Chapter Twenty -Five
Eddie
I step up beside Lawliss as she descends the podium, her fingers tapping my shoulder in silent warning. Her eyes say it all—Don’t do anything reckless.
I smile, lean in, and press a slow kiss on her forehead. The crowd erupts into noise, shouting over one another, but I ignore them. They’re insignificant. The only thing I care about is the woman in front of me.
She blushes, her shyness a rare thing, and it makes me smirk. I love being able to disarm her.
She walks back to her family, her father pulling her into a tight embrace like he’s reassuring himself she’s safe. She is. As long as I’m here, she will always be safe.
I turn to the vultures in front of me. Their voices die down as soon as I face them. The warmth I had just seconds ago disappears, my expression turning cold and calculating.
Silence.
Good.
“I hadn’t planned to introduce myself today,” I say, voice smooth but edged with something dangerous. “But after witnessing this pathetic attempt to tear down my woman, I decided to move up my timeline.”
The press erupts into chaos, but I don’t react. I simply wait. Let them fumble. Let them scramble.
A single glare is enough to silence them again.
“For those of you who don’t know me,” I continue, letting the weight of my words settle, “my name is Edmund Montgomery, chairman of Montgomery Industries.”
Gasps ripple through the crowd. Some reporters nearly trip over themselves in their rush to fire off questions.
“How is Montgomery Industries involved with the Dua Group?”
“You’ve been silent for years since you took over. Is Ms. Dua important enough for you to finally show yourself?”
“Is Montgomery Industries relocating their headquarters here because of her?”
I ignore every single question.
My voice is calm, deliberate. “You’re asking the wrong questions. The purpose of being here today is to deal with what you claim is a scandal and not entertain baseless information. Now, Derrick Maddox was lucky to have the Duas backing him. That support is gone, and so is any relevance he once had.”
No one knows. Not the press. Not Lawliss. Not even her family.
I never told anyone why I invested in Maddox & Co. It wasn’t about business. It was about her. Because she chose him. Because for years, I had to sit back and watch her build a life with another man, knowing I could do nothing about it. So I made sure he thrived. For her. And now? That ends.
I tilt my head slightly, my expression unreadable. “The Montgomery Industries is terminating every last partnership, every contract, and every opportunity we’ve ever extended to Maddox & Co. Since we control seventy-two percent of their investments, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before it collapses entirely.”
I let the words hang in the air, allowing them to sink in.
“Derrick should have known better,” I continue, my tone unwavering. “Should have known I don’t give second chances.”
A shift moves through the room, the kind that happens when a predator enters the space and every weaker being instinctively realizes it’s too late to run.
Then, with chilling finality, I deliver the final blow.
“To clarify, Lawliss Dua is not Derrick Maddox’s wife.” My voice drops, turning cold. Lethal. “She is mine.”
Another round of stunned silence. A few reporters exchange nervous glances, unsure whether to push further.
I arch a brow. “Any more questions?”
Silence.
That’s what I thought.
I step down from the podium and make my way to the family, pulling Lawliss to my side as we turn to leave. Together, we walk back inside, leaving Lauren and her team to wrap up the press conference.
“You okay?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
She exhales, sinking into me, and we move in sync. Around us, quiet murmurs pass between her family, everyone still processing what just happened. But the moment we’re out of sight and out of earshot of the reporters, Elisa suddenly bends over, clutching her stomach as she bursts into uncontrollable laughter.
I stop short, frowning. “The hell?”
Her parents shake their heads, unimpressed but unsurprised. Before I can get an answer, Lawliss pulls away from me, laughter spilling from her lips as she claps a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking.
Oh, she’s in on it too.
“She’s mine,” Elisa mocks, dropping her voice low in an exaggerated attempt to sound like me.
Lawliss loses it. She actually slaps her knee as she doubles over, her whole body shaking.
“Oh my god,” Lauren wheezes, stepping into the room, barely holding herself together. “I think this was the best press conference yet.”
I shake my head, exhaling through my nose. Some things never change.
Aria drops onto the couch, smirking. “Eddie had this whole dark, brooding CEO energy going on. I think I need classes on how to intimidate a room by saying next to nothing.”
“You should’ve seen their faces when he started talking,” Elisa gasps between laughs.
Lawliss, still giggling, shakes her head. “I mean… we just started dating yesterday, and he’s already out there claiming I’m his in front of the entire world.”
I glance at her, my expression unreadable.
She doesn’t even know how true her words are.
Before I can dwell on it, Ines tugs at my arm. “Come on, son, let’s leave them to it.”
I follow without protest, realizing two things. One, she has something to tell me, and two, if they’re anything like they used to be, they’re about to analyze every second of that press conference, the good and the bad, over a few glasses of wine. They used to steal it from the cellar and I was an accomplice by default because I never told on them
I sigh, then fall into step beside her.
