Lucien didn't speak as the audio played.
He sat perfectly still, eyes locked on the screen of her phone, jaw tight, fists clenched in his lap. Ariella watched him, her heart pounding with every second of silence.
When the message ended, the room was quiet enough to hear the rain against the windows.
"You lied to me," she said, voice calm but sharp. "Not just about my father. About everything. You hunted me. You bought me. And now you're learning you built your revenge on a lie."
Lucien looked up slowly. "I didn't know."
"You never cared to find out. You just wanted a name to blame."
He stood, tension vibrating off him. "You think I wanted this? That I wanted any of this to be true? That everything I did—everything I believed—was a lie passed down from a man I hated?"
"You used me," she said softly. "And now that the truth is out, I need to know… what are you going to do about it?"
He walked to the window, back turned, breathing hard. "The people who framed your father… if they're still inside Kane Holdings, then they've been manipulating me for years. Feeding me what they wanted. Turning me into their weapon."
Ariella stayed quiet.
"I wanted to bury the past," he went on. "But I ended up becoming it."
When he turned to her, something had shifted in his face. The cold, ruthless tycoon she met months ago was gone. What remained was raw. Real.
"I can fix it," he said. "Expose the truth. Clear your father's name."
"And us?" she asked.
He stepped toward her. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you'll still want me… when I'm no longer the man who owns everything. When I'm just a man who broke you, and is trying to put you back together."
Ariella studied him. She'd spent so long hating him. Loving him. Needing him and trying to escape him. But now… she saw what no one else had ever seen.
A man without his armor.
She took a step forward. "Then start by giving me your empire."
Lucien blinked. "What?"
"You want to fix it? Hand over control. Let me into the company. Let me help you burn it down, if that's what it takes. Not as your possession. Not as your weakness. As your partner."
He stared at her.
Then, slowly, his lips curved.
"Now you're speaking my language."
She didn't smile back.
Not yet.
Not until he proved it.
But as he pulled her into his arms again, this time with no secrets between them, no chains, no lies—
Ariella finally let herself believe that whatever came next…
They'd face it together.