Alicia's POV

The first time Lucas brought me to his estate, I choked on the irony.

If my residence could be called a mansion, then Lucas’s home was nothing short of a palace—an opulent fortress designed to create a fantasy that would swallow anyone whole. To never see beyond the gold.

The sheer scale of it was staggering. The ceilings stretched impossibly high, disappearing into the distance like the vault of a cathedral, supported by towering columns that ...