“Let’s keep it short so we can join them,” Ines says, leading me into the study.
The moment we step inside, nostalgia grips me.
The room is exactly how I remember it.
The bright shelves still tower over the space, lined with books stacked both neatly and in haphazard piles. The faint scent that lingers in the air reminds me of the hours I used to spend here as a kid with my dad and Andrei, flipping through business books I barely understood.
Andrei sits in his usual chair, relaxed but aware, his sharp eyes watching me closely.
“This is still your space,” I comment, taking in the scattered papers and half-empty glass of whiskey at his desk.
He hums, using a hand to gesture toward the chair across from him. “Sit.”
I do.
Ines remains standing for a moment, her gaze drifting toward the voices echoing faintly from the other room. A small, almost wistful smile tugs at her lips.
“I love watching them like this,” she murmurs. “Happy. No cares, no burdens, just… living.”
There’s something in her voice—something deeper than nostalgia. A quiet longing, maybe. Or relief.
Andrei nods in agreement. “It’s a rare sight these days.” His eyes flick back to me, steady and unreadable. “Which brings us to why we brought you here.”
I straighten slightly, already sensing where this is going.
“I know you’ve loved my daughter for a long time,” he starts, his voice calm but deliberate.
I don’t react. Not outwardly. But something in my chest tightens.
Because he’s right. I have.
For longer than Lawliss even realizes.
“There’s been this tension,” he continues, “this wondering if we’d ever get our daughter back after Derrick. He was the only man she had ever been with before they married, so... He lets the words hang, leaving the weight of them between us.
I arch a brow. “Is this the part where you warn me that if I hurt your daughter, you’ll come for me?”
Andrei chuckles. “I think I miss your timidity around me. It almost feels like you’re trying to scare me when it should be the other way around.”
I smile while Ines laughs softly, walking over to him before settling onto his lap like it’s second nature.
The sight makes something tighten in my throat.
For a second I’m not here. I’m seventeen again, watching my parents do the same thing in this very room, except they were on the couch to my left. My father, rolling his eyes as my mother tried to outdo Andrei and Ines in an I love you more contest.
It had always been a competition between the two couples with questions like, who could love louder? Who could love longer? Who could prove it in ways words never could? Among others. They both went through love trials before getting married.
I blink, shaking off the memory.
“I’d kill myself before I ever hurt her,” I say, my voice quieter now. Then, swallowing thickly, I add, “But if I ever do... I’ll spend my life making it up to her a hundredfold.”
They nod, seemingly satisfied.
Andrei reaches for something, passing it to me. A painting.
“It was your father’s.”
My fingers tighten around the frame as I stare at it. Then Ines steps forward, pressing a small book into my hands with my mom's handwriting. “Happy birthday, son,” she murmurs.
I can’t hold it in anymore.
A single tear slips down my cheek before I can stop it.
Ines sees it before I even register the warmth on my skin. In a heartbeat, she’s there, pulling me into her arms, holding me the way a mother should.
And for the first time in years, I let myself be held.
After a moment, we head downstairs, slipping back into the birthday celebration as if nothing happened. The air is lighter, filled with laughter and warmth. Every so often, Lauren checks her phone, monitoring the press conference’s feedback, but for now, no one is letting the outside world intrude.
The living room is full, the TV playing softly in the background. Even Dash is here, moving effortlessly around the kitchen—apparently, that’s his favorite place to be.
Josh, nursing his drink, watches me for a beat before saying, “I’ve never seen you this relaxed in all the years I’ve known you.”
I exhale, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “I was always like this, you know…” The words slip out, more honest than I intended. Maybe it’s the drinks. Maybe it’s the atmosphere.
I glance across the room. Lawliss’s parents stand near the fireplace, talking quietly. It’s instinct that makes me say it, the memory creeping up before I can stop it.
“If my parents were alive, they’d be standing there,” I murmur, tilting my head toward them. “For birthdays, my mum and Andrei would duet—Mom always butchering the lyrics, Dad pretending she wasn’t.” A small chuckle escapes me. “And they’d dance. Every single year.”
Before I can say anything else, someone turns up the music, and just like that, everyone is moving.
“Welcome to the family,” I say to Josh when I catch sight of Elisa making a beeline for him. She grabs his arm, pulling him toward the makeshift dance floor with zero hesitation.
Lawliss steps in front of me, smiling in that way that makes my chest tighten.
I set my drink down and stand, reaching for her instinctively.
“You good?” I ask, hands settling at her waist.
“Haven’t been better,” she answers, pulling me closer.
We move in sync, the music melting into the background. The world shrinks to just this moment, her warmth, her scent, the way she fits against me.
“I love you, Lynx,” I say, voice low but sure.
She stills.
Just for a second.
And then she leans in, pressing her forehead against my chest.
I hope she knows. I hope she hears it for what it is.
The truth. That I’m irrevocably, immensely in love with her.