Chapter 216: Chapter 216

I watched as she rose slowly from her seat, her eyes still fixed on me, her fingers nervously twisting the fabric of her gown. Her voice trembled, yet there was a strength in it I had not expected.

"I cannot accept this," she said. "I do not even know what it is. I cannot tell if it is harmful or harmless. I will not give it to him blindly."

Her words landed like stones. I kept my face still, letting a calm, careful look settle over me, but inside something tightened. I admired the way she stood, small but stubborn, but that only made the irritation in me grow. People were supposed to obey, not lecture. People followed my lead; they didn’t question the choices I made for them.

Then she narrowed her eyes, suspicion carved into the lines around them. Her voice cut through the room like a clean blade. "Why are you even giving Damon supplement when he didn’t ask for it?" she demanded, her tone hard and sharp.

The question should have been expected, but the tone, so blunt, so direct, stung. My chest tightened. She wasn’t supposed to question me . I forced a calm smile, though my jaw was stiff and the muscles there felt tired from holding back everything I wanted to say.

She shook her head, the movement small but fierce. Her voice rose a notch. "I will not take anything from you. If you want to give Damon something, then give it to him yourself. Don’t use me."

Everything in me recoiled. Her words cut at my pride. How dare she set conditions in my presence? How dare she make demands? The room seemed to tilt, the light feeling colder. For a moment the world narrowed to the space between us, her steady stare and my forced smile.

Before I could craft a reply, she pushed her chair back and stood. The chair scraped the floor; the sound was petty and final. It echoed in the quiet room like an accusation. Her movement was deliberate, like a closing of a case. She turned to leave, but not before looking at me once more, slow and unblinking.

I clenched my fists under the table, fighting the urge to snap at her. She turned to me again, her gaze steady and full of warning.

"Stop whatever it is you’re doing if it’s harmful. I won’t tell Damon about this..." she paused, her lips pressing tightly together, "...but if you ever try it again, I will expose you."

Her words hung heavy, slicing through my pride. My throat felt tight as she walked away, leaving me in a storm of anger and humiliation. I gritted my teeth, my thoughts dark and boiling. She had no idea who she was challenging.

The moment she left the room, I sat there frozen, staring at the door she had just slammed shut. My whole body was trembling from anger. My chest rose and fell so fast I could hear my own breathing, harsh and uneven. The echo of that slam rang in my ears like an accusation.

"How dare she?" I muttered under my breath, slamming my palm against the table so hard the cups rattled. "How dare she talk to me like that?"

I stood up quickly, pacing the room like a caged wolf. Every step only fueled the fire burning inside me. She had looked me in the eye and told me she would expose me. Expose me! A mere human daring to threaten me. The thought alone tasted like iron.

My hands shook with a mix of heat and cold. Part of me wanted to chase her down the corridor and killed her, to make her swallow the words she’d used. Another, darker part of me knew that a direct attack would be loud and sloppy, and I could not afford mistakes. I had built everything with careful hands. I did not break things; I broke people quietly.

My fists clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. I could still hear her voice in my head, calm but firm, as if she had the power to destroy me with just her words. The humiliation boiled in my blood.

"She thinks she can walk away? She thinks she can warn me and still look down on me?" My voice was low, sharp, almost shaking.

I grabbed the edge of the chair she had just sat on and flung it aside. The crash rolled through the room like thunder, wood splintering and the air filling with sharp dust. It should have felt satisfying, a small, loud victory, but the sound barely touched the storm inside me. I needed more.

My hands found the nearest vase. It was heavy, a stupidly beautiful thing someone had bought to show wealth. I hurled it across the room. It hit the side table and exploded into a spray of shards. Porcelain and water scattered like a confession. Tiny pieces cut at the air; the smell of broken flowers drifted away. For a second I stood still, breathing hard, watching the mess. Then I kicked the small table, sending papers fluttering into the air like wounded birds. Google seaʀᴄh 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩

At some point I found the mirror hanging by the wardrobe. My hand wrapped around the edge and I pulled. The mirror came loose and fell with a long, drawn-out crack that sounded like a scream. For a moment I watched my own face in the fragments: my jaw set, eyes wild, the skin a map of tight lines.

I pressed my hands against the table, trying to be calm, leaning forward, my teeth grinding. "No one... no one threatens me and gets away with it," I whispered, more to myself than anyone.

But behind the rage was something else, an itch of fear. What if she really told Damon? The thought stabbed at me. My anger deepened, mixing with frustration.

The thought stabbed at me like a blade, cutting through the fire of my anger and leaving something sharper behind, fear. My chest tightened, my stomach twisted. Damon was the last person who could ever find out. If he knew... everything I had been building, everything I had been planning, would crumble before my eyes.

I gripped the edge of the table, my nails digging into the wood. Lisa had the power to destroy me with a single word. One whisper in Damon’s ear and it would all be over. Damon trusted her. He listened to her.

The thought sickened me.

I began pacing again, my mind racing, my heart pounding like a war drum. "No... no, I can’t let that happen," I hissed to myself. She could sabotage everything.

My jaw tightened so much it hurt. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became: Lisa wasn’t just a nuisance, she was a danger. A real danger.

"Damn her," I muttered, my voice shaking with rage. "She doesn’t know what she’s playing with. She doesn’t know how easily I could break her."

My chest heaved again. I had to think. I had to act before she turned her words into reality. But one thing was certain, I would not forgive the insult.