Chapter 7
Ryland’s composure cracked. ‘He’s a farmhand! What could he possibly give you?”
I didn’t raise my voice. I almost sounded amused.
“Maybe all he can give me is love. And maybe that’s exactly what proves my heart is real.”
Ryland was lost for words.
I rose onto my toes and pressed a kiss to Lucas’s lips.
The farm owner, who’d been silent up to now, finally pieced it all together.
The genial look he’d worn for Ryland vanished in an instant.
Then he lit into him in French. Called him a homewrecker. A third party destroying other people’s happiness.
Ryland let out a cold snort, pointing at Lucas sharply.
This Frenchman can’t give Ashley happiness. I’m simply looking out for my wife.”
The farm owner narrowed his eyes.
He lit a cigarette and spoke, unhurried.
‘Don’t trouble yourself over that. This farm will all go to my son one day. And this is just a small piece.”
Seeing the shock on my face, Lucas apologized.
He’d wanted to build a good life for me through his own effort, he said.
But if Ryland meant to hurt me-well, asking his father for help wasn’t off the table.
Lucas stepped in front of me, blocking Ryland’s stare.
His voice was steady as he faced Ryland.
‘I love the woman beside me. Even if she came to me with ulterior motives, I’d give her everything I have. Willingly
Ryland was thrown out.
He walked the Provençal roads alone, desolate.
He knew Ashley had learned French for him. Never imagined the next time she spoke it, it would be to cut him out of
her life.
Daisy chased after him from back home.
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“Ry don’t you see it yet? This is who Ashley is That finishing school mentality is carved into her bones’
Ryland drowned himself in alcohol every day, treating Daisy as if she didn’t exist at all
Until a headline broke back home, news about Ashley Linwood. That made him look at Daisy Really look
Before she could explain, his phone flew from his hand and struck her in the head.
“You did this?”
Daisy couldn’t believe he’d turn on her like this. Tears streamed down her face.
“Ashley seduced some farm owner’s son. That’s what happened!”
Ryland’s knuckles cracked. ‘Who do you think you are to speak to me like that?”
He gave the order to his men.
“Dump her in international waters. Let her fend for herself.”
And me, tucked away in the south of France. I saw nothing, and nothing troubled me.
Lucas dismissed the tabloid stories with pure contempt.
Ryland didn’t return home.
He was terrified that putting any more distance between himself and Ashley would make her vanish from his life
completely.
He drowned in misery day after day. Often he’d just sit on a street curb, staring at nothing.
Then one night, a group of men came at him. Mafia. They surrounded him fast.
His security team, hidden in the shadows, couldn’t react in time.
Ryland took multiple stab wounds. A bullet tore through his shoulder. Another through his calf.
The man who’d orchestrated it grinned, savoring the moment. He clicked his tongue.
“No woman throwing herself in front of you this time. Nobody’s taking your bullets.”
The words hit Ryland like a hammer to the skull.
He couldn’t remember anything about that earlier attack.
All he knew was there’d been an explosion that day. He’d been unconscious for nearly half a year
After that, he met Ashley.
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Every time the nightmares came, he’d wake up gasping.
Ashley would hold him tight, whispering over and over. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
And that would calm him, somehow. But now she didn’t want to see him. Ever again.
How could Ashley, who’d loved him that fiercely, walk away so completely?
Ryland broke down, head in his hands, sobbing. He tried to stand, to go find her.
But blood was pouring from his body. He got up and collapsed.
His men had no choice. They forced him to a hospital.
The Harrington family had him transferred back home under strict orders.
During his recovery, Ryland’s grandmother brought in a private physician to rebuild his strength from the inside out.
The doctor examined Ryland’s scars, counting them with a curious expression.
‘A while back, I saw a young woman for a consultation. She had the same marks. Seven stab wounds. Three bullet scars.”
The moment I told her she was pregnant, she bolted. It was clear she wasn’t planning to keep the child.”
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