Revenge: A Path of Destruction
Chapter 181: The Mask Slips

Chapter 181: The Mask Slips

Back inside the manor, the tension had returned—but this time, it wasn’t from Marc.

Liam sat on the couch, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned bone white. His jaw was locked, his eyes fixed on the carpet in front of him as if it had just insulted him.

Lauren sat beside him, arms crossed, her gaze heavy on his face. She hadn’t said anything since she’d finished explaining the true purpose behind Marc’s behavior—that the entire exchange had been a baited snare, and Liam had been the real target all along.

And just like she’d feared during the conversation... he’d almost stepped right into it.

She sighed softly, shaking her head.

Liam stood as a paragon of charisma and charm, embodying the ideal of a leader in every sense.

Towering and strikingly handsome, his robust physique was complemented by a composed demeanor that commanded attention wherever he went.

His ascension through the ranks of the Guild in Australia was nothing short of extraordinary, marked by rapid success and unwavering determination, without the support of his father.

His deep, piercing red eyes seemed to see beyond the surface, reflecting a profound intensity that captivated those around him.

With a natural authority and magnetic presence, he drew people to him, forging alliances and inspiring loyalty. Women were enchanted by his good looks and charm, while men admired his strength and capability. Elders, too, looked upon him with respect and admiration, often praising his wisdom and insight.

Liam was more than just a figurehead; he was a beacon of hope and ambition, a man who seamlessly blended elegance and resolve.

But those same people didn’t see the crack that ran just beneath the polished surface.

Lauren did.

And unfortunately... so did the wind clan, especially Marc.

It wasn’t just pride.

It was resentment—subtle, deeply buried, and inherited. A quiet, burning frustration passed down like a cursed heirloom.

From his father to him.

Their mutual disdain for the higher clans was a subject of hushed conversations and knowing glances. Liam had inherited that deep-seated resentment, its roots entwined in the very fabric of his being.

It manifested in the slightest of gestures—a barely perceptible twitch of his brow whenever someone extolled the virtues of noble bloodlines over the hard-earned achievements of those who truly deserved recognition.

There was an enduring, gnawing discomfort within him, a constant reminder of the effort he exerted to rise above the fray, only to be eclipsed by individuals who basked in the ill-gotten glory of their birthright.

Marc had known it too.

And he used it masterfully.

She looked at Liam again—his shoulders tight, his breathing shallow. He hadn’t said a word since her revelation, but he didn’t need to. The frustration bleeding from him was loud enough.

Lauren shook her head once more, this time in quiet disappointment.

’You almost gave them exactly what they wanted,’ she thought.

Marc hadn’t come for diplomacy. He’d come to provoke. To bait. And Liam, for all his brilliance and strength, had nearly walked right into it.

They weaponized your flaw.

Lauren turned her eyes toward the ceiling, exhaling softly.

In truth, she wasn’t angry at him. Just... tired.

From their long journey, and her search for Alex.

----

As Lauren sat quietly beside him, lost in her reflections, so too was Liam, though his thoughts burned with a different fire.

Unlike Lauren’s calm, strategic dissection of what had just occurred, Liam was locked in a storm of boiling rage. His mind wasn’t composed or cool—it was a battlefield echoing with humiliation and fury.

His clenched fists trembled.

’He made me look like a fool...’

The thought wouldn’t leave. It replayed over and over like an echo in a cavern, twisting tighter each time.

’In front of her.’

That—that was the real wound. The deepest cut. Not Marc’s smirk, not the baited words or the smug aura of superiority, but the simple fact that Lauren had witnessed it.

Lauren. The one woman he had strived to be perfect for.

From the first day they’d met, something in her—her iron composure, her quiet brilliance, her unwillingness to tolerate weakness—had ignited something in him. He’d seen her not just as a goal, but as the goal. And he had shaped himself around that image ever since.

He’d reinvented himself.

The charming golden boy, the disciplined prodigy, the one everyone could rely on—especially her.

He trained harder. Studied longer. Smiled better. Held his flaws tighter in a grip that never loosened. He never let her see the cracks. Never let her know about the shadows gnawing at him.

He made himself perfect because she deserved perfection.

And now, all it took was a single conversation... a single bastard from a clan born atop the world... to unravel everything in front of her.

Marc Aeolus.

That smirking, arrogant child.

Younger. More powerful. Untouchable. And worst of all, he knew exactly what he was doing.

’He went after me on purpose. Like I was the weakest link.’

Liam’s breath hitched. A growl almost slipped past his throat. His eyes were burning, not with tears, but with the sheer force of hatred that flooded his chest.

And then came the second wound.

The deeper one.

The bloodline.

He loathed it.

That unfair, divine lineage that allowed the High Clans to rise without effort. It made a mockery of all he’d worked for. All he’d bled for.

The way their names alone bent rooms. The way they were born into strength, while the rest clawed their way toward it.

And now, one of them—a boy no older than twenty—had dared to speak down to him like he was a child.

Liam’s nails dug into his palms until the skin broke.

His heart pounded. His thoughts raced. I’m going to fucking kill him.

It wasn’t just a reaction.

It was a promise.

His jaw tightened, his whole body trembling beneath the storm. Beside him, Lauren remained composed, but even she could feel it. The heat. The quiet tension of someone unraveling behind a perfect mask.

But Liam didn’t look at her now.

He stared ahead, past the room, past the walls, past the Wind Clan estate.

He saw Marc’s face.

And in that moment, there was only one thing that existed in Liam’s world:

Vengeance.

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