Chapter 471
Chapter 471
She bit her lower lip gently.
“Arthur is acting strange.”
N'zar felt his throat tighten.
“Strange how?”
“Distant.”
Cleopatra sighed.
“He talks to me, answers when I ask something, but he always seems to be thinking about something else. As if he’s worried. As if he wants to leave.”
N'zar looked away for a moment.
A fierce urge to tell her everything rose up within him.
To say that Arthur wasn't acting distant because of the wedding.
To say that he had likely planned every detail from the very beginning.
To say that she, too, was being deceived.
But Cleopatra was looking at him with such trust that N'zar couldn't bring himself to do it.
Not yet.
He needed to understand the full extent of the betrayal before breaking his daughter's heart.
“Maybe it’s just because of the wedding arrangements,” he said.
Cleopatra frowned.
“You think so?”
“Men like Arthur don't like losing control. A wedding involves decisions, alliances, commitments. It’s natural for him to feel pressured.”
She seemed to consider this.
Then she smiled sweetly.
“Yeah, that must be it.”
Her answer affected N'zar more than it should have.
Cleopatra believed it.
Just as he had believed it.
Father and daughter had been turned into pieces of the same He held out his hand to her.
“Come. Let’s go back.”
Cleopatra accepted.
N'zar walked beside his daughter back to the estate, keeping his face serene while his mind burned.
Arthur.
Mara.
Ariel.
Trevor.
How many knew?
How many were involved?
Was Ariel part of it, too?
The question arose and tore open an even deeper wound.
N'zar tried to push it away.
He couldn't.
Ever since Ariel had arrived at the estate, something in him had changed.
At first, she was merely useful.
A woman linked to Arthur.
A weakness.
A means of control.
Then, she became a presence.
Her voice in the corridors.
Her silent resistance.
The way she defied him even when fear was evident.
N'zar had begun looking for Ariel in a room before he even realized he was doing it.
He had begun to notice her absence.
He had begun to crave her attention.
That had never been part of the plan.
He had fallen in love with her.
The realization came with a bitter taste.
There was no other word for it.
It wasn't possession.
It wasn't obsession.
It wasn't simple desire.
It was something deeper.
Something that weakened him.
And, for the first time, N'zar hated an emotion because he couldn't control it.
He and Cleopatra re-entered the hall.
The conversations were ongoing.
Mara was standing apart from Arthur now, speaking with two women near the head table. Her posture was impeccable. Her face, calm.
Liar.
Arthur remained beside Trevor.
Ariel was close to them.
The three of them looked too comfortable.
N'zar watched the group.
Before, he had seen separate individuals.
In that moment, he saw an alliance.
Arthur discreetly leaned his face toward Ariel.
She didn't look at him, but her fingers moved against the side of her dress.
A small gesture. Almost invisible.
Arthur responded with a brief nod.
N'zar felt his blood boil.
They were communicating without words.
Right there.
In front of him.
Perhaps they had always done so.
Ariel looked up and met N'zar's gaze.
For a second, she seemed to notice something.
His expression.
The tension in his shoulders.
The way he was watching her.
N'zar smiled.
The smile didn't reach his eyes.
He let go of Cleopatra's arm.
"Go greet the guests."
She nodded and walked away.
N'zar began to walk toward Ariel.
Every step was calculated.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Arthur watched him approach.
Trevor did too.
Ariel remained motionless.
When N'zar stopped in front of her, the hall was still filled with voices, yet everything around them seemed to fade away.
"Is everything okay?" Ariel asked.
The concern in her voice almost disarmed him.
Almost.
N'zar placed one hand on her waist.
Ariel's eyes widened.
"N'zar?"
He didn't answer.
He cupped her face with his other hand and kissed her.
There was no gentleness.
There was no warning.
It was a deep, possessive kiss, charged with anger, desire, and a brutal need to stake his claim—in front of everyone—on what he believed he was losing.
The hall gradually fell silent.
Conversations died out.
Some people looked away.
Others stood still, watching.
Ariel tried to pull back, but N'zar held her close against his body for a few seconds longer.
He knew Arthur was watching.
It was meant for him.
Every second of that kiss was a provocation.
A declaration of war.
When he finally pulled away, Ariel was breathing heavily.
Her face was flushed with surprise and indignation. “What was that?”
N'zar ran his thumb over her lip.
“A kiss.”
“I know what it was.”
Ariel’s voice came out low and furious.
“I’m asking why.”
N'zar tilted his face.
“Because you’re my fiancée.”
Ariel stared at him.
He continued, his voice now loud enough for Arthur to hear.
“I kiss you whenever I want.”
