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CHAPTER 25 — THE FAMILY DINNER

Author: MJG
last update Last Updated: 2025-12-06 12:27:40

CHAPTER 25 — THE FAMILY DINNER

Althea’s POV

I never realized how loud silence could be.

The Vega dining room was a cathedral of expensive quiet — marble floors swallowing footsteps, crystal chandeliers suspended like judgment overhead, and one long table stretching forever, covered in immaculate white linen. It was the kind of space built for power, not comfort, and tonight that power felt like a hand around my throat.

I was seated near the end, a polite distance from Damian, yet close enough to see the tension in his jaw. His suit jacket was still on, his tie still knotted, as if he came here straight from a battlefield and forgot to take his armor off. He hadn’t looked at me since we arrived.

Across the table, Darius sat quietly, posture relaxed, but there was a warning in his eyes — a steady kind of alertness. He was studying the room, reading every breath, every glance. He always did that. He noticed everything.

And at the head of the table, like a king staring down at his kingdom
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