Chapter 22 Family War
Serena
“I demanded you eat at the table with us this morning,” Mr. Rivers’ voice rattled my bones, but I refused to show it, “not because I see you as a member of this family, but because I want to understand what the hell is going on.”
He slammed his fist down, and the table jumped.
Two wine bottles toppled, red liquid spreading across the white linen like blood from a fresh wound.
Mrs. Rivers smiled satisfactorily, the smile of someone who’d just won a long game. She was liking this drama.
Vivian gasped, her hand flying to the pearls adorning her long neck. Sorry, but that neck screamed GIRAFFE everytime she turned.
Lara covered her mouth in exaggerated shock, but her eyes glittered with triumph.
I pressed my lips together so hard that I tasted copper. I refused to look at the two men responsible.
Saint sat to my left, his posture the portrait of a king who knew he was perfect from head to toe.
His face was blank, but his knuckles were white around his fork.
Sin sat across from me, still masked in the daylight somehow, or maybe it was just the way his eyes burned through the room. He hadn’t spoken since we sat down.
Not that Sin needed to. The air around him felt thick with something barely contained.
“Have you seen the posts circulating on social media?” Mr. Rivers continued, his voice rising two octaves higher. “You were caught kissing a masked man at Asher’s birthday party!”
He flipped his phone around. The screen showed the photo, grainy but unmistakable. Me on my toes and Sin’s face pressed to mine.
The flash had caught the diamonds at my throat, the smear on my chin (God, it was embarrassing that there were photos of me with Sin’s cum on my face and it was fucking flying around the net) and the wild tangle of my hair.
The caption underneath read: “Saint Rivers’ fiancée caught in the arms of the mystery masked man. Who is he? And why does he look so familiar…?”
You could guess by now that comments were already in the thousands.
I kept my eyes on the spilled wine. Red soaked into my cloth like it was thirsty for it.
Last night Saint snuck me out of the party. He'd forced the driver and one of the bodyguards to swear on their lives they’d never speak about driving us home or even seeing us at all. He'd promised them in turn that he'd dismember their cocks and serve them to the pitbulls if he heard as much as a whisper about it.
I didn't have a cock, but I had shuddered at the threat, because I'd seen those pitbulls before and they were little dragons without wings.
As soon as we crossed the threshold of the house, he’d hauled me straight to my room, shoved me inside, and made me promise in a stern voice that I would never open the door for any man in this house.
I knew he meant Sin. Which confused the hell out of me.
If he didn’t trust Sin not to break me, why had he disappeared first?
Why had he left me alone with the monster he was so afraid of?
Mr. Rivers leaned forward, his eyes boring into me.
“Explain.”
“I kissed who I wanted to kiss,” I said, calm as anything.
I lifted a spoonful of eggs to my mouth and took the bite like we were discussing a fundraiser.
Lara’s fake gasp turned real, a sharp, ugly sound like someone had punched her in the throat.
Across the table, Saint’s lips twitched. He was trying not to laugh. Trying. And failing.
The corner of his mouth kept curling up before he forced it flat again.
What the hell was funny about any of this? How could he find it amusing when he was the major reason last night had turned into a crispy gist for the media?
“How dare you?” Mr. Rivers barked. His fist came down again, harder this time. The silverware jumped. More wine spilled, and I felt chilled liquid trickling onto my dress from the table.
I didn't dare stand. Let it pool in my dress, let it spill onto me and stain my dress and thighs.
“How dare I?” I swallowed the eggs, setting the spoon down with deliberate care. “Because I can. And I will. Your wife has reminded me, countless times, how much of a misfit I am in your elite little world.”
Mrs. Rivers’ smile didn’t falter. If anything, it sharpened.
Vivian leaned forward, the pearls on her clicking. “I say we punish her.”
Sin finally spoke, his voice slicing through the tension and catching Vivian in her chest. With the way she gasped you'd think someone stabbed her.
“I say you mind your fucking business.You can start by moving out and starting your own family.”
The table went still. He hadn’t even raised his voice, but he'd commanded the atmosphere into stillness.
The napkin in his fist was twisted so tight the fabric was white at the seams.
“Sin!” Lara hissed, half-whisper, half-plea.
“Don’t dare call my name, Lara.” His eyes flicked to her. They were cold, and empty. “I’ve told you. I don’t recognize you as anything anymore.”
Mr. Rivers’ face turned an alarming shade of purple. His eyes bulged like he was trying to launch them across the table at me.
“You are becoming a bad influence on my sons,” Mr. Rivers said, his voice shaking with rage. “I’m kicking you out. Immediately.”
I smiled, shifted my plate to the side, pushed my chair back with deliberate calm, and rose to my feet.
“I’m waiting for your order, sir,” I said sweetly. The humiliation stung deeply, but come on, if I kept reacting the way they wanted me to, then I was letting them win.
My father was in the army for goodness sake. I was made of steel, not ordinary flesh and bone.
The moment I stood, I felt it.
The red wine had soaked through my silk dress, from my chest to my thighs, turning the pale fabric almost transparent.
My nipples peaked against the wet material, it was dark and obvious.
Every jaw in the room dropped. Shit. Of all the days I had to go braless, this had to happen today.
Thank you, Universe.
Mr. Rivers’ face went from purple to apoplectic.
“Leave my house, whore,” he barked, so close I felt spit on my cheek.
I cringed, resisting the urge to reach for my face and wipe it off.
“Your wish is my command.” I turned to go.
Saint and Sin shot to their feet at the same instant.
Their chairs flew backward, screeching across marble like nails on a chalkboard.
“You go nowhere,” they said in perfect unison.