strictlysupreme Chapter 323: She’s here
Chapter 323: She’s here
Chapter 323: She’s hereIf misery and anxiety were a person, it would be Lucian. For how long must he suffer for sins committed so long ago? For how long until he slowly began to lose his sanity in this foreign world?
Last night, he’d dreamt of her again. This was the second time he had had this same dream, and it always went the same way. His wife. He would see her standing there with a bitter smile, and whenever he tried to reach her, he would run until he was startled awake by his alarm clock without ever reaching her, even though she was standing right in front of him.
And before he woke up, she would always tell him, "Give up, Lucian. Go back. I am lost to you forever. We were never meant to be and would never be."
How could he give up? How could he go back without her? Why would she think they were never meant to be when they were mates? He could never give up because if he did, he wouldn’t be him anymore. Looking for her was the only string keeping him and his sanity together. It was the only ray of light in his darkened soul. If he gave up, there would be no light in him anymore.
He’d been here for more than four days now and not a sign of her or any lead. Was she appearing in his dreams to tell him she would never be found again? Had he indeed lost her to a time and world he didn’t know? Does it mean he was wasting his time and she hadn’t come to this timeline he was in? What was he doing wrong?
It had only been four days, but it was starting to feel like a lifetime. His memories of her were beginning to seem like they had all never happened and were just a sweet dream. He was starting to confuse what was real and what was not.
Now, as he sat behind his desk in the office, he could no longer bring himself to do Lucian Xander Penn’s work because—how could he when he was in such a miserable state? And to top it all, this morning, the mob of people with flashing black things poised in their faces had attacked him the moment he left the skyscraper. He had subconsciously tried to reach for his sword to cut them down when he belatedly realized he had no sword and that what they held wasn’t a weapon.
They had begun to ask him questions while blocking his way.
"Is it true that you are going around the city looking for your nonexistent fantasy wife?"
"Are you really married, or is it just another way to stop your scandal with Miss Foxx?"
"Who is your secret wife? Are you hiding your relationship from the media to keep her identity hidden?"
They had asked him so many questions that made him wonder how they knew he was looking for his wife. Phone gossips, obviously. Gary had whispered for him not to answer and to keep walking. He had been too overwhelmed with the crazy people to even do anything as Gary and a few men in black attire blocked him from them and led him to the car.
Now, he could not go out and continue his
Instead of the warmth he had longed for, her blue gaze burned into him—fierce and utterly unfamiliar. She slowly brought down her hand, and her expression turned indifferent. When she parted her rosy lips to speak, her voice was low, detached and cold.
"Don’t ever do that again, or I will forget who you are and make you regret it. I am not one of your playthings, Mr. Penn. Now, if you’d respect yourself and take your seat, we can begin the meeting without letting our personal differences interfere in this." She glared at him fiercely with blue eyes that had once looked at him with love and tenderness.
He felt her words like a punch to the gut. She didn’t remember him... she didn’t know him. She was here, but she was not his.
Rylan’s warning before he performed the spell to send him here came back to him.
"It won’t be as easy as you thought, Your Majesty. She might be a different person in the future, she might not remember she was here. But if you are lucky, she might still have the memories locked away somewhere. But don’t have any high expectations if she never remembers her life with you."
Lucian had not thought about this possibility—not once had it crossed his mind that Rylan’s words would come true and that she would be a completely different person with the same face. Throughout the time he had been searching crazily for her, he had never stopped to consider those words. If she had no memories of him, how would he make her want to go back with him? Memories make a person—without them, she would only be the woman he loved by face, but not by soul and heart...
Why? He swallowed hard as he questioned his fate. Why do this to me again? Haven’t I suffered enough to be granted my happy ending?
He wanted to hit something at the injustice. He wanted to kill whoever was controlling his fate. He wanted to...
Okay, she was glaring at him with pure hatred now. When he didn’t move away to find his seat, she narrowed her eyes at him.
"If you’re not going to take your seat, I’ll take my team and leave. Your company isn’t the only real estate firm in the industry, Mr. Penn. Unfortunately for me, you own the land I want—otherwise, I wouldn’t waste a second tolerating your pathetic existence."
His pathetic existence? Those words cut deeper than he wanted them to. And when she began to pack her things on the table like she would leave, he budged from his spot and moved to go and sit. He wouldn’t want her to leave when he had only just found her, even though she was nothing like his love.
This woman here has ice for eyes and stone for heart.
He was still looking at her when he sat down on his chair, unable to believe that his wife would ever treat him this way.
From his view at the top of the long table, he could see her more clearly as she waited at the side, flipping through something on her tablet. Her red hair was swept into a neat bun, but a few loose strands framed her face, teasing, taunting him as he fought the urge to go and move them away from her face. He used to tangle his fingers in that mass of thick hair, pulling her closer, hearing the way she gasped when he did. But now, she didn’t even glance his way.
The crisp white blouse she wore clung to her curves, stretched just enough over her full breasts that he could see the faint outline of lace beneath. He had once been able to touch her rounded breasts, to press his lips and mouth on them until they pulled into a taut bud, until he felt her body come alive and arch into his. Now, that same body stood just feet away, yet out of his reach.
Not to mention the black tight skirt she wore—it hugged her hips, the darn fabric molding to every devastating curve, tapering down to her long, toned legs, made even longer by those sharp black high heels. The click of them against the floor was sharp, authoritative, just like the aloof woman wearing them. She was the boss, and she made sure everyone in the room knew it with how she moved.
She was breathtaking. She always had been. But now, she was more than that—she was untouchable, an icy beauty wrapped in professionalism, focused on the men and women around her, giving them her attention. She was talking, but he couldn’t hear a single word she spoke as he was lost in admiring her—her voice, her presence.
There was a time she would have her attention only on him, times he would make her straddle his thighs and make love to him while whispering things to drive him crazy. A time when he didn’t have to sit, being ignored, silently raging, watching her from afar while pretending it didn’t kill him.
Now, she didn’t look his way as she pointed to things on the large screens. And fuck, if that didn’t make him want her even more. She didn’t remember him, right? He would make her remember.
"Mr. Penn, what do you think about our plans for the TNT project?" came her voice that broke him out of his thoughts and pulled his eyes up to the screen where the project was presented.
Lucian hadn’t listened to anything she had been saying, he didn’t know what the TNT project was or if it would do good or bad to Penn Corps if he invest his land. He only knew that whatever his wife wanted, he would give to her even if it would cost everything in the world.
Clearing his throat, he said, "I think it’s perfect. When shall we start the building?" he asked. He’d learned a little by being here. She wanted his land and needed him to invest in the project as the Penn name would mean a lot to it and bring many investors to invest in the project. She needed the Penn to make everything possible. And he would give her that backing.