Chapter 70 Approve
Verena
Kian leaned against the wall of the hallway, his eyes narrowing on me. I could feel the blood rushing into my own ears, hard and deafening.
Not only did he ruin my morning. He ruined every plan I had for his uncle.
Anger threatened to consume me and every part of me fought to confront Kian but I’d rather ignore him because the last thing I wanted was for Nina to walk in on us arguing. If I did that, he would leave me alone.
But, I could never be more wrong.
The moment I attempted to walk past him, he pushed off the wall—stokes of coal burning in those eyes that held mine, and for a second, a shudder rolled through me.
He didn’t intimidate me. It was just that since I have known Kian, I had never seen him this mad.
Like he wanted to murder someone. Me.
At the same time, I couldn’t conclude when it came to Kian because if someone had told me that Kian—whom I once thought highly of could stalk and break into my home, I would have branded that person a liar.
But, here we were. How was I even sure that he didn’t follow me all the way here? It was something he was well capable of doing.
Or could that be the reason Neil asked for—
I knew it!
He came all the way here for me. Kian was insufferable at this point.
“What was the meaning of what you did back there—” A slow and painful manic laugh bubbled from his throat as he snapped his fingers. “Oh, you were doing all of that to make me jealous”
I couldn’t help the scoff that left my mouth. He really lived in his head. “Make you jealous?” I tilted my head to the side, taking his face in. “You are not that important,”
His face fell, his jaw clenching so hard that a muscle feathered. “You know what—” He bobbed his head slowly. “—just drive a knife to my heart and end my life,”
God, this was frustrating and dramatic.
For a second, all I did was watch the way his chest heaved, the way his eyes twitched before my eyes found the security camera mounted on the wall, the red light blinking. Arguing in someone else’s home? You would never catch me doing that.
I fixed him with one final stare—done with whatever shit this was. I moved to the side only for him to barricade me with a sharp step.
Frustration needled at me, a groan slipping from my mouth as my eyes slid up to his face. “Are you okay?” I asked flatly—more of a warning than concern.
Kian shook his head. “No, I am not. I am on the verge of losing my sanity. I spent days worrying about you—if you slept well, ate at the right time, and if your panic attacks worsened…” He ran a hand through his hair.
“But while I lost sleep over you, you were here in New Orleans whoring around with my uncle?”
My heart skittered to a stop, anger breaking through my defense.
“When you had panic attacks during our marriage, you’d lock yourself away, rotting behind closed doors. But barely a week and look at you, twisting your feet on my uncle’s dick like a slut,”
Slowly, something inside of me snapped and before I knew it, I found myself raising my hand.
Yet, something held me back. This wasn't me. I wasn’t the type to hit people. It was just that lately, Kian had been getting on my nerves, provoking and pushing that side of me I didn’t know existed.
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves swilling in my stomach as my hand dropped to my side. “Kian…” I breathed hard.
“Anything that I do is none of your business. I don’t interfere in you and Zita’s relationship so stay the fuck out of mine,”
His frame was tall and imposing, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk. “You were about to hit me again?…” He stepped forward, almost closing the space between us as he leaned down and stared deep into my eyes. “Do it, Verena. It turns me the fuck on”
I blinked, staring at him like he had lost it because clearly he had.
Done with this, I turned my back to him, ready to find my way downstairs when he gripped me by the shoulders, whirled me until I faced him.
I shrugged his hands off and before the words could slip off my tongue, his face had cracked into something pathetic. “Verena, I’m sorry. I should have never said that to you,”
“I take back my words”
I stared at him incredulously, trying to read through him because what the fuck was going on.
He exhaled loudly, sliding his hand down his pocket as he brought his phone out. “I will put you on a call with someone…” He trailed, the anger in his eyes now long gone, replaced with something else.
Was he on drugs?
“Please speak well of me. Of the times that I treated you well. How you initiated the divorce and please don’t mention that I asked for an open marriage”
I could feel the confusion warping my features as I blurted. “What are you even talking about?”
I was clueless.
He didn’t respond, only spoke into the phone. “She is here,” then held the phone out to me, eyes nudging for me to take it.
I slanted my head, glancing back and forth at the phone and his face. “Who?”
He forced the phone into my hand and as I pressed the phone to my ear, the deep familiar voice that echoed into it made me freeze.
My breath slowly came in ragged gasps, tears rushing into my eyes from hearing my brother’s voice again.
“A–Atlas…” My voice broke as I turned and walked away from Kian.
“Sunshine,”
A flurry of emotions crashed over me, tears spilling from my eyes as that soothing voice rang in my ear again. “Did you suffer a lot?”
I sat on the staircase, wiping the tears from my eyes as I nodded. “Yes…I suffered,” I choked out.
I told him about everything I faced. How Kian and I drifted apart. How he cheated on me with Zita. How his parents tormented me and basically everything Kian did to frustrate me before we finally divorced.
By the time I had let it all out, I could hear the sound of his harsh breathing, the sound of something crashing in the background.
Atlas breathed hard—almost to a scary point. “Ready your bags, you are moving to Seattle with me,”
Suddenly, the tightening in my chest disappeared as his words repeated in my head. “Seattle?” I muttered.
He had been in Seattle all this time!
“Yes,”
I wiped off my tears with the back of my hand. “No, I can’t move to Seattle with you. Why would you just tell me to move with you?”
“No questions, Verena. There is nothing left for you in Dallas—”
I cut in. “No. My life is here. My job. Daxton—”
A sound of disapproval left his throat as he interrupted. “How do you move from Kian to his uncle? Make that make sense”
Anger slowly simmered in my veins, taking over the emotional part of me. “Well, because it is my life and I can do whatever I want,”
“Verena!” He snapped.
“This was the same thing you said when it came to Kian. If you had followed the plan and left for Paris, you wouldn’t be here right now—”
When my parents insisted I meet Kian since they had already arranged the marriage, the only one who stood against it was Atlas. He had gotten into a fight with my dad—a fight that ended with exchanged blows and bruises.
I was ready to leave for Paris, continue my education when I met Kian that night and fell in love with him.
“Now look where that got you. I let you do things your way the first time, but not anymore. This time, you’re going to listen to me,”
Despite the tears that threatened to drop from my eyes, I found myself laughing hysterically. “You do realize that you are talking to an adult?”
“Yeah. An adult who still makes all the wrong decisions,”
I ripped my hand through my hair, exasperation gnawing at me. “Daxton isn’t ‘wrong decision’. He is so different from Kian,”
Atlas barked out a scoffing laugh—one that dripped with sarcasm. “Nah. He isn’t. Everyone from the Cooper family is the same,”
“Now that is a lie, Atlas. Why are we arguing when we are just speaking to each other in years…” I almost broke down. “Daxton is different,”
“No. Red flag number one. He is almost twelve years older than you are. Me—six years. How does this even make any sense to you?”
My heart twisted with pain as my gaze cut to Kian who lingered in the hallway, mouthing words I didn’t even care to decipher.
“It makes a lot of sense to me. He treats me nicely, treats me with respect, likes me—”
Atlas interrupted me again with a scoff. “He is only love bombing you,”
“No, it is different—” Butterflies took flight in my stomach.
“Verena, I have checked his pictures and there isn’t a single one of this man smiling. He only wears a grumpy face, takes pictures with dangerous men—”
“They could be past hotel guests,” I cut in.
“No. I am having none of this, Verena. Not until I meet him and see what is so different about him,”
“He doesn’t need your approval,” I almost shouted.
“Trust me, he does. If I don’t approve, you are not getting anywhere with him. I will force you to Seattle and no one with stop me,”
“Not even him.”