Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

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Chapter 149
It was Uncle’s assistant, “Ms. Valentine, I’ve picked up the herbs, but you’ll need to mix the doses.”
Whitney hurried back to her apartment.
Keegan was awake now.
She spent an hour preparing the concoction and handed it to Keegan to drink, and his complexion improved slightly. He then
gestured for her to stay. “You’ve been running around all day for me, Whitney. Stay for dinner. I can whip up a couple of my
specialties.”
“But Uncle, you really shouldn’t be cooking in your condition,” Whitney said with a smile, seeing he seemed in better spirits.
“Don’t underestimate me. Go take a nap and just wait for a good meal,” Keegan said as he wheeled himself into the kitchen.
Unable to refuse such a warm offer, Whitney obliged and soon dozed off in the guest room, exhausted from the previous night’s
work on a crucial business proposal.
She overslept. When she awoke, it was past seven in the evening. Had Keegan been cooking all this time? Whitney stepped out,
puzzled not to find Keegan or his assistant in the kitchen. A murmur of a phone conversation drifted from outside.
Was her uncle out for a walk?
Feeling relieved, Whitney was about to step out to look for him when something caught her eye–a familiar white binder under the
bookshelf by the door.
She had no intention of snooping through Keegan’s things, but that binder was unmistakably familiar. With a frown and a sense
of foreboding, Whitney went over and pulled it out.
Opening it, she froze in shock.
Her face drained of color.
It was her business proposal, unmistakable because of her detailed notes on the title page and the indentations from her own
touch.

But the one she took out of her bag earlier that afternoon had looked exactly the same on the outside.
Exactly the same?
Whitney’s mind raced as her face turned ashen.
She had given the proposal to Felix, who had rushed to catch a flight. She had not checked it since, and the bag had been
zipped up and with her the entire time.
No, she remembered being so tired at noon that she had dozed off!
A chill ran through her as she opened the door to confront Keegan.

Keegan sat in his wheelchair on the porch, ending his call as she burst out. His expression was dark and icy.
“Uncle, why is my proposal in your bookshelf?” Whitney demanded from the top of the steps, feeling the distance between them
grow, although he was right there.
“You swapped the proposal in my bag, didn’t you, Uncle?” Her voice was tight, her face cold.
“I asked you about the hotel project, and you lied to me, Whitney!” Keegan shot back, his tone icy. “For Ludwik? You have truly
disappointed me.”
“I just didn’t want you to go to extremes out of madness, to seek revenge. What did you replace in the proposal?”
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Her eyes, sharp and cold, betrayed her inner turmoil.

It had to be the details she wrote. It was evening now; Ludwik had left in the afternoon. If he did not know about Braxton’s history
of strokes and met with him tonight, Ludwik could be in trouble.
Checking the time, it was nearly eight.
Keegan had ensured she slept until now to prevent her from contacting Ludwik or Felix.
Even if she tried to stop what was happening, it would be too late now.
“Uncle, you’ve manipulated and deceived me, using me and making me compete for the bid as a front. Your target has always
been the proposal! This kind of scheming is despicable! By doing such things, how are you any different from the way he
plundered and harmed you back then?
I know you want revenge, to take back the Tennyson family’s property, but we could investigate the past and let the law punish
him, not like this...”
Keegan interrupted her with a cold laugh, “Was he not despicable when he harmed my sister and father? Now, you expect me to
be fair to him? Ridiculous! I will take back the Tennyson family’s estate. I was born a
billionaire’s heir, and I’m tired of living like a beggar these past ten years!”
Whitney stepped back, her scalp tingling. This Keegan felt like a stranger to her.
What did he care about more: his vengeance or reclaiming the family estate?
There was no time to ponder; Ludwik was in danger.
Whitney’s eyes were icy as she pulled out her phone to call Felix, rushing to hail a cab on the street..

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“Whitney, come back! It’s too late even if you go now!” Keegan scoffed in anger.
His phone was still connected, the voice on the other end chuckling darkly, “Ludwik has been with Braxton for a while now. Mr.
Tennyson, you’ve done well. With the proposal messed up, he’d never suspect that his beloved would cause his downfall.”
Keegan’s heart steadied; the night’s outcome was sealed.
“Boss, congratulations in advance.”
“Heh.” The man laughed before hanging up.

Whitney raced to the airport, incessantly calling Felix and Ludwik.
But they were not picking up.
She knew they must be with Braxton now.
Without knowledge of Braxton’s condition, if Ludwik spoke for too long, there would certainly be trouble.
The flight to South City took three hours. Every second was torture for Whitney.
When she arrived close to midnight, she switched on her phone to devastating news: Braxton had had an incident.
After a lengthy late–night discussion, Braxton suffered another stroke and was rushed to the hospital.
The Tarrington family was enraged, suspecting the CEO of United Realty Corporation had had an altercation with Braxton, and
they had called the police.
The news showed a picture of Ludwik being taken away in a police car.
Braxton’s fate was uncertain, and as a witness, Ludwik was detained!
Whitney felt breathless as if crushed by the weight of her fears realized.
Chapter 149
The news had broken just ten minutes before.
Standing in the airport, she was at a loss, desperately redialing Felix’s number.

Finally, he answered.
Felix’s voice was a chaotic blend of sounds on the other end of the line. He was usually a gentle soul, but now his tone was
heavy with a tinge of anger as he said, “Madam, Braxton has a history of strokes. Why didn’t you make a detailed note of it?
Boss didn’t know Braxton could not handle a night meeting. It would’ve been fine, but there was an error in the data you
prepared!
It caught Boss off guard, and he had to redo everything on the spot, wasting time and leaving Braxton disappointed. The
excitement triggered his condition.”
Whitney’s mind went blank. An error in the data?
Her uncle had not only removed her annotations but had tampered with the numbers.
She felt a chill down her spine.
“I can’t talk more now, Madam. Boss is at the police station. You’d better hurry over and be with him! If Braxton passes away,
forget the hotel project. Boss might even face...” Felix’s call suddenly dropped.
Whitney clutched her phone tightly, her eyes reddening as she stared at the photo in the news article, showing Ludwik’s tall
silhouette.
She knew the stakes; not only was the hotel project in jeopardy but Ludwik could also be implicated in a lawsuit over a man’s life.
All because of her uncle.
Whitney’s face turned ghostly pale.
The South City Police Department was easy to find.
But she did not head there. Right now, the most important thing was to ensure Braxton made it through the night!
In a single motion, she hopped into a taxi and rushed to the Tarrington Mansion.
Chapter 150