons’ fortune. On top of that, Hugh’s parents, Neil Johnston and Emilia Barnett, were too caught up in their business to pay any attention to their blind son.
They sent Hugh off to Johnston Manor, leaving him all alone. Kelly was the one who stepped up to transfer there, taking care of him for seven years.
When she was 23, she even spent three days and nights kneeling outside a well-known doctor’s house before finally convincing him to come out of retirement and restore Hugh’s sight.
Like a pearl pulled from the dirt, he was shining once again. He regained his rightful place as heir to Johnston Group in just a year.
Kelly was the one who stuck by him through it all, who kept him company from midnight to dawn, who helped him survive those seven long, agonizing years. She was the one who kissed him, held him, and shared his bed.
She never expected that the moment he got his power back, the first thing he’d do was marry Natalie, the very woman who’d walked away from him.
For all these years, Kelly had pushed herself to keep pace with Hugh, giving it everything she had. But no matter how much she changed or grew, Neil and Emilia still saw her as unworthy of him.
Again and again, they tried to pay her to leave. Hugh always fought them, adamant about keeping her by his side. Not wanting to disappoint him, Kelly never even considered walking away.
That was, until today. She couldn’t handle it any longer.
Wiping her tears, she pulled out her phone and called a number. “Mrs. Johnston, I’ll take the 50 million and leave Hugh for good.”
