Chapter 4: Sylas

My heart fell to my stomach as I watched those familiar ebony curls and perfect curves that filled out that black dress ascending the stairs of the stage. I was suddenly forced to reconsider my statement from the supply closet.

THIS was, by far, the last thing I had expected to happen tonight.

I had speculated on whether she was here uninvited or not, but I was the one who wasn’t supposed to be here. In fact, I was likely the last person anyone expected to see, which was probably why this stupid mask worked so well. It had been fifteen years since anyone here had seen my face. It was highly unlikely that anyone would recognize me. I wanted it to stay that way.

I hadn’t come to the event with the intention of being noticed. The theme was the only reason I decided to risk it. Our social circle would find out soon enough that I had returned to claim my birthright, but I wanted to take advantage of the occasion to get more information on what I was walking into.

I never intended to acknowledge the claim. I left because I hated what it represented. I wanted nothing to do with it and my family seemed happy enough to let me go. I could have lived the rest of my life without looking back. That is, if it wasn’t for the corruption that is rumored to have gotten out of control.

Hearing some of the things the company was allegedly responsible for didn’t sit well with me. So, I came back with every intention of cleaning up the mess my father created. Even if that meant tearing the whole thing down to do so.

So, I came to this overplayed masquerade expecting to overhear the same vapid conversations from the same conceited and braggadocious windbags that made my life hell growing up. I came expecting the out of touch demands of people who had no real comprehension of what it meant to struggle in life. I came expecting shady dealings and smug implications from people who believed they were untouchable.

I didn’t expect to lay eyes on one of the most genuine smiles I’d seen in years. I didn’t expect to see the only woman in the building who didn’t know exactly how gorgeous she was. I didn’t expect to act like a teenage boy and fuck her next to a damn mop bucket. I didn’t expect it to be the best sex of my life.

And I sure as fucking hell did not expect her to be the daughter of my brother’s goddamn wife.

I heard the crystal glass in my hand crack under my grip.

I fucked my niece. I never felt like more of a perverted old man in my life. Okay, sure, she was only my niece by marriage. And yes, she had only been my brother’s stepdaughter for a year. It wasn’t like she had been a kid who grew up in the family. She was very clearly a grown woman long before she encountered the Drakos brood.

I shook my head in disgust. I could list all the technicalities I wanted. It didn’t matter. Not in this family. Looking around the room at the faces of my relatives with their approving nods and stares. They already claimed her as theirs. Which was a thought that just pissed me off.

Being a part of the great Drakos family had its perks, but it also came with certain expectations. Certain… pressures. Pressures that this woman was clearly too pure, too good, to have to endure. My anger rose as I thought about the kind of mother who would expose her own daughter to such depravities.

I scoffed. Depravities like me apparently. Because despite what I knew now, all I could think about was how much I wanted to fuck her again.

I needed an escape. It was time to get out of here. I wasn’t going to learn anything else of importance now. I already found out the only important detail that mattered tonight.

Sawyer.

Her name was Sawyer. And I had to stay the goddamn hell away from her. I had a job to do. Six, maybe eight weeks max and I would be out of here again.

Glasses raised in a toast as I searched for the nearest exit. Dimitri was wrapping up what I’m sure was an eloquent and hot-winded speech had I been paying attention. There was the service door. Twenty feet away. I started to move in that direction. I tried to refrain from pushing my way through the crowd but there was more than one appalled cry. It must have been enough to draw attention because the next thing I heard was my name echoing through the ballroom. Stopping me in my tracks.

“Sylas… it can’t be,” Dimitri’s voice carried over the hushed murmurs of the room.

I turned to see my brother trudging through a parting crowd, followed by his wife… and Sawyer. Her expression of curiosity and confusion a stark contrast to my dear brother’s red-faced grimace.

“Hello, Dimitrios,” I greeted, resigned to my discovery. There was no point hiding it now. I pulled the annoying mask off, ignoring the shocked gasps of my relatives. “It’s been a long time, brother.”

My eyes stayed on Dimitri but my focus was on Sawyer. The color completely drained from her as she tore her own mask away. I knew she was beautiful. But the look on her face left me to wonder just how much she knew about my family and what exactly they had told her about me.