‘He’s this handsome?’ she thought, stunned.
Sophia had never mentioned marrying someone like this. Someone this rich. This powerful. This devastatingly attractive.
Violet’s gaze moved over Magnus openly now, from head to toe, hunger flashing in her eyes before she could stop it.
‘Even if he’s a gambler… even if his reputation is terrible,’ she thought greedily, ‘so many women are still dying to marry him.’
Looking at him now, it all made perfect sense.
Who wouldn’t want to marry a man who looked like this?
And the Graves family—didn’t they already have more money than they could ever spend? Even if he burned through millions a day, what did it matter? With that kind of wealth, he could set fire to fortune after fortune and still remain untouchably rich.
Violet kept staring at him for so long that she didn’t even realize she was openly watching him.
Magnus, who had been scrolling through his phone, lifted his eyes briefly and glanced at her. The look was cold—indifferent, uninterested. His gaze passed over her without the slightest pause.
But Violet misunderstood it completely.
The moment she saw his eyes land on her, her heart leaped with excitement.
‘Is he looking at me?’ she thought, thrilled. ‘I was worried about how to win him over, but it looks like he’s already interested in me. Getting him won’t be as difficult as I thought.
Her thoughts were abruptly broken by the sound of footsteps entering the room.
All three of them looked up at the same time.
Sophia walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water in her hand, heading toward the living room. The moment she stepped fully into the room and her eyes landed on Violet—who was sitting there comfortably—her steps halted instantly.
“What are you doing here?” Sophia asked coldly, displeasure evident in her voice.
That single sentence was enough to make both Camila and Magnus straighten slightly, immediately realizing that Sophia was far from happy to see this so-called cousin in their house.
At the same time, Magnus rose to his feet the moment he saw Sophia.
He walked toward her without hesitation.
Violet was sitting directly in his path, her legs crossed casually, making no effort to move aside.
Magnus didn’t slow down.
He roughly kicked her legs aside and stepped past her without sparing her a glance, his focus entirely on Sophia.
Violet jolted in shock. She turned her head and saw Sophia standing behind her—and in that moment, realization crashed down on her.
He hadn’t been looking at her at all.
He had been looking at Sophia.
The truth twisted Violet’s expression with anger and jealousy. The way Magnus shoved her aside without hesitation just to get to Sophia only fueled the fire burning inside her.
Magnus walked straight to Sophia and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close without a word.
Sophia froze for a brief second, caught off guard.
Then she brushed it aside.
‘He’s probably just putting on an act for his mother,’ she told herself. ‘So she doesn’t find out that our marriage is fake.’
