Chapter 29 VANESSA’s REVENGE BEGINS (Demilia’s POV)
Her gorgeous red hair fell over her shoulders like fire. Her eyes...sharp, mocking, filled with venom....were locked on us.
On me in particular, as I was in Ethan’s arms. Her bright red nails tapped slowly against the doorframe as she smirked, tilting her head.
“Ethan,” she purred. “I didn’t realize you were busy kissing your little… wife.”
I stiffened, already pissed. Ethan’s grip tightened around me subconsciously...not possessive, but protective. His jaw clenched, rather too hard.
“Vanessa,” he said quietly, dangerously. “Get out.”
“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” she replied sweetly. “We’re all family here… right?” Her eyes roamed over me...cold, filled with a kind of hatred that made my whole body chill.
“You,” she said softly, her lips curving into a razor-sharp smile. “You have no idea what you’ve started.”
I swallowed an invisible lump already forming in my throat. Something in her voice felt like a threat. A promise.
The kind that didn’t end well for anyone. Ethan stepped in front of me just slightly, shielding me from her view without even realizing it.
“Leave,” he repeated, voice harsh. But Vanessa didn’t move. She just smirked wider… like she knew something neither of us did. Like she wasn’t afraid of him at all.
“Enjoy the moment, Demilia,” she whispered, her tone dripping with venom. “Because it won’t last.”
Then she turned… slowly… gracefully… and walked away. Ethan stayed frozen for a second.
Then he turned to me.
“Demilia..." But I stepped back, not running, not rejecting, just… terrified.
“What have we done?” I whispered. His eyes darkened...tormented, conflicted, but still burning with desire.
“I don’t know,” he said softly. But his gaze lowered to my lips… And something told me the chaos had only just begun.
Vanessa’s POV
Ethan’s lips were still on Demilia’s when I stepped into the room. For a split second, the world froze. Not because I was heartbroken...please, heartbreak is for little girls with cheap dreams.
But because Ethan Blackwell, a man carved from ice and pride, was kissing someone with need.
Need… not lust. Need… not control. Need… not power. It wasn't something deeper.
And he was kissing her. Demilia of all ladies. I didn’t move, neither did I gasp. I didn’t scream.
I simply leaned on the doorway, tilted my head slightly, and smiled. It was rather a slow, poisonous smile.
Demilia jerked away first, breathing hard, eyes wide with shock. Ethan turned sharply, jaw clenched, nostrils flaring like an animal caught doing something forbidden.
“Vanessa,” he said, his voice low, cold, irritated. “Get out.”
I found that rather charming. He didn’t even bother pretending. But even at that, I didn’t move.
I walked inside, my heels echoing deliberately on his marble floor.
“I should congratulate you,” I said softly, brushing imaginary dust from my dress. “You finally let someone melt that frozen stone in your chest.”
Demilia stiffened amidst kiss, Ethan glared.
Good. That was rather perfect.
“Why are you here?” Ethan snapped.
I pouted. “Oh, don’t sound so hostile, darling. It hurts my feelings.” Demilia muttered under her breath, “You don’t have feelings.”
I turned to her slowly. “Sweetheart, if you’re going to insult me, at least project your voice. Confidence is attractive...try it sometime.”
Her cheeks flushed angrily. Excellent, I was gradually arriving there.
I faced Ethan again. “I came to give you an update about the board. But clearly…” my gaze slid to Demilia, “…you’re busy.”
“We’re done,” Ethan snapped, making Demilia flinch at his voice. I smiled again, this one sharper. “Are you? It didn’t look like it.”
“Vanessa,” Ethan said through gritted teeth, “leave. Now.”
I stepped closer...too close...nd whispered, “You used to kiss me like that.” He pulled back as if I burned him. Demilia’s jaw tightened, and I knew if permitted, that she would punch me
And that was just perfect. If I could create little cracks, little fractures, little insecurities. I would conquer them, and thats exactly where I wanted them. I could practically smell Demilia’s panic.
Good. Panic makes people stupid.
“And before you accuse me of anything,” I added sweetly, “I’m not here to fight. I don’t need to fight.” I looked directly at Demilia. “I always win.”
Her eyes hardened, but she whispered, “Not this time.”
I stepped closer, my perfume filling the air. “Oh, darling… you’re new to this world. Ethan doesn’t love, he only possesses.” My eyes flicked between them. “And possession never ends in your favor.”
Ethan exploded immediately, trying to side her.
“That’s enough!” His voice thundered across the room.
Demilia gasped in shock, but I shrugged, utterly unfazed. “You can lie to her, Ethan,” I said quietly, “but not to yourself.”
His breathing changed, and there it was. The reaction that I needed. That shows that he still cared, not about me though. But about what I knew. He should be afraid, because I wasn’t here for love. I was here for control.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Vanessa!”
Ethan’s voice chased me down the corridor in a desperate manner. I stopped...but didn’t turn.
He grabbed my arm and spun me around. “What was that?” “A reminder,” I murmured, “of who you used to be.”
“That part of my life is over.”
“Funny,” I said softly, “because I see it resurfacing every time you look at her.”
His jaw tightened, rather too tight.
“I know you, Ethan, way better than she ever will. You can’t hide your tells from me.”
“I’m warning you..”
“Are you threatening me?” I asked, stepping close enough for him to hear my slow, steady breathing. “Be careful. You forget how much I know about your father. About Blackwell secrets. About everything you hide."
Then I whispered the dagger he didn’t expect: “Especially about Project Dante."
His pupils dilated in complete shock. That was perfect.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” he growled.
“I invented the game,” I murmured.
Then I walked away...gracefully, elegantly, victorious, without turning back.
Later that day, in my apartment, I poured myself a glass of wine. Something deep, red, luxurious. I let it swirl in the glass while I dialed the number I knew by heart.
Of course, Adrian answered on the first ring. “Vanessa. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
His voice was smooth, dangerous, a familiar like he already knows why I called.
“We have a problem,” I said.
He chuckled amusingly. “Your entire life is a sequence of problems.”
“And yet you still enjoy partnering with me.”
“Touché,” he murmured. “Go on.”
“Ethan is slipping.”
“Slipping… how?”
“He just kissed her.”
There was a silence.
Then: a soft, dark exhale. “Good. Let him fall. The higher he climbs emotionally, the harder he breaks.”
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand. He kissed her because he’s starting to feel something.”
Adrian swore under his breath.
“Attraction can be manipulated,” he said. “Love cannot.”
“Exactly.”
“Then we accelerate the plan.”
“We do,” I agreed. “But first… we break her.”
Adrian hummed thoughtfully. “Not him?”
“Oh, Ethan will break on his own. All we need is to gently push Demilia until she breaks in front of him.”
“And you think she will?”
“She’s already trembling,” I said with a smile. “I just need to make her think Ethan doesn’t want her. That she’s losing him, and that she can’t trust him.”
“And after she breaks?”
“She leaves,” I said calmly. “And when she leaves… Ethan shatters.”
“And then?”
“Then,” I purred, “I pick up the pieces.”
Adrian chuckled darkly. “You’ve always been terrifying.”
“I know.”