?Chapter 707:


    Yet maternal instinct wed at her chest, a relentless ache spreading like fire through her ribs. Every breath carried the weight of what they were about to do.


    Turning toward the rain-streaked window, Sandra watched streetlights blur into amber halos through the downpour. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes but refused to fall.


    Axell’s vi zed with light against the storm-darkened night. Richard guided the car to a stop near the entrance, then carefully lifted Rosanna’s limp form from the backseat.


    Rain soaked through his suit jacket as he cradled her, the fabric clinging to his skin like a secondyer of guilt.


    Sandra appeared beside him with an umbre, her presence both shield and witness as they approached the imposing front door. Richard’s fingers trembled slightly as he dialed the familiar number.


    “We’re here.”


    Within moments, the door burst open.


    Axell emerged in a silk bathrobe, practically vibrating with anticipation, while his elderly butler hovered respectfully behind.


    “Already?” Axell’s eyebrows arched as he took in Rosanna’s unconscious state. “What exactly happened to her?”


    Yet as his gaze swept over her carefully chosen dress and wless makeup, hunger flickered across his features. He swallowed hard, satisfaction already creeping into his expression.


    Richard stepped closer, transferring Rosanna into Axell’s eager arms. A practiced smile stretched across his face as he offered his rehearsed exnation.


    “Nothing serious. She simply dozed off during the drive. Regardless, she’s yours now, as promised.”


    His hands rubbed together with barely concealed anxiety as he ventured the question that had haunted him all evening. “About that letter of understanding we discussed…”


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    Cradling Rosanna against his chest, Axell savored her yielding warmth and the intoxicating perfume that clung to her skin. Impatience crackled in his voice. “Enough with this tedious dance! My word stands.” His grip tightened possessively around her before he seized a document from the butler’s waiting hands, flinging it toward Richard with casual contempt. “Take your precious paper and disappear. Don’t ruin my good time.”


    The dismissal struck Richard like a physical blow. He lunged forward, desperate fingers grasping at the fluttering document, but it slipped through his grasp andnded in the rain-soaked gravel.


    Scrambling to his knees, Richard’s hands shook violently as he retrieved the sodden paper.


    The weight of it felt both like salvation and damnation, a key to freedom that had cost them everything precious.


    Yet shame meant nothing now.


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