Chapter 212

ELORA’S POV I couldn’t get the smile off my face. No matter how hard I tried to school my expression, it stayed, soft and bright and impossibly hopeful as Lucian told me Aiden had decided to stay. It didn’t guarantee anything yet, not forgiveness, not reconciliation, not peace between them. But it was something. A crack in a wall that had seemed unbreakable just hours ago. Aiden was stubborn to the core. If he’d agreed to stay, then hope…real hope…existed. I turned toward Lucian, studying him the way I always did when he surprised me. “How did you do it?” He was standing by the mirror, adjusting his cufflinks with maddening calm. “Do what?” I narrowed my eyes. “Convince Aiden to stay. That must’ve been hard for you.” He chuckled under his breath, finally meeting my gaze in the mirror. “Trust me, baby. I almost gave up.” Then his lips curved into that smug smirk I both loved and wanted to slap. “But I’m Lucian Weston. I never give up. All I did was order him to be Director of Weston and