Chapter 144

*****Vincent's POV*****

I stayed frozen in my seat, my body rigid and cold as ice slithered down my spine.

My father's words had been sharp enough to patch over Sofia's blunder, but the damage was already done.

Watching Frazier lean even closer to her, his eyes raking over each and every mark and tear presented on her skin, made my pulse hammer in my ears.

I watched Frazier tilt his head, suspicion clouding his features. He might not have said a word, but his calculating silence was worse — growing more dangerous.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to look at Sofia in fear that I would eventually crumble. Her wide eyes were darting between Frazier and my father, her head lowered in an attempt to shrink herself, but I knew her mind was racing in fear that she had messed this up.

Then the knock at the door came, loud and untimely - confusing us all with who it could be.

The handle dipped before any of us could speak, and every muscle in my body seized up at the sight of the person behind it...

No!

The door creaked open, and there she was my fucking mother of all people!

Why the fuck is she in here? I told my father to keep her out of this!

Standing in the doorway, dressed to perfection, her crimson coat hugged her figure like armor, her heels clicking sharply against the floor as she allowed herself inside - closing the door back over softly behind her.

Her twinkling eyes swept the room like a storm, filling up with mischief, sharp and assessing, before landing on my father.

"What the fuck are you doing here? I told you that I had important business today!" my father hissed out under his breath, his usual air of control wavering as he shot up from his chair.

hand gripping the table

She wasn't supposed to be here. I had explicitly told him to keep her

Mother or not.

Not one bit!

lived to cause chaos when it served her, and worse, she hated Sofia because Sofia was the

was jealous, she always

was for her to poke holes in our

father entirely, her dark red lips pulling out into an icy smile as Frazier stood

to be the one in the middle of this important... business." Her gaze skimmed over the room again,

crying out loud, what's happened to you?!" she said, and her voice

the floor, growing closer as she took Sofia in, eyes widening with mock shock. "Woah! How is this the same girl you brought at dinner? What the hell did she do to

mother. "Get the fuck out of here, we have important shit to discuss!" he muttered under his breath. "You don't belong here right now." She ignored him again, stepping

her from making more unnecessary contact, but I forced myself to remain seated,

she was already narrowing her

you look fucking terrible, Sofia," she murmured, her voice dripping in feigned pity. "I'd almost feel sorry for you but whatever you've done to my son to deserve this is most likely valid..." she clicks her tongue, shaking her

addressed Frazier again. "I'm sure Vincent told you about this girl? At first I thought he was in love but looking at her now, it seems not!" she said sweetly, glancing at me like she was dangling

My stomach sank.

Don't do this.

ruin

aware he wanted to have my daughter as a mere sex object? Both he and your husband it seems!" Frazier states bluntly, as my

through flesh. My mother's head snapped toward me, her perfectly arched brows drawing together in disbelief and then -worse amusement. Her lips curled into a smile so tight and venomous it made

the words lingering in the air like poison. "Vincent, darling, is that what you've been up to? Renting girls for pleasure now? You and your father? And this time Frazier's daughter too?! I would have never guessed since you seemed to adore her before now! What a mess you two have found yourselves

cutting edge she'd perfected over years of manipulating anyone in her path. I wanted to grab her, drag her out of the room, and land punch after punch in to her throat to prevent her from speaking ever again! I could feel my father's fury building across the table, his hand tightening like a vice on the chair's backrest. His silence was always worse than his yelling — it was the kind that meant someone was going to pay for

mother and me, and I could see the cracks forming in the careful illusion we'd constructed. Sofia sat frozen, her wide eyes darting between all of us

act — and every instinct inside me

stood up, my chair scraping back across the floor, the sound grating in the tense silence. I leveled my gaze on my mother, the kind of look I reserved

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