Chapter 6 SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
~ADRIAN~
When I got to the dining room, Ethan was already seated. At the head where dad should have been.
Vanessa sat next to him and mom sat at the end. There was two other empty seats side by side.
Aria pulled one out and sat. I sat right next to her.
The silence was immediate.
Ethan picked up his glass. “To family,” he said. “The ones we choose and,” his eyes settles on Aria, “the one we are stuck with.”
He drank.
No one else did.
Mom cleared her throat. “Aria, welcome to the family.”
“Thanks. The water was a nice touch.”
Mom’s mouth tightened. “Mrs. Iyani had an accident.”
“Mm.” Aria pushed her soup around with her fork. She didn’t eat it. “Lots of accidents do happen in this house, huh?”
Ethan leaned back. “Depends on who is in the house.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s an observation.”
Vanessa slammed her fork down. “ For once can we stop pretending? Adrian married her to hurt me.”
I wished that were the case. “And why would I do that?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe to get back at me”
“For what?”
“For dating Lucian last summer” I used every ounce of restraint I had to prevent myself from rolling my eyes but looks like somebody doesn’t have that kind of self-discipline because beside me, Aria rolled her eyes so hard I thought it would pop off
“Oh please,” she started “If Adrian wanted to get back at you, he would have flirted with me and sent you pictures of me and him not marry me you dumbass”
Vanessa stood. “You don’t get to talk to me .....”
“Sit down Vanessa.” Ethan said not loud but she sat.
“Nessa dear,” Victoria started.
Wow, ‘Nessa’. That’s new.
“You shouldn’t raise your voice at your best friend’s ‘wife’” she intentionally slurred the word wife. “You know, it is not proper for a human to exchange words with an animal. It’s kinda degrading, ok?”
At the mention of this, Vanessa smiled so sheepishly that for a moment I wondered who the real animal was. Because at the moment I couldn’t see much difference between her and a hyena.
“You’re right, mom. I shouldn’t waste my time trying to engage her”
“Oh, I completely agree,” Aria said. Her voice was pure sarcasm. She put her chin in her hands and stared straight at my mom. “I mean, it must be so hard for you two to pretend to be human every day. It probably hurts your throat to fake having a soul. Honestly, Vanessa, don’t think too hard. I’d hate for your last brain cell to snap over dinner. You clearly don’t have a spare in that expensive bag.”
Victoria’s fork hit her plate with a loud clang. Her jaw went stiff. The tiny lines around her mouth tightened until her lips were just a thin white line. Vanessa’s smug smile completely disappeared. Her face turned an ugly, bright red and her eyes went wide. She looked like she was choking on her own spit.
Across the table, Ethan started shaking. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes were bright and he bit his lip. He was loving this. The drama was like a free show for him. He loved it whenever this family started to fall apart, and Aria was doing a great job tearing it down.
“You arrogant little bitch,” Victoria whispered. Her high-society voice was totally gone. She leaned over the table, gripping her napkin so hard her knuckles turned white. “You forget whose table you are sitting at. You forget who lets you stay here.”
“And you forget who bought it,” I said.
My voice was dead cold. The whole room went dead silent. Victoria snapped her angry eyes to me. She definitely expected me to be the quiet, good son who always shuts up to protect the family name.
I didn't. I leaned back in my chair and stared at my mom without blinking.
“If you talk to my wife like that again, Mother,” I said, my voice completely flat and empty, “I will pull every single dollar from the main trust fund before the banks open tomorrow. Let’s see you if you can live your fancy life on whatever crumbs Ethan decides to give you."
Victoria gasped. She slapped her hand over her chest like I had actually slapped her face. Her eyes were huge and she couldn't even speak. Vanessa looked back and forth between us, her mouth hanging open. Even Ethan stopped smiling. He stiffened up and narrowed his eyes at me. He was trying to see if I was bluffing. He knew I wasn’t. They all knew I had the real power in the Cole family, even if they liked to pretend they ran things.
Aria didn’t even blink. She let out a happy little hum and pushed her soup away like nothing happened. “Wow. And here I thought the food was the only cold thing at this table. Good to know you have some teeth, Adrian. I was starting to think I married into a family of shaky little Chihuahuas who only bark when nobody is looking.”
Ethan stopped looking at me and stared at Aria. The fun was gone from his face. Now he just looked cold and dangerous. He set his wine glass down on the dark wood with a heavy thud.
He looked at me. “This marriage is going to be a problem. With the board. With the press. And most especially, with Dad.”
At the mention of the word dad, the door flung open with a thud.
Speak of the devil.
The heavy doors slammed against the walls with a massive crash.
Arthur Cole didn’t just walk in. He took over.
He stood in the doorway, looking huge. He was wearing a dark, perfect suit that looked like armor. His silver hair was neat, but his eyes were completely dead and dark. There was zero warmth in him. There never had been. He was the boss who controlled our lives, and seeing him stand there felt like a death sentence.
He didn't look at Victoria, who turned totally white and sank back into her seat. He didn't look at Vanessa, who was trying to hide in her chair. He didn't even look at Ethan.
Dad's eyes locked right onto Aria.
He took a step forward. His heavy leather shoes made a slow, loud sound on the floor. Thud. Thud. Thud. With every step he took, the room got freezing cold. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. He walked right to the head of the table where Ethan was sitting and looked down at us.
Slowly, he reached into his coat pocket. He did it so slowly it made the wait terrifying. Vanessa gripped her seat, breathing fast and scared.
Arthur didn't pull out papers. He didn't pull out a gun.
Instead, he pulled out a pair of heavy, black leather gloves. He pulled them onto his hands one by one, snapping the leather tight against his wrists with a sharp, loud crack. He leaned down, putting his heavy hands flat on the table, right in front of me and Aria. He didn't blink.
When he spoke, he didn't yell. His voice was a low, freezing whisper that went straight down my spine and made my blood run cold.
“Did you really think,” Arthur whispered, a creepy, monstrous smile spreading across his face as he looked from me to Aria, “that a piece of paper could hide what you two buried in the dark?”