The surrounding silence became suffocating.
N'zar slowly turned his face toward Arthur.
The man’s eyes were dark.
Furious.
His jaw clenched.
His hands balled into fists.
N'zar almost smiled.
“A woman like Ariel can bring out the worst in any man.”
Arthur didn’t answer.
N'zar wrapped his arm around her waist.
“A redhead like her makes a man consider himself very lucky when he manages to have her.”
Ariel stiffened.
Arthur took a step forward.
Trevor moved discreetly to his side.
N'zar held Arthur’s gaze.
“Don’t you agree?”
For a few seconds, no one breathed.
Arthur stared at Ariel.
Then he looked at N'zar.
The anger was there—raw, alive, almost impossible to hide.
But he smiled.
A small smile.
A dangerous one.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I suppose so.”
N'zar had expected irritation.
He’d expected a loss of control.
He’d expected Arthur to lash out and give everything away.
But there was something different about that smile.
Victory.
Arthur looked victorious.
As if, despite the provocation, he knew something N'zar didn’t yet know.
That infuriated him even more.
N'zar tightened his arm around Ariel.
“Come with me.”
She tried to pull away.
“N'zar, you’re hurting.”
He loosened his grip but didn’t let her go.
“We need to talk.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Ariel glanced at Arthur.
It was quick.
Too quick for any ordinary person to notice.
N'zar noticed.
That was enough.
He took her arm and began leading her out of the hall.
It wasn’t gentle.
Nor was it brutal.
It was decisive.
Ariel went along with him, still trying to understand what was happening.
Arthur moved.
One step.
Then another.
Trevor grabbed his arm.
Arthur slowly turned his head.
“Let go.”
Trevor didn’t let go.
He stepped close enough to speak right by his ear.
“No.”
Arthur tried to move forward again.
Trevor tightened his grip on his arm.
“Look at him.”
Arthur looked.
N'zar was walking away with Ariel.
He didn’t look back.
He didn’t need to.
His posture had changed.
This wasn’t the confident man who held all the guests in the palm of his hand.
This was a man who had just discovered a betrayal.
Trevor watched the scene in silence.
Then he spoke:
“I think he knows.”
Arthur stood motionless.
The smile vanished.
“What?”
“I don’t know how much.”
Trevor watched Mara across the hall.
She was looking at N'zar, too.
Her face was pale.
“But something happened.” Arthur turned his face toward Mara.
She didn't move.
She didn't need to.
All three understood in the same instant.
The game had changed.
Arthur looked back at the hallway where N'zar had taken Ariel.
His wife was disappearing into the estate alongside a man who had just kissed her in front of everyone—solely to provoke him.
The urge to go after them nearly overpowered his reason.
Trevor squeezed his arm again.
“If you go now, you confirm everything.”
Arthur took a deep breath.
His chest heaved.
“He’s taking my wife.”
“And he wants you to react like a husband.”
Arthur closed his eyes for a second.
When he opened them again, there was a darkness in his gaze.
“If he touches her again...”
Trevor cut him off.
“Then we get her out of here before that happens.”
Arthur stared at the empty hallway.
N'zar knew.
Maybe not everything.
Maybe not yet.
But the veil had been torn away.
And men like him didn't forgive once they realized they’d been made fools of.
Arthur slowly ran his tongue over his teeth.
“Get the men ready.”
Trevor nodded.
“For when?”
Arthur kept his eyes fixed on the spot where Ariel had vanished.
“For now.” On the other side of the estate, N'zar led Ariel silently through the corridors.
She tried to ask where they were going.
He didn't answer.
His mind was still piecing together every conversation, every glance, every lie.
Now he knew Arthur was hiding something.
He knew Mara was involved.
He suspected Ariel.
And, for the first time, he wasn't sure if his heart ached because he’d been deceived...
Or because the woman he’d fallen in love with might never have truly belonged to him.
N'zar opened the door to his quarters and let Ariel enter.
Then he closed it.
He turned the key.
Ariel heard the sound.
She turned slowly.
“What’s happening?”
N'zar stood with his back to her for a few seconds.
When he turned around, there was no smile.
No kindness.
No mask.
Just a wounded man.
And a dangerous one.
He walked toward her.
“Now,” he said in a low voice, “you’re going to tell me the truth.”
Ariel felt her blood run cold.
“What truth?”
N'zar stopped in front of her.
His eyes locked on hers.
“The truth about you.”
He paused.
“About Arthur.”
Another pause.
“And about Mara Versari.”
Ariel went pale.
It was a small change.
Almost imperceptible.
But N'zar saw it.
And in that instant, the last shred of doubt within him died.