Ch-21

•~•Aziel’s POV

Just before the door slid fully open, I yanked my hand away from the oxygen mask and eased back into my wheelchair. 

My pulse thundered in my ears, tension gripping my muscles—but I forced myself to relax. Steady breaths. A neutral expression. I had to look composed.

The lights flickered on, and there she was—my mother.

A wave of cold tension rolled through me as her sharp eyes locked onto mine. Unreadable. Piercing. Was that confusion in her gaze? Suspicion? I couldn’t exactly tell.

She stepped forward, eyes scrutinizing. "You just got back from Paris today—after everything that happened there, forcing you to cut your honeymoon short. So why are you here and not with your wife?"

I kept my expression casual, even as my grip tightened on the wheelchair’s armrest. “I missed my brother. So I came to see him.”

A lie. But a convincing one.

She tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing as if searching for cracks in my excuse. “All of a sudden?”

I didn’t waver. “Yes. All of a sudden.”

Silence.

Her sharp gaze held mine, pressing, digging.

The air thickened with something unspoken, heavy. For a moment, I thought she’d call my bluff. But then, her suspicion shifted—morphing into something else. Acceptance? Maybe. Or something close enough to it.

Still, I knew better than to think she’d ever let her guard down.

Without another word, she stepped deeper into the ward, her gaze settling on Nathaniel’s motionless form.

“Why didn’t you turn on the lights?”

I watched her closely, my expression carefully neutral. “No reason.”

Then, quieter, sharper, I spoke, “Why did you order Nathaniel’s recovery updates to be kept confidential? Is there something I should know?”

Her face remained impassive as she finally looked back at me. “I don’t know. Is there something you want to know about your brother’s recovery that you couldn’t ask me directly? Instead, you came here in secret to get answers from his doctor yourself?”

So, the doctor had been the one to tip her off about my presence here.

I exhaled slowly, forcing my heartbeat to steady. “I already told you—I came because I missed him. And while I was here, I checked with the doctor about his progress, only to find out you ordered his updates to be kept confidential… Even from me.”

She held my gaze, a flicker of something unreadable passing through her eyes. “It was just a precaution. You know how people pry into our family matters.”

“... I couldn’t risk anyone exposing that you’ve taken on your brother’s identity. More so, I can’t allow the investors to catch wind of me using company funds for his treatment.”

Lies.

They slipped from her lips so effortlessly, woven so seamlessly that anyone else might have believed them. But I knew better. I had spent years untangling the web of deceit she spun around this family.

Still, for once, I chose not to confront her.

Not yet.

She smoothed an invisible wrinkle on her sleeve, her voice calm yet firm. “It’s actually good that you’re here. I wanted to talk to you about Solane.”

A slow, creeping tension coiled through my body, but I masked it behind indifference. “What about her?”

“I need her pregnant before the year ends.”

The words nearly made me choke on my saliva. My mind stuttered, my throat tightening around a response. “What?”

“I need you to get her pregnant, Aziel.” She repeated with complete indifference, as if discussing the weather.

A sharp, humorless laugh escaped me. “You can’t be serious.”

Her gaze flicked back to Nathaniel, as if I were no longer worth looking at. “I’ve never been more serious.”

“Why?” My pulse quickened, an uneasy weight settling in my gut. “And why the sudden urgency?”

Frustration flickered across her face, but she inhaled, like she was smoothing out the edges of her own temper. “Because it’s the only way we can secure access to the Lancaster fortune.”

She stepped closer to Nathaniel’s bedside, her fingers brushing a strand of hair from his forehead with a tenderness I had seen a million times before.

"I did some digging," she continued, her voice unnervingly calm. "The Lancasters once had a daughter... However, she died five years ago."

A cold weight settled in my stomach at her words, and my breath stalled.

If she had dug that far… How much did she know?

My fingers curled against the armrests of my wheelchair as a sharp spike of fear shot through me.

My mother wasn’t just ruthless—she was relentless. Especially when it came to unearthing secrets. She always found the truth, no matter how deeply it was buried.

She had even uncovered my late father’s affair with our former cook, who had been with our family since Nathaniel and I were born—a secret no one had ever suspected.

So if she kept digging… It was only a matter of time before she uncovered the truth—that Solane Blackwood was actually Irene Lancaster, the supposedly dead daughter of the Lancaster family.

I forced my voice to stay even, despite the unease clawing at my ribs. 'What happened to her?

