Captive Mate BL
Chapter 299: - - 299-

Chapter 299: -Chapter 299-

Caspian’s crystal blue eyes went wide when the video connected. "Is that cake?" He asked, flabbergasted.

Lake hadn’t taken the image he painted into consideration when he agreed to a video call. "It is."

"We should definitely bake a cake next time we have a lunch date..."

"Whoa, slow down," Lake interrupted his enthusiastic plan-making. "Maybe we should stick to muffins for now."

"Besides, we can always easily buy a cake if you want to have some," Lake quickly added when Caspian deflated.

Going from muffins to baking cakes was quite the leap, he would hate to waste food.

Caspian quickly got over that hurdle, "So when is our next lunch date? We can have it here so we can try playing games together."

Lake grimaced, "It might be difficult to convince Davian."

Caspian wore a similar expression, "Asher wasn’t too happy after my visit yesterday."

Lake chose to turn a blind eye to the implications of having the same issues as a happily mated Caspian.

"That decides it," Lake straightened up, "I’ll be there at three PM, Davian will get over it."

While they schemed and Lake got ready to give Caspian a rundown of what happened at the mansion since he left the day before, Davian stepped out of the bathroom in his old room.

The door was still broken, and as he stepped into his bedroom, he sneezed, frowning as he did.

Sure he had showered in a hurry but he hadn’t forgotten to use hot water.

The mansion was falling apart bit by bit, his bedroom still being in this state was a clear indication.

He got dressed and strode out of the bedroom, it was about noon now, and he wanted to eat lunch with Lake, so he planned to have everything finished before then.

Davian already ticked off some of his tasks before showering, to start he had cleared out the house staff.

Arthur had a monopoly over them, more or less, he didn’t trust that there wouldn’t be another attempt to hurt Lake.

He didn’t mind ordering their meals for as long as it took, he could also learn to cook if it came down to it, how difficult could that be?

Talking about the Butler, he had already had men sent to deal with him.

It was a simple thing to get rid of them, what wasn’t simple was dealing with the backload of work that had piled up.

He never had to deal with his ruts before so it was easy to work nonstop without breaks.

It also meant that everything needed to pass through him before it was approved, which made for a shit ton of work after just a few days of his absence.

Usually, the paperwork was the easy part, he could just space out while he ran the numbers and reviewed documents that needed his signature.

But now it was keeping him from Lake. It made him antsy and impatient.

Davian settled in his study and opened up his laptop, wilting at the influx of emails, and the backlog of voicemails he had to listen to.

-+-

"You stayed to cook for me?" Sophia asked with glassy eyes.

She had expected Arthur to drop her off at his apartment and then return to work, but he had just shown her to a spare room and then went off somewhere.

"I know you haven’t eaten yet today," He said as he served her.

They were in the living room now, Sophia making herself right at home.

She smoked without an ashtray, ashes drifting to the carpeted floor.

Arthur said nothing about this, settling down to watch her eat.

"You’re not eating yourself, Art?"

"I had an early breakfast," He said dismissively.

Sophia somehow managed to keep puffing on her slender stick of cigarette while she ate.

"So, you’ll be returning to the mansion now," She pointed out the obvious, her lipstick smeared.

Arthur leaned back in a seat with a heavy sigh,"I was thinking of quitting my job at the mansion."

Sophia looked at him sharply as he said that, "Don’t do that because of me, Art. How will you survive?"

Arthur’s expression turned cynical, "Don’t flatter yourself," He dryly told her, letting his head drop back against the couch.

Sophia colored up, quickly refocusing on her meal, her cigarette going out.

"I’ve been thinking about doing that for a while," Arthur spoke, turning his head so that Sophia was right in his line of sight again.

"I’ve got enough money saved up and I’ve practically worked at the mansion my whole life, it’s about time to leave..."

As he spoke he studied Sophia intently, picking on even the slightest change of expression.

So he immediately caught on when her brows furrowed and her full lips turned down in a frown.

"Art..." She slurred, her mouth moving slowly, "There’s... somethin... not right..."

Her last words were a whisper as she fell back against the couch, her mostly empty plate falling to the ground with a clatter.

"What did you think of the pasta?" He asked casually as he pushed himself to his feet, walking towards her.

Sophia couldn’t respond, her eyes bounced frantically around as she was trapped in her own body, at Arthur’s mercy.

Arthur gently tucked her hair out of her face, a serene smile on his face. "Scared?"

Sophia couldn’t respond even if she wanted to, completely robbed of all mobility, she couldn’t even shake her head.

"You should be, for underestimating me..."

Getting a paralytic in powdered form had been far easier than Arthur thought it would be.

Matilda’s suggestion of drugging Lake had given him the idea, he just didn’t think that he would get to use it on Sophia.

Being a part of the Mafia was so useful, he could get practically anything, as long as he could afford it.

He had no intentions to hurt Sophia, she would just be staying with him for an extended period of time.

Arthur leaned forward to kiss the taste of smoke out of her mouth. It was an odd kiss because she couldn’t move a muscle but it didn’t bother him.