Chapter 117
KESTER.
I went for a run. Something I hadn’t done outside the confines of my home gym in a long time. But today, it felt like the whole house was closing in on me, and I needed a breath of fresh air.
I ran until my lungs burned, until the early morning air felt like razor against my skin, until the world blurred into nothing.
Two days.
Forty–eight fucking hours.
And Kasmine hadn’t stepped foot outside her room, neither had she opened the door for me or anyone else aside from her favorite maid who takes her meals to her and comes out with them untouched.
I was losing my mind.
It was just five more days until I was shackled to an engagement I didn’t even want, and I wasn’t even prepared for it.
When Kasmine barged into my room and found me and June in that awkward position, I heard her saying something about picking a date. She must have come across the whole engagement thing on social media, all thanks to June.
If only she’d let me explain myself, she’d see that it’s all just a big misunderstanding.
I pushed the door open and stopped in my tracks when I heard familiar voices coming from the dining area.
The fuck?
They were actually laughing?
Just when I thought my morning couldn’t get any worse after finding out that an important document containing our acquisition proposal for my investors for the acquisition of the Elvric systems – One of the best multi–million Dollar artificial intelligence that would boost my technologies and gadgets for a better user experience – has been leaked to Kex.
How did it happen when I already had the one person I suspected in my basement?
I didn’t want to believe I had more moles in my company than one. It would hurt my intelligence and pride.
I had to deal with that later today.
As I stepped into the living room, I turned in the direction of the voices, and to my greatest disappointment, I saw Karina having breakfast in my fucking house.
A laugh almost slipped out.
Not because anything about this was funny, No.
But because there was something so perfectly absurd about walking into my own house and finding her sitting at my dining table, sipping coffee like it was her birthright.
It almost felt like she hadn’t spent the better part of her miserable existence scheming against me.
And beside her?
The man who was supposed to be my father… Eating, Laughing. Sharing whatever sick joke they found so damn
My spine went right
Lessed the room in a few long strides and stopped before hem.
Karina was the first to notice. She turned her head, a smirk already curling at her lips before she even met my gazze.
“Well, good morning to you too, sunshine” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
I didn’t acknowledge her.
Not even a glance.
She wasn’t worth it.
Instead, I fixed my eyes on the man across from her.
“Explain.”
One word. Flat, Cold.
My father set his coffee down carefully, “Karina has some issues with her mate,” he said, calm as ever. “She’ll be staying here for a little while.”
I scoffed loudly.
Hleaned against the back of a chair, crossing my arms over my chest. “Of course,” I drawled. “Because nothing screams good decision–making like inviting a woman who has been fighting for my Alpha position into the pack. Into this house.” My eyes locked onto him. “Tell me, did you personally send her an invitation, or was she already scratching at the door when you let her in?”
His jaw tightened. A flicker of irritation crossed his face, but it was gone before it could settle. “She is still family, Kester.”
“Family,” I repeated, testing the word on my tongue, and sincerely, it tasted foreign. “You mean like the kind of family who stab us in the back?”
Karina sighed dramatically, tapping a manicured nail against her mug. “You know, I am right here.”
1 ignored her again.
“She won’t be staying here,” I said flatly.
My father’s gaze met mine, “This is still my house, Kester”
Silence
Long, thick silence.
And then, he leaned back as if the conversation was already over. And with a casual sip of his coffee, he said the words that made my blood run hot.
“And Karina is also my daughter.”
The laugh that had been bubbling under my skin finally slipped out.
Dark. Amused. Poisoned at the edges.
I pushed off the chair, straightening to my full height, my gaze sweeping over him with something between pity
and disbelief.
Chapter 11
“You really are a fool, old man
My father didn’t have an ounce of an idea of what was come for his beloved daughter. I hard all it takes to get her out of this house. I could have snapped my fingers and had her dragged out before she even had the chance to finish her pathetic little drink.
But, no. Where is the fun there?
They had just made things easier for me. Brought my plans Hight to my doorstep, wrapped in the golden opportunity of her own wealmnesses.
And Karina?
She was too blinded by arrogance, too drenched in self–importance, to see the noose tightening around her neck.
I strode to the wine bar where I knew Karina would be at the moment. There was just a thin line separating her from being an actual drunk.
Karina had a relationship with alcohol–one that teetered on the edge of devotion and destruction.
Aha! There she was, Drowning in a bottle of Vodka.
Her posture was careless, shoulders slouched, legs crossed as if she were some queen in exile.
I ignored her existence and reached for the bar, placing the wine I had in hand on the shelve, a little secluded from where other varieties were lined up.
The bottle stood tall, beautiful, and distinct. Eye–catching and Inviting. Just like a trap should be.
I knew she was watching me.
Karina had never been the silent type. She wouldn’t hesitate to spill it if she had something to say–and she always had something to say.
So when her voice finally filtered through the thick, alcohol–soaked air, I wasn’t surprised.
“Oh…” she mused, tilting her head slightly, her gaze flicking between me and the bottle I had just set down. “Old habit never dies, huh?”
I didn’t respond.
Didn’t even glance at her.
She took it as an invitation to keep talking.
“Tell me… Does alcohol now have an effect on you? Because, the last I remember, you could gulp down an entiret bottle of whisky without even as much as feeling tipsy,” She chuckled, swirling the bottle in her hand.
I still ignored her, watching her like the pathetic little thing she was. She looked like one with a lot of issues. Not that I care.
“Oh. I recall… Rehab…” She mused and let out a loud laugh that grated on my nerves. But I’d like to see how much longer she can hold that joke.
I reached for the stem of a wine glass and ran my fingers along its delicate curve before letting it go just as
carelessly. Then, finally, I turned to her.
My expression was blank. Voice colder than the bottle sweating between her fingers.
Chapter 117
“Don’t lay your filthy hands on my wine.”
She wanted to protest, as usual, but I turned without another word and headed for the door, my mind already detaching from the scene behind me.
I had better things to do.
More pressing matters to attend to.
Like the man waiting in my basement.
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