The Woman He Bought

Chapter 10

Lucien’s POV

I couldn’t believe it.

The files spread across my desk blurred as I stared at them, the words refusing to settle into something logical. My office was silent except for the faint hum of the city beyond the glass walls, but inside my head, everything felt unbearably loud.

My chest tightened.

Elara’s parents were murdered on the same day mine were.

The same day.

For years, I had memorized every detail surrounding my parents’ deaths. The time. The location. The event they were supposed to attend. The people they were meant to meet before arriving. I had rebuilt that day in my mind countless times, searching for the moment everything went wrong.

And yet somehow, I had missed this.

Missed her.

That alone was enough to leave me stunned. But what truly shattered the fragile control I prided myself on was the name printed clearly across the investigation report.

Ethan Coast.

Her uncle.

The man behind everything.

I leaned back slowly in my chair, my fingers pressing against my temple as memory forced its way forward.

That day, I knew my parents were meant to meet an old friend before heading to the event. It had been mentioned casually during conversations I barely listened to at the time. Back then, grief had consumed me entirely. I didn’t care about connections or social ties. I cared only about one thing—finding who killed them.

Revenge had been simple when it was fueled by rage.

Find the enemy.

Destroy them.

I hadn’t asked enough questions. I hadn’t dug deep enough into the past. I had followed money trails, business conflicts, and criminal dealings, but I ignored the personal connections. The family ties.

I never asked who that friend was.

Never cared.

Now I knew.

And the realization made my stomach turn.

Funny how I had believed Ethan Coast was the rightful head of the Coast family business. Funny how easily lies become truth when no one bothers to question them.

He had stolen that title.

The Coast empire had been a family inheritance, passed down through generations. Ethan, the elder brother, had once been expected to take over. But greed had a way of revealing itself. Illegal dealings. Risky investments. Quiet betrayals that eventually reached their father’s ears.

Authority was stripped from him.

The title passed instead to the younger brother.

Jaden Coast.

Elara’s father.

Responsible. Principled. Trusted.

Everything Ethan wasn’t.

Jealousy had eaten him alive.

The reports described it clinically—financial disputes, estrangement, broken communication—but I could read between the lines. Pride wounded deeply enough turns into resentment. Resentment, left long enough, becomes hatred.

Ethan distanced himself from the family completely.

Jaden, despite everything, tried to reconnect. The documents showed attempts—business invitations declined, holiday messages unanswered, offers of reconciliation ignored.

He kept trying.

Until he stopped.

And that rejection became the final insult Ethan never forgave.

I closed the file slowly, the sound echoing louder than it should have in the quiet room.

Outside, the city lights stretched endlessly, but my thoughts were trapped somewhere in the past.

I knew Ethan had a niece.

I knew he and his wife claimed guardianship after her parents died.

But I never knew what happened after that.

Never knew they isolated her.

Never knew they broke her.

A bitter realization settled in my chest.

When I trapped Ethan in debt, it had been deliberate. Every move calculated. Every financial decision designed to corner him slowly until escape became impossible.

I had offered him one way out.

Marry off his niece to me.

A business arrangement disguised as salvation.

At the time, Elara had meant nothing to me. She was leverage. A tool that would give me access to the Coast family and everything Ethan valued. Once inside, I planned to dismantle everything piece by piece.

His reputation.

His wealth.

His legacy.

Including her.

That had been the plan.

Cold. Efficient. Final.

But now…

Everything had changed.

Elara wasn’t collateral damage.

She was a victim.

Just like me.

Her parents hadn’t simply died in an accident. They were murdered alongside mine. Our lives had been shattered by the same man, on the same day, for the same reason—greed.

And I had unknowingly bound her to him again.

The thought made guilt settle heavily in my chest, unfamiliar and unwelcome.

I had treated her like part of the arrangement. Maintained distance. Enforced rules. Ignored the quiet signs of fear I didn’t bother to understand.

The hospital.

The floor.

The nightmares.

The way she flinched when certain names were mentioned.

I had seen it all and chosen not to ask.

Because asking meant caring.

And caring complicated revenge.

I clenched my jaw, frustration building—not at her, but at myself.

I prided myself on knowing everything. On anticipating every outcome. Yet the person living under my roof had carried a history intertwined with mine, and I had been blind to it.

Or worse.

I hadn’t looked.

The image of her from that morning surfaced in my mind—pale, exhausted, trying to pretend she was fine. The quiet way she endured things instead of complaining.

She wasn’t weak.

She had simply learned that no one came when she asked for help.

That realization hit harder than anything else.

I stood and walked toward the glass wall, slipping my hands into my pockets as I stared down at the city below. Normally, the view grounded me. It reminded me of control. Power. Order.

Tonight, it did nothing.

Revenge had driven me for years. Every decision, every partnership, every risk taken with one goal in mind.

Destroy Ethan Coast.

But now the objective felt… different.

Personal.

Ethan hadn’t only taken my parents.

He had taken hers.

He hadn’t only destroyed my family.

He had destroyed hers too—and then forced her to live under his roof afterward.

My chest tightened at the thought.

From this moment on, things would be different.

I would help her uncover the truth about her parents’ deaths.

I would make sure Ethan paid for everything he had done—not just to me, but to her.

And Marcus…

My jaw hardened.

The way Elara reacted at the gathering replayed in my mind. The fear hadn’t been subtle. It had been instinctive. Deep-rooted. The kind that didn’t come from simple dislike.

Someone had failed to protect her once.

That wouldn’t happen again.

I made the decision quietly, without hesitation.

Elara would be safe.

From Ethan.

From Marcus.

From anyone who thought they could hurt her again.

Including myself.

The realization settled heavily in my chest.

Because the truth was, I had already hurt her—through indifference, through silence, through treating her like an obligation instead of a person.

That would change too.

I exhaled slowly, tension easing just slightly as a new plan began forming in my mind. Not one built on destruction alone, but on rebuilding something that had been broken long before she entered my life.

Elara didn’t trust easily.

I couldn’t blame her.

Trust wasn’t something I could demand or buy.

It had to be earned.

Maybe I would start small.

Something simple.

She loved France. My grandmother had mentioned it more than once. The disappointment in her eyes when the trip was canceled hadn’t gone unnoticed, even if she tried to hide it.

A trip later, perhaps.

When she was stronger.

Or smaller things first.

Books she liked. Fresh flowers in her room. A phone—she didn’t even have one, I realized suddenly. How had I not noticed that before?

The thought irritated me more than it should have.

She lived in my house, yet parts of her life remained invisible to me.

That would change.

I straightened, turning away from the window as resolve settled firmly in my chest.

For years, revenge had been the only thing keeping me moving forward.

Now there was something else.

Protection.

Responsibility.

And something far more dangerous than either of those.

Hope.

I didn’t know when it started, or how it happened, but one truth was suddenly undeniable.

Elara was no longer part of a plan.

She mattered.

And whether she realized it or not, she wasn’t alone anymore.

I made a silent promise to myself then.

Elara would be safe.

Elara would be happy.

Always.

And for the first time in years, revenge no longer felt like the end of the story.

It felt like the beginning of something else entirely.