She didn’t answer right away, just let the silence stretch, thick and deliberate. Her gaze stayed steady on Nathaniel as she finally said, “I don’t know.”

Then, after a brief pause, her voice turned softer, more chilling. “Yet.”

A slow chill slithered down my spine. Of course, that meant she would keep digging.

“All I know,” she continued, “...is that the girl died five years ago, and since then, Solane has filled the void she left behind. She is now Zane Lancaster’s heir. The perfect replacement.”

She finally turned away from Nathaniel, pinning me with a look that could cut steel. “Right now, our only connection to the Lancasters is through marriage. But if Solane has your child, we will have something stronger—a direct blood tie.”

“...That bond will secure more than business alliances. In time, it could lead to us owning everything the Lancasters have.”

My fingers curled into fists, nails biting into my palms. A dry, hollow chuckle left me—not out of amusement, but sheer disbelief. Disgust.

This was exactly why she and I never had a good relationship.

I questioned everything she did, saw through her manipulations, while Nathaniel—Nathaniel never cared.

To him, no matter what she did—good, bad, unforgivable—she was still the best mother in the world. The most wonderful person.

I exhaled sharply, my voice edged with bitter amusement. “Aren’t you being a little too ambitious? Thinking you can take over an entire empire with a grandchild?”

Her stare didn’t waver, cold and unreadable. But I knew her well enough to see the calculation behind it—the silent, ruthless assessment of every possibility.

“To survive in this world, you need ambition,” she said smoothly. “And to make those ambitions a reality, you need key cards. Your child with Solane will be ours.”

Her words only reminded me of what the anonymous caller had told me on the private jet earlier today.

"I’m not sure yet, but your mother is definitely planning something big. And to counter whatever it is she’s planning—which is definitely evil—we need to join forces."

At the time, I had scoffed, skeptical. But beneath that skepticism was something else—an unease I couldn’t quite shake.

"If I don’t join you, you’ll expose Irene’s identity, right?"

"I won’t have any reason to protect you if you’re not an ally. It’s only fair, don’t you think?" Their voice had been calm, measured, but the warning beneath it was clear.

I had exhaled sharply, torn between disgust and reluctant necessity. If siding with a potential devil was the only way to keep Irene’s secret safe, then I had no choice.

"What do you need me to do?" I had asked, my voice was steady, but a flicker of hesitation remained.

Now, sitting in my wheelchair, watching my mother weave her latest scheme, that same unease crept back in. She had always been ruthless, but this—this was beyond anything I had expected.

I needed to be careful.

"And what do I get in return for doing you such a favor?" I asked, keeping my voice light, almost lazy.

Her lips thinned, eyes darkening with something close to irritation. "It’s not a favor. It’s your duty to this family." The words were sharp, clipped—like she was barely restraining the urge to snap at me for daring to strike a negotiation with her.

A short laugh escaped me, humorless. "Duty?" My voice dipped lower, biting.

"I told you at Dad’s funeral—I don’t give a damn about this family. Isn’t that why you never let me near the company?"

I let the words settle, watching for any reaction. And then, twisting the knife a little deeper, I added, “And my marriage to Solane was never about duty either. You told me that if I married her in Nathaniel’s name, you’d finally forgive me for what happened to him. That was the deal. And now you want me to get her pregnant?”

She remained still, unreadable as ever. But I caught it—the faintest flicker in her eyes, like a chess player realizing their opponent had just made an unexpected move.

"There has to be a catch," I continued, my voice smooth, challenging. "So, tell me. What do I get?"

For a moment, she didn’t answer. Just sat there, watching me.

Then she finally spoke. "What do you want?"

I didn’t even hesitate. "Make me CEO," I said, following the anonymous caller’s advice—demanding it at the moment I knew would be most effective.

For the first time this night, my mother reacted. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, a flicker of surprise breaking through her perfectly controlled mask.

"For five years, I’ve been Nathaniel. The face of the company, the puppet you parade around in his place. But like you said, ambition is key…”

“...If you want me to secure your hold over the Lancasters, I want my own seat at the table. Give me the company. Then we’ll talk about getting Solane pregnant."

Silence thickened the air between us, a slow-burning battle with no words needed.

I could practically hear the gears turning in her mind, calculating, analyzing. The anonymous caller had been right—she only ever saw me as a pawn.

And this demand of mine? It was my first real step toward rebellion. If she gave me that position, she’d be giving me access to her kingdom. To her power.

She knew it. And I knew it.

The question now was—would she let me in?