Chapter 5

NYLA

I stirred my spoon through the pale green gazpacho, watching the droplets of oil swirl like the chaos currently wrecking my life. 

Smithers had outdone himself, but every cold swallow felt like lead in my stomach.

The front door chimes echoed through the mansion, shattering the silence I'd been trying to hide in. 

I didn't need to look to know that my brother had arrived to finish what our father started. He entered the dining room with his wife, Inara. 

"I'm sorry, Mrs. King, I told them you weren't expecting company, but Mr. Storm insisted," Smithers said, looking flustered. 

"My brother has a habit of showing up unannounced," I joked before getting up to greet the couple. 

Smithers shot Nevan a look of disappointment before wordlessly leaving the room.

"Where's Aeron?" Inara asked, curiously looking around the empty dining room. 

Right as those words left her mouth, Aeron stepped into the room, loosening his tie. He took the chair beside me while kindly greeting our guests. 

The possessive, hungry man from earlier was gone, replaced by the formidable Aeron King. 

I took a sip of wine. I needed the liquid courage. Because if my father's name came up tonight, I wasn't sure I could keep my hands from shaking. 

"Nyla, you look absolutely breathtaking tonight. That dress was made for you," Inara kindly stated, reaching out to gently squeeze my hand. 

Before I could answer, Aeron's hand settled firmly on the small of my back. "She is," he rasped, his gaze not leaving mine for a beat too long. 

He looked at Inara with a sharp grin. "But let's be honest, Inara, breathtaking is the minimum requirement for a King. I wouldn't allow her to be anything less."

"Smithers outdid himself with the Wagyu," Nevan commented, oblivious to the fact that no one else had taken a single bite. "The marbling is incredible. It almost melts on the tongue, doesn't it, Aeron?"

Aeron didn't look at his plate. He looked at me, his eyes dark and unreadable as he swirled his vintage Cabernet. 

"It's a rare thing, Nevan," Aeron stated. "Something so beautiful on the outside, yet so full of rich, hidden layers. Sometimes you don't know what you've truly bitten into until it’s too late."

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was pissed at me. 

"Are you still vegan?" Inara kindly asked me, taking a small sip of her wine.

I shook my head. "Let's just say, I missed Smithers' wagyu too much," I said, sharing a laugh with her, despite my nerves. 

"I have to say, Aeron," Nevan started, gesturing with his glass toward the head of the table. 

"Dad is beyond thrilled. He’s already talking about the joint press release for the Storm Designs collaboration. I didn’t realize you’d be so open to merging the 50th collection aesthetics with ours."

I felt the air leave the room. My spoon hovered over the pale green liquid in my bowl.

Beside me, Aeron didn’t miss a beat. His expression was a mask of bored elegance.

"Your father is always thinking ten steps ahead, Nevan," Aeron replied, his voice a low baritone that betrayed nothing.

Then, it happened.

Aeron’s hand dropped from the table. I expected him to reach for his napkin. Instead, his large, warm palm landed flat against the top of my thigh.

I gasped, but I was quick to disguise it as a cough, quickly reaching for my water glass.

His fingers didn't just sit there; they squeezed, his thumb hooking into the soft skin of my inner thigh, dangerously close to the hem of my short white dress. 

The heat of him seared through the thin fabric, a silent command for me to stay still.

"Are you alright, Nyla?" Inara asked from across the table, her brow furrowing in genuine concern. "You’ve gone a bit pale. Is the gin in the gazpacho too strong?"

"She’s fine, Inara," Aeron answered for me, his tone dripping with a fake, honeyed sweetness that made my skin crawl.

His thumb began to stroke a slow, agonizing circle against my skin, moving an inch higher. I felt my core pulse in a traitorous rhythm. 

He was punishing me for my father’s lies, and he was doing it while looking my brother right in the eye.

"Nyla just gets a little overwhelmed when we talk business at the table," Aeron continued, his gaze shifting to me, dark and predatory. "Don't you, mon trésor?"

"I'm perfectly fine," I managed to choke out, my hand trembling as I set the water glass down. 

I looked at Aeron, pleading with my eyes for him to stop, but his expression remained as cold as the soup.

"Good," Aeron whispered, the word for my ears only, even as he turned back to Nevan. "Because we have so much to discuss regarding this... collaboration. I want to hear every detail of what my wife promised you."

His grip tightened, his fingernails grazing the sensitive skin of my thigh, reminding me that he currently held my life in the palm of his hand.

"Nevan, didn't you have something to ask us?" I asked, shooting my brother a warning look. 

"Oh, I almost forgot. I was thinking we should hit up Storm Resort to celebrate my promotion, the isolation will do us good, what do you say, Aeron?" He asked with a bright smile on his face. 

"When exactly do you plan on going?" Aeron asked, his hand moving to my inner thigh. So close the lace panties I was wearing underneath my dress. 

"Tomorrow. My sister is dying to go," Nevan informed Aeron. "Aren't you, Nyla?" 

I was dying, alright. But not for a vacation. 

"I certainly look forward to it," I breathed out, trying hard to keep my composure. 

●●●

The silence that followed the front door closing was loud. I stood by the mahogany table, waiting for the explosion.

Aeron didn't yell. He slowly walked back into the dining room. He began rolling up his sleeves, exposing the corded muscles of his forearms. 

"Aeron, about what Nevan said—"

"Sit." It wasn't a request.

"I’m not a dog, Aeron."

In a blur of motion, he was in my space. And before I could protest, his hands gripped my waist, and he hoisted me upward. 

My silk dress rode up as he sat me flat on the edge of the dining table.

I gasped, my hands flying to his shoulders to steady myself. He stepped firmly between my knees. 

"You were saying?" he rasped, his voice a low vibration that traveled straight to my core.

His hands didn't stay at my waist. They slid down. Under the hem of my dress, his palms were warm and rough against the sensitive skin of my thighs. 

He began to move them higher, his thumbs grazing the lace edge of my underwear.

"My brother… doesn’t know what he’s talking about," I managed to say, though my breath was hitching as his fingers climbed higher. 

"My father is delusional. I never promised him a collaboration."

"And yet, he’s out in the world acting like he owns a stake in my legacy," Aeron’s eyes were dark now. 

"Did you think that because I touched you at the door, I’d become soft? That I’d let you bleed my company dry for your father's Storm Designs?"

"No," I whimpered, my legs instinctively tightening around his waist. "I’m not working with him. He’s threatening me, Aeron. He wants me to—"

He stopped his hands, his fingers pressing firmly into my thighs, pinning me to the table. He leaned in until our noses brushed, his scent of cedar and expensive gin overwhelming me.

"He wants you to what, Nyla? Be his little spy? Is that why you were so shameless in my study? To keep me distracted while you stole my designs?"

"I was being myself!" I snapped, my eyes stinging with frustrated tears. "Why would I help my father when he’s the one who sold me to you in the first place?"

Aeron’s expression flickered, a flash of guilt, quickly buried under a mountain of possessiveness. 

His grip on my thighs tightened, his knuckles brushing against the center of my desire.

he whispered, his lips grazing mine, "I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me the truth, Nyla, or I’m going to spend the rest of the night making sure you're too breathless to speak another lie."

"Then do it," I challenged, my heart hammering against my ribs. 

Then, with a low, guttural growl that sounded like a man losing a fight with himself, he claimed my mouth in a punishing kiss.