Betrothed To An Alpha? I Don't Think So!
Chapter 55: Get A GRIP!

"I told you—" Zayne stepped into her space even more, blinding her with his broad, muscular build and the dark ink of tattoos that rippled with each movement. "—Tell me how it was. Was it like you imagined? Or even better?"

She stared at him, long and hard. Then her lips slowly curved into a fake smile. "No, it wasn’t."

"Meaning?" He cocked a brow.

"It wasn’t all that good. I had better expectations. You’re just flattering yourself."

"Oh." Zayne nodded. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, so step aside, I’d like to have my—"

"Don’t fuck with me, baby girl." His breath slapped against her face, harsh and hot. "You and I know just how you fell apart in my arms last night."

Evelyn froze on the spot. Her fingers grabbed tighter on the counter, the red that flushed up her face being something she couldn’t hide.

"I don’t k-know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened last night." She tried to sound as casual as she possibly could, however, her tone rather came out quivering.

Which of course earned a brow raise from Zayne. He watched the red all over the edge of her ears and smiled to himself. "Terrible liar you are."

He stepped away to the fridge where he proceeded to grab a bottle of water. Evelyn quickly turned to her coffee, grabbing the cup.

She wanted to hurry out of that kitchen, but then she stopped, wondering. Why does she get to be the only one who feels this way? Flustered and everything.

It takes two to kiss. What makes him think he’s the only one who gets to tease her like that?

Balling her hand into a fist, she kept her cup aside on the dining table. She turned, stormed back to him where he stood at the fridge, and grabbed his arm.

Zayne spun on his heel, pausing with the lid of the bottle against his lips. Her gaze strayed, ignoring the fact that he was regarding her with a questioning expression.

She watched his Adam’s apple bounce with each swallow, unable to look away from his lips. The same lips that had kissed her yesterday.

Wait, what am I thinking? Get a grip!

"Evelyn, why are you staring at me?" Zayne closed the bottle, lifting a brow in confusion.

She was quick to respond, "Nothing. But I’ve got something to say."

"Which is?" Zayne folded his arms.

"Yeah, the kiss was good. I will not deny that. No, actually it was amazing. But that’s it. It’s not special or something. So shut up about it," she scoffed, turning and stalking off with a hand reaching for her coffee along the way.

The man gazed at her disappearing figure. He grinned, quite widely, before chuckling to himself.

————

"Good evening, Ms. Darkwood." A lady greeted me, in a white and black uniform. "Are you here to visit your father’s grave?" she asked, being the lady who looked after it.

"Yes." Evelyn nodded. "I want to ask, have any of my siblings been here since his funeral?"

"Oh, no, not exactly." The lady shook her head. "No one has come here since then."

"I see. Thank you."

Evelyn smiled politely and proceeded into a ground of flower bed, which had but only one tombstone standing there.

SAGE DARKWOOD. Age, 58

She stepped closer, closer and closer until she stood before the tombstone.

"Hey..." She sat down on the leveled soft grass, legs bow—crossed, and a soft breath fleeing her nose. "Dad...? So no one’s visited you, huh?"

There was no response, but that didn’t stop her from talking.

"That must suck. I know."

She picked softly at the flowers she’d come with, lowering her gaze. "You called me on the phone the night before you died, but...you couldn’t say anything to me. Why? You could’ve said anything, I mean...we hadn’t talked in a year. But all you did was call, stay silent, and then hang up. Then you went ahead to...die. Why? Why would you do that? Y-you didn’t even say sorry to me. You’ve always been so mean to me, you know. Harsh and always losing your cool with me no matter the smallest of mistakes I make. But you were never like that with the others. Why?"

A chuckle bubbled out of her. "You know it’s confusing, right? You treat me that awfully, and then you proceed to give me your hard work when you have Preston, your favorite. Brandon and Lyra are also there. It just makes no sense to me."

"What if I mess up? What if I ruin your entire hard work? I don’t know what you were thinking putting this sort of responsibility on me. And now you’re not even here to give me answers. But can you at least hear me? Or are you just going to ignore me like you always do? Of course you will."

"And by the way, I know I wasn’t the best daughter. I’m not perfect, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t a terrible father. I’m sure even you will agree to that," she scoffed, half smiling to herself. But then her face fell, every trace of amusement gone. "I’m a bit scared..."

"TDG was your entire life, your hard work. What if they’re right? What if I end it and...I don’t know. I made this stupid decision and now things have gone bad. I’m stuck and I’m afraid... I don’t know if it was the right call or not. You’ve always told me never to bend to people’s will, but...what if I should have done that this time around?"

Evelyn groaned under her breath and threw her head back. "I wish you were here. I’m sure you’d handle this better. Things could’ve been dif—"

The phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated and she took it out, frowning at the name on the screen.

Lucia.

Why was she calling?

"Lucia?"

[Boss, this is really good news!]

"Huh? What happened?"

[Some new investors that weren’t even on the list we had before sent an email. They would like to have a scheduled meeting with you tomorrow for potential investment in TDG]