CHAPTER 13: RUINED

AKIRA

Pushing the dining hall doors open, I stepped inside, but my mind came to a halt with no time to adjust my face to that soft, doting expression as the sight that greeted me rendered the act completely unnecessary.

Makena wasn’t here. Only my mother, my sister, and my father sat at the long dining table. Their conversation ended the moment I entered.

My father and I had been together earlier, but I needed to stop somewhere to let off steam. I had to order my men to bring me that sweet new maid, and I could still feel her lips around my cock.

Fuck! I couldn’t get enough of her.

My mother looked up and smiled before starting to speak, but I interrupted her and asked where Makena was. She invited me to sit, and I took a seat. I was going to kill those three sons of bitches if they returned without her, if they let me down again.

Mom slid my phone towards me. I had forgotten about it and only realized when I needed to make a call. "I had her taken back home," she explained, and I asked her why. She said Makena became ill on the way to the plane, and the guys I sent called me to inform me and ask what to do, as Makena wanted to be taken home.

Mom told me she had them take her back, saying she could not let them continue with her, ill, and I snapped.

“That wasn’t your decision to make!” My voice echoed throughout the dining hall, rattling the silverware. My sister flinched, and my father lowered his glass with a hard blink, his eyes wide in stunned silence, while my mother froze, her eyes wide with confusion.

“I didn’t know…” she began softly, lifting a hand. And I knew that and didn’t mean to go off at her, but I was pissed. This had been my perfect moment. Her illness would have given me an advantage. Nobody would have questioned her death in a day or two. Everything was now fucked.

My body trembled with rage as I stood, the chair legs scraping hard against the floor. "Akira!" my mother called after me, rising halfway from her seat. “Let him go,” my father said from behind her, and I didn’t look back.

I stormed out of the dining hall, the heat in my chest rising with each step. If I didn’t get away from them, I would expose myself.

“Why can’t that fucking bitch just die already?” My hands shook as I took out my phone and called my men, who confirmed what my mother had said. I asked what she was sick with, and the stupid sons of bitches had no idea, only that she was vomiting and weak.

A growl ripped through my throat, and the phone shattered against the wall before I could hear anything else.

That was the moment I heard the door behind me open. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. “Akira,” my father’s voice came, “what the hell is wrong with you?” I turned around, my chest still heaving. "You don't speak to your mother like that," he added, stepping forward, his face hard with a kind of fatherly disappointment that sadly did not get under my skin anymore because I was in this mess because of him.

“What is this really about?” he asked. “Because I know it’s not Makena's absence.”

He knew how I felt about this sham of a marriage. So I couldn’t pretend too much with him. “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice lower now. “I’ll apologize to Mother. I’m just…” I exhaled sharply. “I’m really stressed. We lost a lot of money today.”

He placed a firm hand on my shoulder, his expression shifting from stern to concerned. “I know, son,” he said quietly. “But these things happen. We just have to deal with them.”

He squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “Come,” he added. “Your mother’s worried.”

“I’ll be down shortly.”

He nodded and left the room, and I poured myself a glass and threw it back at once before grabbing the house line.

"Get the jet ready. We’re flying out first thing in the morning. I’ll just have to take that bitch’s life in her father’s house.”

----

MAKENA

I had been trying to persuade Val to move into the apartment for over an hour, but he wouldn't budge, and I was at a loss for words or actions to persuade him otherwise.

Feeling frustrated and suddenly overheated, I walked toward the entrance, hoping the chilly breeze would help clear my head. But before I could reach it, my vision blurred and my knees buckled beneath me. Gasping, I braced for the impact of the fall, only to have familiar sparks shoot up my bare arms as strong arms wrapped around my waist, catching me just in time.

“What’s wrong?” Val asked, concern softening his just moments ago unreadable expression, and I replied that nothing was wrong even though I was woozy.

"I got dizzy for a moment. It must be a side effect of the medication I took." He led us down to the floor and gently drew me into his lap.

"Medication? Are you sick?” His brow furrowed in concern. I opened my mouth to respond, but the words died on my tongue as I scrambled out of his arms, jumped to my feet, and bolted outside into the rain.

“Makena?” I heard him calling after me. But I didn't respond; instead, I dropped to my knees and began to vomit. I knew it was wolfsbane residue. Every drop of it burned worse than the last, and I felt his warm hand rest on my back, but I didn't want him to see me like this.

"Go back inside," I attempted to say between heaves, but he didn't move.

“I’m not leaving you out here,” he said after a moment, kneeling beside me. He started rubbing soothing circles on my back as I kept retching until my stomach was empty, and only dry sobs came out. I rinsed my mouth with water from a nearby rock's rain-filled dip, and Val scooped me up in his arms without saying anything. We were both completely soaked from the rain, but he didn't seem to care.

Once inside, he sat me on his lap again, where I rested my head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent and finding comfort in it. His fingers slipped into my hair, and he gently massaged my scalp, causing me to close my eyes and melt into the moment, the tingling warmth that bloomed wherever we touched.

"Makena?" he asked after a while, and I hummed in reply.

"Are you sick and hiding it from me because you don't want to worry me?"