Chapter 388: The card!
Vincent.
I felt an overwhelming surge of pure victory coursing through my veins, a triumphant thrill so intense that I could barely contain it.
I desperately wanted to flaunt my success, to shout it from the rooftops and let the world witness my moment of glory. My first instinct was to head straight to Maria’s room, to look her in the eyes and revel in the anticipation of what was to come.
However, I caught myself. I had already given her my word; I had explicitly promised her that I would wait, and I pride myself on timing. It required a massive amount of restraint, but I comforted myself with the reality of the situation: there were just a few more days left to endure anyway.
The countdown was practically over.
With that thought keeping my impatience at bay, I turned on my heel and walked straight to my own room, looking forward to a moment of quiet satisfaction.
But the second I pushed the door open, my mood soured. There, sitting right in my personal space as if she owned the place, was Vanessa.
The lingering remnants of the joy I had been basking in just seconds prior vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by a cold, sharp irritation. I stared down at her, my posture hardening.
"And who exactly gave you the audacity to come in here?" I demanded, making no attempt to hide the thick layer of annoyance coating every single word that rolled off my tongue.
The air between us turned heavy.
Vanessa didn’t flinch immediately.
Instead, she stood exactly where she was, her shoulders squared as she stared back at me with a stern, unyielding expression. There wasn’t the slightest trace of hesitation in her eyes. She was trying to hold her ground, trying to convince herself that she had every right to stand before me and question my decisions.
For several long seconds, neither of us spoke, our gazes remaining locked, as neither willing to look away first.
"I came to remind you of the promise you made!" she declared at last, her voice tight with demanding urgency.
Every syllable carried the confidence of someone who believed she deserved an explanation.
She continued to hold my gaze, refusing to lower her eyes just yet.
"When are you finally going to marry Maria?" she asked firmly, her tone leaving no room for misunderstanding.
It wasn’t a casual question, It was a demand and she wanted an answer or rather she expected one.
A slow, dangerous amusement washed over me.
The corner of my lips lifted ever so slightly, though there wasn’t an ounce of warmth behind the expression. If anything, the smile only made the atmosphere more unsettling.
"You seem to have completely forgotten who is in control here, Vanessa," I said, delivering each word with deliberate slowness, allowing the silence that followed each sentence to carry the full weight of my threat.
My voice remained calm, yet somehow, that calmness made every word sound even more terrifying.
Without taking my eyes off hers, I took a slow, calculated step closer, deliberately invading her personal space until only a small distance separated us.
I watched her carefully and studied every flicker of emotion threatening to cross her face.
"Do you really want to experience any pain at this exact moment?" I asked softly, my voice barely above a whisper.
The quietness of the question made it all the more chilling.
As the threat settled heavily between us, a bright, chilling smile spread slowly across my face, one that promised I wouldn’t hesitate to make good on my words.
The bravado she had walked in with shattered instantly. "I—" Vanessa stammered, the words catching in her throat as the color drained from her cheeks, leaving her completely pale.
She shrank back slightly, her stern demeanor evaporating into pure panic.
"I’m... I’m not trying to boss you around," she added hurriedly, her voice dropping to a desperate plea. "I just want you to hasten things up, before it’s too late!" Having managed to get the defense out, she let out a brief, shaky breath of relief, clearly glad I hadn’t struck her down right then and there.
"It won’t be late, Vanessa," I replied, my voice steady, firm, and absolute.
I watched her tremble for a moment before offering a reassuring, albeit deceptive, nudge.
"Just keep your focus exactly where it belongs: on claiming the quadruplets for yourself." I added a warm smile to smooth over the tension, watching her relax under the false pretense of a shared victory.
But as my smile brightened, a dark, venomous thought echoed inwardly.
’Although, you won’t actually be able to stay with them for long, Vanessa. Because very soon, they are going to cease to exist entirely.’
"I can’t do that, Vincent!" Vanessa burst out, her voice straining under a mix of frustration and desperation.
As the words left her mouth, she clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned stark white, her fingernails biting deep into her palms.
"Especially not when they still stubbornly feel they could have Maria for themselves!" she added, her voice cutting through the silence like a jagged blade.
It was a tone sharp with a bitter, long-simmering resentment, dropping heavily into the space between us as she laid out the grim, unvarnished reality of the situation.
The exact moment those words registered in my mind, the lingering smugness that had been playing on my face vanished without a trace. My expression hardened instantly, darkening into a rigid mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
A terrifyingly cold rage washed over me, chilling my veins and freezing the breath in my lungs.
How dare they?
How could they possibly possess the sheer, unmitigated arrogance to still try and make Maria theirs, after everything that had happened?
After all the warnings, all the conflict, and all the lines that had been irrevocably crossed?
Did they possess some sort of collective death wish that blinded them to reality?
Were they truly that eager to court their own violent destruction, rushing headlong into a fire they could never hope to survive?
"Then make them not feel so!" I roared.
The demand ripped violently from my throat, my voice booming with deafening force through the tight confines of the room as I unleashed the full weight of my anger directly at Vanessa.
The sheer audacity of their lingering hope infuriated me, a toxic spark that begged to be crushed.
Yet, as I stared at her, a darker, uglier realization took root. Their boldness was merely a symptom of a greater failure. The audacity of their hope was maddening, but it was Vanessa’s glaring, inexcusable incompetence that angered me infinitely more..
"The more they keep holding onto those pathetic feelings, the more it clearly shows just how utterly incapable you are at doing your job!" I added, the venom in my voice dripping with absolute annoyance and contempt.
"You—" Vanessa yelled back, her face flushing with a mixture of shock and uncontained rage.
She stared at me, her eyes flashing with a heated defiance that she couldn’t quite back up with actions. Realizing she was getting nowhere, she cut herself off.
"Whatever!" she snapped bitterly, stomping her foot hard against the floorboards in a childish display of defiance. She drew herself up one last time, glaring at me through narrowed eyes. "Just ensure you keep your promise." With that final, parting demand, she turned sharply on her heel and stormed right out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Left alone with my thoughts, I clenched my fists so tightly that my muscles trembled with a volatile mix of anger and impatience.
The fury humming beneath my skin made one thing abundantly clear: I needed to marry Maria, and I needed to do it as soon as humanly possible. Time was no longer a luxury I could waste.
Noah was out there, acting as a constant, looming threat to everything I had built, but he wasn’t the only obstacle in my path.
The quadruplets were still hovering in the background as well. While I didn’t consider them to be much of a true problem—they were minor nuisances at best compared to what I was capable of—their continued defiance was an irritation I could no longer tolerate. I really needed to act fast before any more variables slipped out of my control.
"Guards!" I called out, my voice laced with an absolute authority that demanded immediate compliance.
Almost instantaneously, the heavy door clicked open, and a guard stepped into the room, keeping his eyes firmly glued to the floor as he bowed his head down in complete submission.
"Summon Daniel now!" I ordered the very moment his foot crossed the threshold, not giving him a single second to settle.
"Yes, Alpha," the guard replied instantly, bowing respectfully once more before pivoting on his heel and leaving as quickly as he had arrived to execute my command.
With the wheels finally set in motion, I walked straight over to the bed. I didn’t just sit; I sat down majestically, leaning back with the poised, calculated posture of a ruler preparing to deliver a decisive blow.
’It’s time to play the card,’ I thought inwardly, a cold, ruthless satisfaction settling deep within my chest as a dark grin began to form.