JOHN’S POV.
I sat in the living room, drinking a cup of iced tea, which I had ordered. My crossed legs were stiff, and my anger kept soaring each time I thought of my father’s declaration.
He had made known his intentions to disown me. Although he was yet to make a formal declaration, I could tell he was going to. How could he say such? Was I an object that made throwing me away so easy?
Die he even love me? He probably just wanted to give everything to his little brother like his other siblings wanted.
I squeezed my glass. Lucas.
Everyone seemed to want him around, instead of me. Well, he was never returning. I had locked him away for good.
*You called for us, Alpha John.” Rebal said, sitting across me, with Landon, Emily’s guards, and a few more.
“Now, you all are going to find out—I don’t know through what means— who is giving the orders at FT Enterprises. The one who leaked all the videos everyone is holding against me. I need to speak with their CEO. Tell him I need an audience.”
“Their CEO is a woman.”
“A woman? Ha! What does she think she’s doing? A kind of woman protection movement? Is that why she bargains with my maids and employees to film unauthorized videos of me, and send them to her, so she could upload them on the internet?” I asked, and scoffed. “Okay, this is getting more interesting. Maybe she needs a taste of my fists too. Set up a meeting with her. At all costs. Whether you’ll kidnap her, force her, lure her, or convince her, I want an audience with her. She can’t turn my life upside down in one day, and expect to get away with it.”
Just then, a maid came to clean the shelves.
“You!” I called, and she shuddered.
“You mentioned something about the shelves when you returned, so I was told to clean it, since Emily couldn’t.” She rattled out super fast in a single breath.
“Come here.” I said, and she dropped her napkin, and walked towards me with shaking legs. “Kneel.”
It seemed like my words were the ones that made her knees buckle and fold because she had done it way too fast.
She landed on the carpet, staring at the sofa, while her fingers fidgeted hard with themselves.
“I’ve never seen you before.”
“Me?” She asked in alarm.
“Who else? Maybe you’re the spy.”
“Alpha, I was the replacement for Malia who knocked Lady Sadie down. I’ve been here ever since then.” She looked like she was on the verge of panicking.
“Where were you when I hit Kaye yesterday?”
“I was behind. The maids made an attempt to shove me to the back.”
“Why? Because you’re their only hope?”
“Because I’m the youngest. They were scared I wouldn’t be able to withstand it if you hit me.” She replied, and I barked out a laugh.
“You seem suspicious! Bring out your phone. You’re dead if I see anything relating to me in it.” I said, stretching out my hand, and she looked a little hesitant, but her lower lip finally trembled as she reached into her pockets to take out her phone. “Unlock it.”
She drew a really clumsy looking pattern, and handed it to me. I clicked on her gallery, hoping to see videos she had recorded, but instead, I was hit with photos.
She was still an high school student, and she had a guy in almost all of her photos.
For some unknown reason, tears sprang to my eyes.
They were there on the grass, having a picnic. They had made videos in the arcade, and had gone on numerous dates together. Nothing about me in it, but those photos had stuck a dart in my heart.
“Leave.” I said, tossing her phone to her. Leaning against the sofa, I closed my eyes not wanting my tears to fall.
Was father really right, and was I going to regret it? I hated Emily, and wished her dead, but just seeing photos that seemed like what we had back then in school had pricked my heart painfully.
It all began when she left me. Slowly, everyone had left me. The tears I was trying so hard to keep, rolled out the sides of my closed eyes.
Those days… they were my happiest days, and they were so damn nostalgic. I couldn’t see a garden, without thinking of her. I couldn’t walk underneath cherry trees, without tearing up.
If only I could go to the past. I’d grab the Emily I loved, and run somewhere far where Lucas couldn’t reach.
The Emily with me was someone I hated with passion. She had managed to make everything I did seem worthless, useless. Why had I bothered fighting when I had lost all along? When the match was still over? Like a boxer, fighting all by himself in the ring when the champion had been declared and accepted by the masses.
“Alpha John.” Landon called, and I replied, without opening my eyes.
“Yeah?”
I felt a napkin dab at the edges of my eyes, and that simple action threatened to turn me back into the seventeen year old boy who cried at the slightest provocation.
I opened my eyes, and sat up, taking the napkin from him.
“Get me an audience with this Lady CEO.” I said, and they nodded. “Work on it as fast as you can. And while you’re at it, try to quench this Lucas’ rumor.”
“The one where people say you sent him to a prison?” Rebal asked.
“There it goes. It just gets worse everyday.” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Lady, get the door. Don’t you hear it ringing? Am I the only one hearing it ring?” I snapped, and the maid whose phone I had checked, ran across the living room. She disappeared into the foyer, and I went back to discussing with my men.
However, I was interrupted shortly by a strange feeling.
“Something’s wrong.” I said, sitting up straight.
“Something?” Landon asked, looking around.
My heart began to pound hard, hitting my chest like it wanted to break out. The whole atmosphere had changed, and I was filled with a sense of fear for no reason.
The cold, domineering, and overpowering aura…
At once, the answer dropped like a bomb, but before I could react, the maid came in, and behind her…
White luxury coat, half buttoned white shirt… white pants with hands in pockets.
Lucas.