All Chapters of Off Limits: The Butler's Daughter Is Mine.: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

ROSE.The room stayed silent except for the ringing phone.Every second it rang felt like a small pain in my chest.Charlotte looked around, confused, trying to find where the sound was coming from.Then her eyes landed on Sharma's purse sitting on the chair, and my whole body went cold."Why is it coming from there?" Charlotte asked, more to herself than to us. Then she turned to Sharma. "Why would my brother's ringtone come from your bag?"Sharma's face went blank for a second too long. "I do not know what you are talking about," she said.But her hand was already moving toward the purse, like she wanted to hide it before Charlotte got there first.She was too slow.Charlotte crossed the room fast, her heels clicking against the floor like a countdown.I watched Sharma's whole body go stiff as Charlotte reached the chair.My heart climbed into my throat.Something about the way Sharma had gone so still told me this was not a small thing.Every part of me wanted to grab that purse be

ROSE.Sharma grabbed both my hands, her fingers cold against mine. "Promise me you will be fine??"I nodded, even though I did not believe a single word of it. "Go, Sharma. Please. Use the back door, and do not stop until you are far from this house."She slipped out through the back hallway, and I listened to her footsteps fade until the house swallowed them whole.I stood alone in the small bathroom for one more second, pressing both hands flat against my stomach, trying to force myself back into someone steady enough to walk into that kitchen.My reflection in the mirror looked like a stranger.I told myself the same thing I had been telling myself since my father died:Whatever happens, do not let them see you break.I splashed cold water on my face, dried it with the edge of my sleeve, and walked out.The kitchen was already buzzing by the time I reached it, staff moving fast between counters.None of it mattered to me.I moved through the noise like a ghost, my mind still standi

ROSE.The words settled over the table like a hand closing slowly around my throat.Marriage.Roseina.I heard both words together, and something inside me went completely numb, the way a body goes numb right before it collapses.For one strange second I almost laughed myself, because some wild, disbelieving part of me was convinced I had misheard him entirely.Drake did not move for a long moment.His eyes stayed fixed on his father, and when he finally spoke, his voice came out low and careful, like he was trying to keep something dangerous from breaking loose."What did you just say?"His father smiled, unbothered by the tension thickening around the table. "You heard me clearly, Drake. I am not a man who repeats himself often.""Roseina is dead..." Drake said, and the words cut through the room sharper than anything spoken so far tonight, his hands curling into fists against the tablecloth. "She died a long time and I have grieved her my whole life. I do not understand what game y

DRAKE'S POV.I found my father in his study less than an hour after Rose ran out of the dining room.He was standing by the window with a glass of brandy in his hand like nothing unusual had happened at all, like he had not just torn apart everything I thought I understood about my own life in a single sentence.I shut the door behind me harder than I meant to."Dad...you need to explain yourself," I said. "Right now."He did not turn around immediately.He took his time, the way he always did, like rushing for anyone was beneath him. "Explain what, exactly? I thought I spoke rather clearly tonight.""You told me, in front of Charlotte, in front of my own staff, to marry a woman you claim is someone I buried in my mind twenty years ago," I said, my voice rising despite every effort to keep it level. "You owe me more than a riddle, dad. You owe me the truth, all of it, right now."He finally turned, studying me the way he studied everything, like a problem to be solved rather than a so

ROSE."It says Hunter," I whispered again, staring at the screen like the name might change if I looked hard enough.Sharma's face went pale, her mouth falling open slightly, and her whole body going rigid where she sat. "I do not understand. Hunter is dead, Rose. We both watched him die. How is his name calling your phone right now??"I did not answer her.My hands were shaking so badly the phone nearly slipped from my fingers, and before I could think it through, before I could weigh anything properly, I was already standing up from the couch, my body moving on instinct alone, my mind still refusing to catch up with whatever my feet had already decided to do."Rose, where are you going??" Sharma called after me, rising fast. "You cannot just leave! What if this is a trap?!"I grabbed her car keys off the small table by the door. "He sent me an address. A text, right after the call ended.""Are you serious right now???" Sharma's voice climbed higher, panic bleeding into every word. "