Jonathan

My gaze follows Aurora as she practically flees the scene.

She didn’t stop and search for her wingman, Black Belt, which means she’s more agitated than she shows.

And it’s all because of the bastard sitting across from me, eating as if he didn’t bring up what he shouldn’t have.

Not in front of her.

Not in front of anyone.

Aurora might act strong and aloof, but the memory of Alicia burns her. I don’t miss how she sneaks into her room any chance she gets. Alicia’s death is a reminder of the darkest day of her life. She doesn’t need to be hit with the reminder that she also looks so much like her.

So what if she does? They’re nothing alike.

Ethan will pay for bringing up the past and causing her to leave.

“I heard you’re acquiring a horse.” I lift the spoon to my mouth and take my time to savour the food.

The fact that I threw a bone in there is enough to get his attention. Ethan slows his chewing and glares at me.

Keeping my nonchalance up, I continue, “Arabian stallion. Impressive.”

Agnus pauses reading what I assume are reports on his phone. “You shouldn’t know about that.”

“Apparently, I do. You’re not the only one with inside intel, and guess what, Ethan? Consider it bought by me.”

“You don’t even like horses.” Ethan rests his hands on the table.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t have it.”

“Then I might consider that piece of land in Northampton you’ve been keeping an eye on.” Ethan eats another spoonful of food. “I don’t even like properties in Northampton, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have it.”

“Take something of mine and I’ll take ten in return. Even your daughter holds the King name now.”

Elsa lowers her head and continues eating in silence, choosing to stay in the awkward zone. That’s the difference between her and Aiden. If my son were here, he would’ve taken her out an hour ago. He has no patience whatsoever for things he thinks are none of his concern.

“How about Aurora?” Ethan raises a brow.

The decades I have spent to perfect my façade come into use now. I pretend not to be affected, even though I want to jam a knife in both his eyes so he doesn’t look at her anymore. And I might as well include his mouth so that he doesn’t say her name again.

I conjure all my self-restraint to not throw him down and punch some sense into him. Instead, I ask in my seemingly detached tone, “What about her?”

“Is she part of the game now?”

“Dad…” Elsa looks at him with pleading eyes. “You said no more games.”

“I can’t back down from a challenge. Isn’t that right, Agnus?”

His lap dog nods once, still focused on his phone. He hasn’t touched his food since we sat down. Agnus is the type of freak who rarely eats and survives on Ethan’s graces, or something of the sort.

I should’ve known that, when news came out that Ethan was dead eleven years ago, Agnus wouldn’t have stopped there.

He practically brought him back from the dead.

“There’s no game,” I say in my most lethal tone.

“Does that mean Aurora is off-limits?”

“She is.” There’s no hesitation, no second thoughts, and fuck if I know what that means.

“Does she know that, though?”

I stand up, slamming my spoon down. Elsa startles, but holds her ground as she stares at the surrounding people whose attention shifts to our table.

I lean over so that I’m glaring at Ethan head-on. He returns it with his own cool gaze.

He’s always been the type who likes to stir up trouble from behind the scenes. When we were in university, people saw me as the ruthless one and Ethan as the guy next door.

They know nothing about the devilish way his brain works. They only see the façade he wants them to see. He might have spent nine years in a coma, but nothing changed the way his brain works.

Just like me, he loves holding things over people’s heads. And just like me, he doesn’t hesitate to use it against them.

That’s why he approached Aurora first. The fact she looks almost exactly like Alicia gave him leverage. He didn’t even need to know how she was related to my late wife. His sole purpose was to use her against me.

He’s done it all to appear as her most trustworthy ally. Having Agnus invite her to the wedding, the investment, this charity…and even the dinner invitation — that she will not accept.

All of those are methods to worm his way into her life and then destroy me by using her.

However, I’m one step ahead.

Problem is, knowing his intentions doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be easy to stop him. One, Aurora is unpredictable as fuck. If she gets something in her head, she’ll do it, my opinion be damned. Two, his game could be bigger than this, and being unable to pinpoint it keeps me uneasy.

“Come near her and I’ll consider it a declaration of war, Ethan.”

His lips twitch in a smirk, showing his true self. “Careful of your own battalion, Jonathan.”

“Stay. The. Fuck. Away,” I enunciate every word, pause to make my point clear, then I turn around and leave.

Behind me, I hear Elsa ask him about the truce her father and I agreed to when she and Aiden started officially going out a year ago.

We did that to score an important deal with a duke’s family business, but Ethan and I both know there’ll never be a truce between us. We’ll be ninety years old and in wheelchairs, and we’ll still fight to see who gets to own the world.

We’ve been like that since university. Due to our competitive nature, we clashed in everything. Then after we graduated and embarked in the world of business, our rivalry grew. It started with a simple chess game about who got to own a yacht then extended to gambling subsidiaries and net profit numbers.

We rivalled each other in everything, including how to start a family. Since we were bored with the easy pussy we got, we made a bet to marry mentally unstable women. It wasn’t a necessity or even forced. It was by choice.

I found Alicia and he found his late wife, Abigail.

Since then, everything has gone downhill.

That’s when I realised the monstrosity of human greed. If nothing satiates you, you’ll slowly but surely deteriorate to a worse state of mind, and eventually to your downfall.