Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

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Chapter 141
Next to Banyan City International Hotel stood the hospital.
Whitney sat vigil in the hospital room, reaching out to check her uncle’s pulse when suddenly her fingers were gripped tightly, her
uncle’s nails scraping blood from her skin.
Startled, Whitney turned to see her uncle’s eyes flutter open.
Keegan looked at her with a mixture of pain and madness, demanding, “Whitney, why did you marry Ludwik?! He’s our nemesis!
How could you marry him?” His coughs grew into a fit as he tried to rise, his words laced with desolation.
Whitney stiffened, as if unable to comprehend.
Her mind buzzed as she stared into her uncle’s reddened eyes, his face contorted with pain. She denied his accusations, “Uncle,
what are you talking about? He’s not Ludwik.”
She held his hand, trying to calm him, “You must be mistaken. L had a scar on his face–I saw it with my own
eyes.”
Keegan shook off her hand violently, his anger distorting his face. He turned and rummaged through his bag, pulling out a
fractured silver mask and thrusting it into Whitney’s hands, “Why do I recognize him? Because of this silver mask! Familiar, isn’t
it–the one he was wearing!”
Whitney shuddered at the sight of the jagged half–mask.
Keegan spat hatefully, “Foolish girl, do you know that when your mom and grandpa died in that car, I ran to save them and saw
this mask stabbed into your grandpa’s heart? His last word was ‘Ludwik‘!
He was just twenty ten years ago, already hiring hitmen. I didn’t know the car was rigged. When I tried to move my sister and
father, the car exploded. My leg, my face, my body...”
Keegan clutched his scarred face, trembling.
The pain from his amputated right leg seemed to surge back, suffocating him.

Seeing him struggle to breathe, Whitney quickly pressed his philtrum to ease hiş distress.
She could only shake her head in confusion, “It can’t be. L isn’t Ludwik. And wasn’t the Valentine family implicated in my mother
and grandfather’s deaths? How could it be Ludwik?”
“It was a business assassination!” Keegan chastised her. “Ten years ago, the Imperial Gem Corporation was a mess. Ludwik’s

ambition knew no bounds. How else could he build today’s Fortune 100 company? You don’t believe me? I’ll show you his face!”
Keegan, fueled by his rage, was trying to rise from the bed. With only one leg, he immediately fell to the floor. Pity flashed in
Whitney’s eyes, her heart heavy. She couldn’t resist, “Uncle, please calm down. I’ll go.” Whitney’s mind was numbed. She was
now on a plane to Riverlyn City, still disbelieving.
But as she followed Keegan to the hospital, standing at a distance from a certain window, Whitney’s trust shattered.
Inside Elaine’s room, beside Ashton stood a tall man in an unchanged black suit. Whitney’s shaky gaze traveled up to his
handsome face, It was indeed Ludwik.
Ludwik was too striking to mistake, a face to remember for eons. Whitney could not be wrong.
The scars she saw on L’s face at Alpine Springs Resort were gone.
Had he deceived her with a fake skin? Had he gone to great lengths to hide the truth from her?
Whitney felt like a fool.
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Chapter 141

She had never connected him to the most esteemed Mr. Lippert of the Lippert family in Banyan City!
Powerful and feared, he controlled the economic lifeline of Banyan City.
No wonder he could have everyone conceal his identity. With a single command, no one dared tell her the truth! “He is Ludwik,
Whitney. He’s been wearing a mask all along and deceiving you. But why?!” Keegan pulled her into the car, his question piercing
her soul.
And in that moment, Whitney felt she had touched upon the answer.
He said he would only remove the mask once she fell in love with him.
Why?
Because by then, even if she knew everything, she wouldn’t be able to leave him, and their child would already be born, right?
Whitney sank into misery, her eyes misting as she looked up, “Uncle, are you certain about the cause of my mother and
grandfather’s deaths? Maybe it wasn’t Ludwik, maybe...”
“Shut up!” Keegan erupted, his hatred consuming him, “Having been kidnapped as a child due to his looks, Ludwik had a habit of
wearing masks–a fact known among Banyan City’s elite. That mask lodged in your grandpa’s heart, and what more evidence do
you need?”
The car sped through the streets.
Keegan attempted to compose himself, massaging his aching brow, “You were young ten years ago, unaware of many things.”

“Our Tennyson family hailed from Emperor City. My father was once a medical professional, ousted unfairly by rivals. He brought
your mom here to Banyan City. She was pregnant with you, hiding from your birth father in Emperor City. That’s why my father
used Preston as a front to settle down.”
“Even outside the medical field, my father’s ventures were vast. Skye Gem was his renowned jewelry company. He had a map of
the Surelia District diamond mines–a map that drove Ludwik to murder him ten years ago!”
A chill went through Whitney as she remembered him claiming to be a self–made man.
“After my sister and father passed away, I fled overseas. I watched the Imperial Gem Corporation soar to new heights, powered
by the mining operations in Surelia District. It was built on my father’s toil – the foundation laid by the Tennyson family!”
Keegan clenched his fists in anguish. “The Valentine family? They’re just pawns manipulated by Ludwik’s chain of interests.”
Whitney felt as if her mind had been scrubbed clean, still clinging to the faint hope of denial.
“We need to confront the Valentines, uncle. I want the truth about my mother and grandfather’s deaths.”
“Your mother had been ill for a long time, with chronic poisoning,” Keegan ordered his assistant to turn the wheel, “The Valentine
family must be held accountable, too. Let’s do it today!”
Their car swiftly arrived at the grand Valentine Mansion.
Preston and Yvonne were both at home. Seeing Whitney and the figure of Keegan behind her, the color drained from their faces
in fear.
“Keegan?!” Yvonne’s voice trembled with fear.
Keegan sneered, “Did you think I would never return?”
Preston’s face turned ashen, stammering out, “It wasn’t me, Whitney. Your grandfather and your mother’s deaths... they have
little to do with us!”
“That’s right. You only got the scraps of my father’s wealth. The lion’s share went to those above you, on the
Chapter 141

condition you obey and cast the slow poison to my sister, right?”
Yvonne’s face grew increasingly pale as she stumbled backward into the corner of a table.
Seeing her guilt, Whitney advanced, “Did you poison my mother? She knew medicine. How could she fall for it?” “The poison
was colorless and tasteless, provided by a mysterious figure. At that time, your grandfather and the Imperial Gem Corporation
were at loggerheads, and your mother was overwhelmed with stress. Preston had the servants slip it into her breakfast. By the
time she realized, it was too late to save herself.” Yvonne stammered out the grim details.
Keegan let out a bitter laugh, his eyes cold as ice, “Who did you give the Surelia District mining maps to?”
“We... we also gave them to this mysterious figure. We don’t know who he is. He promised us that if we got rid of your mother
and grandfather, the Valentine family would get a slice of your grandfather’s vast empire. Your mother was married to me in
name, but your grandfather never let me touch any part of the Tennyson family’s business. Jealousy took root in my heart.”
It was a meticulously crafted conspiracy! Only someone with a jewel company would need the Surelia Dis