CHAPTER SIX: TEMPTATION

LUCIAN

The smirk left my lips just before I could stop it, because really? I thought it was beginning to get interesting in a way that made the air in the room feel heavier than before.

“Change?” I asked, adjusting my hip against the sofa and leaning forward a little so I could see him better. “Can you elaborate on what you actually meant by change, if you don’t mind?” I pressed harder, searching his eyes for any flicker of hesitation or amusement that might give me an opening.

He chuckled and set the glass down on the table with a soft clink. “Be precise too. What exactly did you want to know?” He folded his arms across his chest and settled back, watching me the way he always did when he already knew the answer but wanted me to dig for it myself. “Stop beating around the bush, boy. You can ask me everything you want to know.”

I adjusted again, shifting my weight and letting my fingers curl against the arm of the sofa. “What is Ceal’s job in this building? He tried to stop me from entering this room earlier. What right does a slave child have to do that?” I asked, and I could see him look right up the moment the word left my mouth.

Slave. He heard it clearly. But it didn’t budge me or change my word. He is a slave and will always be a slave to me, no matter what title someone decided to hang around his neck.

He cleared his throat, the sound low and deliberate. “Ceal is serving a great deal here in this estate, and not just in this estate—in our family business. Apparently he is the Managing Director of our organization.” He dropped the bombshell like it was nothing more than another sip of gin, and I swear I could feel my heart climb into my own throat while my eyes almost popped right out of their sockets.

“You’re kidding, right?” My tone came out harder now, almost cracked around the edges.

But my dad stayed completely nonchalant about it, lifting the glass again and taking another slow sip as if we were discussing the weather instead of the foundation of everything I thought I still owned. I couldn’t believe he had actually put a total stranger—a nobody—as the Managing Director of our own organization. An organization I didn’t even have a hand in yet.

“Kidding how?” he replied after swallowing the strong gin down his throat, the ice shifting softly in the glass.

“What the fuck do you mean by you put him as the freaking Managing Director?” I snapped, almost getting off my feet as the heat rushed up the back of my neck. My hands flexed at my sides before I forced them still.

“Because he seems competent and he is doing a great job, both in the legal and the illegal business,” he added, still nonchalant, still watching me over the rim of the glass like my reaction was the most predictable thing in the room.

I opened my lips to say something, but I quickly closed them again because I couldn’t even get a word out at first. The silence stretched just long enough for the anger to settle deeper into my chest. “You mean… you mean you let him into our underworld business?” I asked more quietly now, as if there might be people close enough to hear us even in this private space.

“What’s wrong with that, Lucian?” Dad asked again, his voice calm and almost curious.

“Oh my fucking— I can’t believe this.” My fingers were digging into my skull before I even realized I had brought them up, and I didn’t even know when I was already on my feet, pacing a short line in front of the sofa. “I don’t… I don’t even know any freaking thing about the underworld. I only came back to learn it from the scratch!” I snapped, my blood boiling so hard I could feel it in my temples, but he stayed still and chill about it all, swirling the remaining liquid in his glass like nothing had shifted between us.

“I don’t know why you are still all worked up, Lucian. Like I said, you can ask questions,” he said again, the same even tone that always made me feel like I was the only one raising my voice in the entire house.

“There’s no questions to ask. There’s absolutely nothing I am going to ask that you would give me a reasonable answer for. What will you tell me is the reason you let a stranger into our business?” I asked, stopping my short pace so I could face him fully. “Especially the underworld. It’s supposed to be our family armor.” I reminded him in case he had somehow forgotten the one rule that had always mattered. "It was supposed to be my heritage!!"

He sighed deeply, the sound carrying more weight than anything he had said so far. “Like I said, Lucian. He proved competent, and he has increased our vitality and wealth by about thirty percent within a few years. Even at his young age, he has really lived up to everything. But don’t worry. He is still just a mere worker, and he will never be greater than the heir.” He reminded me of that last part deliberately, and immediately after he said those words my heart eased for a moment. I caught my breath a little, the tight band around my chest loosening just enough for me to stand still again.

Damn. Why had I been so worked up?

Regardless of the title or the numbers, he was still the slave child and would always be temporary. In fact my dad could place me as the president whenever he chose, which meant I would still rule over him no matter what. What was I even bothered about?

“Uh… nice point.” I walked closer to him, closing the space between us until I could see the faint lines at the corners of his eyes. “But still, now that I’m here, I won’t just sit back and watch him do anything again.” My voice stayed steady even though the earlier heat hadn’t fully left my blood. “Father. For ten years I have done as you wanted, followed your footsteps, I left this place behind at your own will learning about life, and aquring wisdom. And now that I’m back I want you to introduce me to the family business.” I said it with as much determination as I could pull into the words, letting him see that I meant every single one of them.

He looked at me—really looked at me—and then said the most disgusting thing I had heard all evening. “That’s why I’m assigning you to Ceal. He will be your personal guide.” He dropped another bombshell without raising his voice or changing his expression, as if handing me over to the same person who had already been given more power than I currently held was the most natural decision in the world.

What the actual fuck.