Chapter 218
DIANA
I hate being right. Especially when I’m practically begging the world to prove me wrong.
The article on my tablet – Stone grinning at reporters like he’s just won the lottery – clicits nothing from me. No surprise. No
disappointment. Just inevitability. I drop the tablet onto my desk and tilt my head at the man across from me.
“You let this charade drag on longer than I expected.”
Morgan Whitney, my fiancé on the days he isn’t busy poisoning me for sport, only smiles. “You have to let people feel safe before you pull the rug out from under them, don’t you think, my dear?”
I can’t help but nod. He’s infuriatingly clever when he isn’t insufferable.
Turning my chair, I glance at Vixi. My darling. A red milk snake with bright yellow bands, coiled elegantly in her glass tank. Harmless, yet she makes people uneasy without even trying. I guess that makes us opposites.
I stand, retrieve a white mouse from the supply, and lower it into her tank. She strikes instantly. Morgan grimaces at the sight of her swallowing, his revulsion poorly disguised.
“I suppose,” I say, wiping my hands with a cloth once she’s finished.
“You shouldn’t keep something so… unsettling around.”
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I arch a brow at him. “Why? Do you want her instead? I’d take her out. but she doesn’t like being disturbed after feeding. She especially doesn‘ t like men. Though, who knows — maybe she’ll make an exception and have you as an appetizer.”
The look on his face tells me the joke fell flat. Typical. I sigh inwardly “No sense of humor. I see. So why are you wasting so much time meddling in my sister’s life? She can’t possibly be that interesting.”
“You’re right.” Morgan says smoothly. “She isn’t. But when I talk to you through her, you actually listen.”
I let out a sharp breath, unimpressed. “As usual, you’re making no sense. And I don’t have time for riddles. My parents are still in Kigali. which means everything here has landed on my desk.”
His lips twist into something that isn’t quite a smile. “How are the negotiations going?”
Of course he knows. He always knows. I don’t bother asking – it’d be a waste of breath when I already know he orchestrated them. Clever of him, really. If I hadn’t meddled, my parents might’ve signed away a large chunk of our East African holdings for crumbs. “As well as can be expected.”
The false amusement drains from his face. “I want a wedding in December.”
I blink at him. “You don’t plan weddings overnight. Shouldn’t you know that already? You practically bankrolled Zane’s. I assumed you’d be an expert by now
“That doesn’t matter,” he says flatly. “The sooner we’re married, the better – for both of us.”
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Not exactly. My parents had already disappointed me by pushing this match, but I’d at least thought if I were to marry the heir of a billion- dollar corporation, it would be one whose name carried weight — one that actually benefited us.
–
I don’t bother responding. Instead, I lower my gaze to the stack of contracts awaiting my approval. “Too cold.”
He tilts his head. “It doesn’t snow everywhere, my dear. If you prefer, we can hold the wedding in Rwanda. That is your home, isn’t it?”
I sigh, long and annoyed. “Is your medication working too fast? Is that why you feel the need to irritate me before it fully kicks in?”
Silence drops over my office. The kind of silence that swallows up even the hum of the AC. A pin could fall and everyone outside would hear it but all that breaks the moment is the sound of my papers shuffling, pages flicked, some tossed into a discard pile without ceremony, others stamped and set aside.
When he finally speaks again, his voice is careful. “You knew?”
←
“Of course I knew.” I don’t bother looking up. The font on this report is an atrocity size eight, cramped margins. I note the department head responsible and make a mental note to remind Amanda to fire him.
“I was entertained, at first. Wanted to see what you’d do if you actually got away with it. But then you got sloppy. Then you got irritating. That stunt in Kigali? Do you have any idea the disaster you left me with? Double the workload. Furious partners. A board that now second- guesses every move I make. Even my parents are glaring at me at Zoom meetings like I set Vanderbilt Holdings on fire out of spite.”
I finally lift my gaze, pinning him with a smile that’s all enamel and no warmth, “Can you believe that? Me. Diana Vanderbilt. I don’t make mistakes. I don’t do wrong. I only entertained you because you were
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amusing a pet project, really. But then the chick I let hatch decided she wanted to fly on her own. With my feathers, no less. Do you think I won’t clip them? Do you really think I won’t snap your little wings clean off?”
He shoots to his feet, composure cracking, fury finally bleeding through. Exactly what I wanted. If he’s this reckless just being in the same room as me, then he’s ripe for destruction.
“And so what?” he spits. “Even if you know, what can you do about it? Where’s your proof?”
I tilt my head, pitying him in the way you pity a dumb animal. “You know what exhausts me about men like you? You never know when you’ve already lost. You don’t know what’s best for you. And you certainly don’t know how to pick your battles.”
“Are you threatening me, Diana?”
I laugh, soft and cruel. “A threat implies warning. I don’t give those. I‘ m simply telling you how much it pains me to let this slide. But I’m patient. And patience, darling, makes me very dangerous. Remember what you said yourself? Let them feel safe before you rip the ground out from under them?”
“There’s nothing you can do.”
“Oh, Morgan,” I sigh, waving him off like the nuisance he is. “Get out of my office. I’ve already punished myself long enough by letting you stink up this chair. And a piece of advice? Stop poking around where you don’t belong. Stay away from my sister. And the next time you plant a little spy on me-” I smile wider, letting the malice bleed through. “I’ll mail you Amanda’s right hand. Capiche?”
He trembles, shaking with impotent rage, while I flick my eyes back
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down to the proposal on my desk. It’s abysmal. Insulting. I almost want to gut him just for letting such idiocy cross my desk. Instead, I let him stand there, seething and useless, until the silence strangles him more effectively than any blade could.
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