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.
the table edge hard enough
bit the inside of my cheek to keep from swearing. She wasn't supposed to be here. I had explicitly told him to keep her out of this because I knew she would be detrimental to our plan.
Mother or not.
Not one bit!
worse, she hated Sofia because Sofia was the newest young and more gorgeous female in
jealous, she
was for her to poke holes in our story just because
her dark red lips pulling out into an icy smile as Frazier stood to greet her warmly. "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise," he drawled out, his
said smoothly, hugging him. "I wasn't expecting to find you to be the one in the middle of this important... business." Her gaze skimmed over the room again, landing briefly on Sofia, who was still slumped in the chair. The moment her eyes fell down on
her
at dinner? What the hell did she do to piss you off this much Vincent?" Her manicured hand pressed down on Sofia's chest in exaggerated surprise as she turned back to Frazier. "You know this girl too? What's she doing here at
at my 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
her from making more unnecessary contact, but I
was nothing if not observant, and she was
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 head to be
over her shoulder as she addressed Frazier again. "I'm sure Vincent told you about this girl? At first I thought he was in love but
My stomach sank.
Don't do this.
ruin our entire
object? Both he and
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
this time Frazier's
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
forming in the careful illusion we'd constructed. Sofia sat frozen, her wide eyes darting between all of us the
instinct inside me was screaming to fix it before it shattered
my voice sharp as a whip. I 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
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R9L2vIaSEbz3jxOg//KHQG/mLwOMOMH/+F74Gh2t+TeET22leBY6VEpvxIyN598HOHEe5sJEkxcUnLp0NbhyZpOQ5bpoJcuCt7qFCXihQxgWxlqBU+p2v5EVNHu/BsCIy8AMtqfLMi37fsdPpkK0wnu3haO/1evEnZFaLyalO1mJS6fY/MDP4SElqiJpZA==
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