Chapter 97 The Necessary Betrayal
“Fuck!”
Kael groused angrily as he stared at the door whbere Lilia slammed it shut. He drew out a long sigh and clenched his jaw in contempt. He already expected that she would react this way, but seeing it personally happened struck him in the chest. He didn’t mean anything he said to her, and yes, he was angry that she got into a fight and somehow hurt herself. She had a valid reason for it. She stood up for her friend, and there was nothing wrong with it. In fact, it makes him proud.
That blond maid will definitely know her place after he is done with her. He’ll make sure that she will pay for hurting his Kukla, and slapping her across the face isn’t enough.
Kael heaves one last sigh before pushing the door open and leaving her room. He veered his gaze into the hallway and hoped he could still see Lilia running, but he came out too late, and she was nowhere in sight. Anger seems to have risen to his head again. He balled his fist and crossed the hallway with his long strides right down to his study.
He had just come back from a tiring trip, and he didn’t want to face anyone right now. He hadn’t even seen Val yet, nor did he know he was coming home today. It had been a restless month since the incident back in Italy and the confrontation with the De Luca, but he knew they weren’t telling him the truth. While the rest of the days he spent there were entirely business, not one second did Lilia’s face leave his mind.
But now, he could see in her eyes that she despised him. Not that he could blame her after that passionate night they spent, promising her the whole world and then crashing it on his feet.
Kael walked over to the side table next to him where he kept his liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of scotch from the bottle. However, the burning sensation of the alcohol wasn’t enough to calm the raging anger broiling inside him. He looked down at his empty glass, holding it too tight as his breathing became rapid and ragged.
“FUCKING HELL! Damn it!” He bellowed, and within a blink, flung the glass into the air, smashing it into the wall, breaking into tiny shards. Yet, it didn’t sate his anger and Kael was still fuming. He went to his table, glaring hatefully at the stacked documents seated neatly on top.
Letting out a ballistic growl, he swept off everything, sending the papers flipping into the air, and turned the table upside down. He was going rabid, screaming like some animal that had lost control. Kael was acting out his frustration by wreaking havoc on everything he could see, and he was holding so much rage that he was unable to stop himself from slamming everything beyond repair.
He was on a rampage in his study when it suddenly opened, and Val walked in. He's stunned for a bit upon seeing that his room was a complete mess, but he was quick to recover, and somehow understanding showed in his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, trying to calm himself down, and swiped his hands to his face, then raked his fingers through his hair before turning around to look at Val.
However, instead of answering his question, his trusted right-hand man countered him with another question. “What is Sabina Dimitriv doing here?”
Kael narrowed his gaze on him, clenching his jaw tightly, and answered Val spitefully. “She’s my fiancé now.” His words burned with so much distaste and even abhorred the very thought that he was engaged, not to the person he ever wanted.
The shock on Val’s face showed evidently, and his brows dipped in befuddlement. “Fiancé? What about Lilia?”
Kael hesitated for a moment, thinking if he should tell Val everything about it, but then he deemed that it would change nothing if he chose to be silent and hoped that it could somehow ease his frustration.
“I’m doing it for her,” he sighs, walking to the side and leaning his back into the wall since he already flipped his desk over and smashed his swiveling chair, breaking it in two.
“I don’t think I follow clearly,” Val responded uncertainly, not understanding what Kael meant and how Lilia became of this matter.
Kael thinks back to how everything falls under his grasp, and then the anger boiling inside him starts to come to the surface, but he keeps himself collected and answered Val truthfully.
“Antonov, that ungrateful bastard son of a bitch. He pushed his own daughter to marrying me. Said it was for merging our business, but I know he just wanted a part of my company and forge an alliance.”
“Why did you agree? And what Lilia has to do with this?”
“I didn’t agree. I was forced to agree. It seems like the committee had been plotting this for a long time. They mentioned her during our meeting, and they said the reason why I wasn’t marrying was because of her. I was aware of the potential consequences that could arise if I expressed a viewpoint that was contrary to theirs. They will come and haunt Lilia, or worst, make me do it to prove that she didn’t hold a great value to me. It wasn’t about the money I spent to get her, and they knew as well about the incident that happened at the Grand Canal.”
Val fell silent for a moment, processing what he just said, and then his gaze hardened as though he could now put two and two together, understanding completely where this anger was coming from.
“Those bastards. They’ll make you kill her if you don’t marry. But why Sabina?”
“She’s the only one available they can shove into my ass,” Kael snorted with disgust at the very thought. Vexed to the highest point that it stretched his patience thinly.
It’s not that they could easily manipulate him into doing things they wanted. For damn’s sake, he was not a fucking puppet that they could order around and dictate each and every action that he had to take. However, having Lilia in his life turns everything off the loop.
That he has begun to care, and the fact that it frightens him.
Now he’s in this shit hole, and there’s no other way out but to have the woman he mainly cares about hating him to the bones, leaving him in ruins and in shambles.
It was a shitty decision to make, but he won’t risk the chance of jeopardizing her safety.
“Lilia…what are you going to do about her now?”
Val’s voice suddenly yanked him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the present. He sighs and looks at his friend. The only friend he ever trusted, just like how Lilia bonded with Aya.
“Keep her safe and out of their target. I want you to look after her for me.”
Val nodded in agreement with his statement and shoved his hands into his pocket before speaking.
“Earlier, she stumbled on the training gym and watched the newly recruited reapers with their routine sparring. She was amazed at the women in training, especially Sasha, and asked me to let her train with them. She wanted to know how to fight. Of course, I immediately declined her request knowing that I should be consulting you first.”
That right away piqued his interest, and the idea of Lilia wanting to learn how to fight caused him to raise an eyebrow. After everything that she had been through simply by being with him, it was reasonable for her to ask things like that even if it wasn't essential for her to do so.
In addition, “That must be her inspiration why she caught herself up in a catfight with the maids that were bullying Aya,” he voiced out in amusement, and for a fleeting second, the anger in his veins faded.
That amusement seemed to have infected Val's face as he suddenly broke out in a guffaw with his demeanor shifted, as though he couldn’t believe what he had just said. “She got into a fight?”
“Got a cut on her lips and a bruised cheek,” Kael added, though he was still upset that she hurt herself.
“Well, she certainly has gotten tougher, hasn't she?” Val remarked while shaking his head and smiling crookedly to the side of his mouth.
Lilia, indeed was full of surprises. They will never know what goes on in her head. He was even surprised to learn that she was riding horses the following days after he allowed her out of her room.
“Yeah,” he nodded and paused for a moment before continuing, “and I will allow you to train her.”
“Okay,” Val’s smile broadened as though he was expecting that answer from him. His eyes roamed around his wrecked room and motioned for Val to leave.
His friend nodded and turned around. However, before opening the door, Val turned his head over his shoulder and said with a smirk, “And by the way, welcome back. You could have at least called so I can organize a marching band.”
“Fuck off.”