Chapter Seven

"Understand what exactly?"

"What I'm about to do."

I opened my mouth to speak, but it felt like I should check on my anger first before saying anything. "What you're about to do? And what is that?"

"Sleeping with you."

"Cut the bullshit! If you're into me, there's no need trying to use such jabs on me, it doesn't work on me."

"It works."

"What works?"

"The ideology of..."

"Don't even say it, okay?" I knew I should be leaving, but I was still sitting down. I shouldn't be buying this crazy idea.

"Cynthia won't even care a bit about you, even if you think this is what it would take to win her back."

"I'm not doing this because of..." He paused, taking a slow breath as he leaned back into his seat, his gaze heavy on mine. "What should you know?"

"What?"

"Okay," he said calmly, his dark eyes searching my face. "You are into me, and I figured it would be best doing it with you than with anyone else."

"So you want to use me?"

"I always let you use me all this time without complaining."

"And how exactly did I use you?"

"Didn't you always have a field day, feeding your eyes with me?"

"Oh, come on..."

"Even now, you're still doing that."

"And then you concluded that you should sleep with me using the excuse of ancient texts and stupid sex difficulty?"

"Is it an excuse?"

"Then what do you think it is?"

"Are you down for it, even if it is an excuse?"

Okay, now I really knew it was time to go. "No. I won't sleep with you."

He blinked at me, a thick, heavy silence reigning between us before he scoffed. "You always wanted to sleep with me, and now you don't want to when I'm giving you the opportunity?"

I knew I shouldn't argue with him. Arguing just made me picture all the filthy, dangerously attractive things I could do with him, and if I stayed any longer, I might end up saying yes when I should be saying no.

"I won't sleep with you," I repeated, my voice tight.

"Then what do you want to keep doing if you don't sleep with me?"

"It's none of your business," I snapped, standing up so fast my chair scraped loudly against the floor. "And I should be leaving."

"Sandra," Elias called out softly, not moving an inch from his seat, "Sit down."

"No," I replied, grabbing my handbag off the table. "I'm not going to be your sacrificial lamb or your twisted experiment to save a marriage that's already dead."

"If your sole aim, the real reason why you want to sleep with me is because of your marriage or Cynhia, count me out of it."

"I've already counted you in because it's you or no one else."

"Well, like you said, I would try to stop having a thing for you, so you should too, Boss." I said and then walked out on him, I made it out of the restaurant and then took a deep breath.

All that big talk! Really? All that big talk towards Elias!! I should forget about having a thing for him?

That easy? Oh come on Sandra, he was so hot the way he made us..."Fucccck!!!" That bastard, toying with me!! Huh!!!"

My phone started ringing immediately. It was Persie, and I didn't waste a second answering it while flagging down a taxi to take me home.

"Babe, it's night and you're not home yet! What's wrong, where are you?"

I yanked open the cab door and slid onto the back seat. "You won't believe that bastard, Persie! Can you imagine his sheer insolence? I know I want to sleep with him, hell yeah, I am freaking interested in having his dick inside me..."

The cab driver's eyes snapped up, shooting me a wide-eyed look in the rearview mirror, but I didn't give a single damn.

"...but that is *not* how you approach a woman! That is not how you play on my omega instincts! It was downright rude of him!!"

How could he sit there sex-baiting me and rage-baiting me at the exact same time? If I had stayed in that restaurant for another minute, I would have completely lost my mind and thrown myself right into his lap.

Persie went silent for a beat before her voice came through the speaker, frantic. "What bastard? Which bastard are you talking about? Gideon?"

"Don't even dare mention that monster's name to me right now," I growled, resting my forehead against the cool glass of the car window.

"But Sandra... he's here."

My stomach dropped, every nerve in my body going icy cold. "He's *where*? Who is here?"

"Gideon," Persie whispered nervously over the line. "He's here at the estate with your sister... and your mom."

"That bastard!!!"

I slammed my thumb down on the screen, cutting the call off instantly, and leaned forward to bark at the driver. "Step on the accelerator, please! I need to be home in five minutes!"

The driver didn't argue. He slammed his foot on the gas, the engine roaring as the taxi shot forward through the lit streets of Sable City.

By the time the taxi skidded to a halt outside the heavy wrought-iron gates of the Vance estate, I was already throwing cash at the driver. I shoved the door open, practically sprinting up the grand driveway.

I didn't bother knocking. I threw the massive double doors open, the wood crashing back against the walls, and stepped into the foyer.

The low, tense hushes in the formal living room died out instantly.

Standing by the grand fireplace, a glass of amber whiskey held casually in his hand, was Gideon.

He looked as lethal and infuriatingly handsome as ever in a tailored charcoal suit, his dark gaze cutting straight through the air to land on me the second I walked in.

Beside him sat Cynthia, looking poised and smug, her legs crossed while she nursed a glass of wine. And standing near the marble pillar was my mother.

"Look who finally decided to join us," Cynthia purred, a cruel, satisfied curve touching her lips. "We were just discussing the upcoming wedding arrangements, Sandra."

Gideon took a slow sip of his drink, his intense eyes tracking the heavy rise and fall of my chest as I stood there, breathless and furious.

"You're late, little wolf," Gideon murmured, his deep, dangerous voice sending a shudder of pure revulsion straight down my spine. "We were just talking about family."

"Cynthia, what is the meaning of this?"

"Meaning of what?" she replied smoothly, taking a slow, deliberate sip of her wine.

*Sandra, this is where you calm down.* I tried repeating the mental mantra, but how in the absolute hell was I supposed to calm down seeing this mafia bastard standing right here in our living room?

"Cynthia, what is he doing here?" I demanded, pointing a rigid finger in Gideon's direction.

"That is going to be your new brother-in-law. Show some respect," she drawled, not an ounce of remorse on her face.

"Respect?!" I barked out a harsh, incredulous laugh. "Cynthia, I should show some respect, to *you*?!"

"Yes, to me!" She set her glass down with a sharp *clink* against the marble coffee table, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Because I am your elder sister."

"Oh, cut the bullshit! You don't even have an ounce of shame, and I'm supposed to treat you like the elder sister you claim to be?!"

"Manners, Sandra!" Cynthia yelled back, sitting up straight, her poise cracking for just a split second. "You don't get to speak to me like that!"

"How am I supposed to speak to you? You're marrying him?! That means you're making him my sixth brother-in-law!!"

"Why does that bother you so much?" she sneered.

"I wouldn't be complaining so hard if you actually divorced your previous husbands before jumping straight onto a new catch!"

"They aren't complaining," Cynthia shot back, "so stop acting like you're so much better than me."

"I am listening to pure, unadulterated shit right now," I spat, turning my head away in disgust.

Cynthia smirked, crossing her legs higher as she leaned back against the plush velvet sofa. "Instead of worrying about me and my love life, have you given that blind date a single thought?"

I froze, my brows pulling into a tight line. "What blind date?"

Cynthia's gaze drifted over to where our mother stood. "Mom... you didn't tell her?"