Chapter 100

Third Person POV

Katya was annoyed.

Everything had been going so well. She predicted that she could have broken Lionel’s relationship up within a few more weeks. She would have even taken back her rightful place by the girls’ 7(th) birthday in a month or two.

Those little brats through everything off!

So what if she disciplined them a little? They should have known not challenge someone superior to them. Katya regretted losing her temper so early on.

Now she was being blocked at every turn.

Her easy access to the girls was gone. Now Lupa had an excuse for every time Katya wanted a private meeting with them. Both Lionel and Lupa were monitoring the visits.

Katya would have thought that the little traitor blabbed if her little recording devices were not evidence of the contrary.

The children were even worse. The weak pup no longer met her eyes. She refused to budge from her parents’ side.

The older pup was closed off. A marble statue. Cold and unresponsive.

Katya’s performance had been flawless. The poor mother who missed her pups. A single moment of her temper had ruined it.

There was really only one card left to play before Katya would switch tactics.

Katya waited until the mansion was nearly empty one night.

She came battle ready. Skin soft and smelling of gooseberries and vanilla. A dark, nearly black, red stain on her mouth.

She put on one of her favorite dresses. A slip really. So soft that it was like clouds against her skin.

She bound her golden locks into a soft knot at the back of her head. Letting a few strands frame her face…something that made her look both angelic and seductive. A goddess in bound flesh.

She found Lionel in his bedroom.

She could sense Nan’s heartbeat within the room. Yet not exactly in the same vicinity. No musky scent of a mating present.

Just close enough to listen.

‘Perfect,’ Katya thought gleefully. ‘That works out perfectly.’

If Katya got her way…she would be killing two birds with one stone.

“Lionel?” Katya calls out.

He stiffens. Then he turns around to face her. His dark eyes narrowing as he takes in her appearance.

“What are you doing here?” He asks angrily.

“I came to see you.” Katya pauses for effect. “No, I needed to see you.”

“You should have waited. Not just shown up uninvited in my room.” He emphasizes.

Katya steps closer. Ignoring the slight bearing of his teeth. This was nothing new to her.

“You speak as though we are strangers.” Katya teases mischievously.

“Consider us so.” Lionel rebukes.

She raises an eyebrow. “Oh?” Taking the opportunity to step within reaching distance now.

“Do strangers know you so intimately as me? Do they remember your taste…” Katya whispers.

He watches her with impassive eyes. “As I said…you should leave.”

‘Hm,’ Katya notes his lack of reaction. ‘Let’s up the ante.’

“Don’t you want to know why I’m here?” Katya asks pleadingly. As though her heart is wrenching out of her chest.

Lionel inhales deeply then sighs. “Why are you here Katya?”

“Because I miss you.” Katya answers breathily.

“You missed me?” He questions skeptically.

“Everything I endured…I survived because I had a reason to keep going. I knew that I had a family to return to too. One that I took for granted until it was too late.”

She lets her face take on a tortured quality. Makes her eyes widen in grief. Her red lips tremble.

“I know that I treated you wrong. That our relationship was not good. But Lionel…”

She puts her hand on his cheek. His left eye twitches, but he does not move away. She takes it as a good sign.

“I realized it was all for you. I did everything I did because I wanted you to pay attention to me. To love me.”

“You fucked other men in our bed because you loved me?” Lionel mocks. “You practically sold your younger sister to my brother for me.”

Katya shakes her head. “No…I had no idea about Joseph’s sick relationship with my sister.”

Katya did not say that she wouldn’t have particularly cared either. Irina was boy sick from a young age. She was the perfect bait for selfish people like Lionel’s brother.

“As for the cheating…” Katya scoffs. “How else was I supposed to make you look at me when you refused to touch me outside of the marriage contract conditions?”

Katya allows her real annoyance to come forward at that. Katya is a good actress for a reason. Th best lies are those told with truth in them.

“I’ve changed. I will be a better wife. A good mother.”

Katya leans forward so that his entire field of vision would be filled with only her.

“We can be a real family now that I’m back. Lionel…I love you.” Katya says with intense feeling.

Lionel does not reply. Different thoughts flicker behind his eyes. Then he takes a step away from her range of touch.

“You’ve gotten better at this.” Lionel says mildly.

“What?” Katya asks ‘innocently.’ Wondering when she will have to finally give up the game.

“That little shake in your voice was a nice touch. Anyone who did not know you would have believed it.” Lionel says idly.

Katya’s expression does not change. But something at the edges of her face darkens just so. “Is that so?”

“I would say that I’m sorry to reject your little offer.” Lionel smirked. “But that would be a lie.”

Katya’s scent fluctuates between amusement and anger. “Lionel, you really should take a moment to reconsider.”

“No.” Lionel says easily. “I don’t think so.”

“We’ve been over for a long time. Long before the girls were born, if I’m being honest. Your ‘death’ was just the final nail in the coffin…no pun intended.”

Katya smiles then. “You never did have a sense of humor.”

He went on as though she had never spoken.

“We will never be together again.” He said vehemently.

“The girls told me what you did. How you threatened them. I could rip you apart right now for treating my daughters that way.”

He growls now. Letting his alpha eyes flash and his claws flex. A slight flame singes the tips of Katya’s hair.

“Really?” She asks in exasperation. “Ruining my tips for a little bit of discipline.”

“You have no right to discipline my daughters.” Lionel retorts coldly.

“Our daughters.” Katya corrects. “I am their mother, rather you like it or not.”

He snarls.

“No. Their mother is Nan. The woman who nurtures and protects them.”

Katya rolls her eyes. ‘Dramatic,’ she thinks to herself. ‘All for a piece of ass.’

“You and those girls are utterly obsessed with that commoner.” Katya observes.

“Her name is Nan. You will stop disrespecting her. I will not tolerate it any longer.”

Katya snorted. But Lionel ignored her. It was time to put an end to the games.

“She is their mother. She is the one who reads bedtime stories to them. It is Nan who comforts them when they cry…encourages them to do their best…the one who makes up silly games just to see their smile.”

The words are overflowing from him. As though an overpower pressure that has been building is finally exploding. He has no intention of controlling it.

“She may not share their blood. But she has their love. She is their mother in every way possible.”

He does not care that Katya seems unaffected. Bored, even. These passionate words are not for her.

“Nan…” He says. “Please come out.”

He hears a sharp inhale. Then the sound of Nan’s footsteps as she lightly pads across the carpet. He does not notice the sharp gleam of in Katya’s eyes.

His attention is solely on Nan.

“You are their mother. You are the woman I love. The one I intend on spending the rest of my life with.”

Her pupils blow open. “Lionel… I love you too.” Nan whisper dazedly.

He finally turn his attention back to Katya. Her expression is bored. Her body language relaxed and open.

“It’s over.” Lionel sneers.

Katya smiles wickedly.

“No, Lionel.” Katya says gently. She begins to turn away.

Nan feels sense of foreboding deep in her gut. ‘She is not upset,’ Nan notes uneasily. ‘Something is not right.’

Katya throws a sinister farewell over her shoulder. The words as soft as a butterfly’s wings. Creating a pit in Nan’s stomach.

“This is just the beginning.”