Sweet Hatred
Chapter 187: What to do?

Chapter 187: What to do?

KAEL

I didn’t move right away.

I couldn’t.

The door shut behind her with a definitive click, the sound echoing in my skull like a gunshot. She left. Just like that. No glance back. No hesitation. She walked away from me, dragged Sarah with her, and left me standing in the ruins of a moment I hadn’t even seen coming.

I stayed still. For a minute. Two.

Trying to process what the fuck just happened.

But my brain was a maze and every turn led to a wall. Her words still rang sharp in my ears, every syllable like glass catching light, cutting deeper the more I looked at them.

"There’s nothing between us except sex and a contract."

Bullseye.

I’d taken bullets before. Real ones. Hot, splitting, flesh-tearing things that made men drop to their knees. But that? That fucking line?

That one went deeper.

Because it was her. Aria.

And because maybe it was true.

I turned slowly toward the desk, one hand bracing against the edge like I needed something to anchor me. My jaw clenched until I felt the tension crack up my neck. The card I’d offered her still sat on the edge of the table, untouched.

Of course she didn’t take it. Why would she? She wouldn’t even take my time.

Lunch had been a peace offering. Something familiar. Safe. I’d thought maybe... maybe I could soften the edges between us again. Reach her. Reach her. But she looked at me like I was a stranger. Like I was a fucking nuisance.

What the hell did I do?

Or maybe the better question was, what didn’t I do?

I pressed my hand flat to the table. Tried to breathe. I couldn’t. Not properly. My thoughts were a landslide and somewhere in the middle of it was her face. Her voice. The way she looked right through me and didn’t care.

My chest twisted violently.

Was she tired of me?

Did she feel... suffocated?

I thought back to how I’ve been, hovering around her like gravity, like she’s the only thing I orbit anymore. I’d show up. Interfere. Insert myself into her hours, her space, her plans, because I wanted to be there. Needed to be there.

I couldn’t even stop myself.

I was always there. Like a shadow.

Like one of those damn clingy kids who can’t let go of their mother’s leg, even when she’s trying to walk away.

God.

Was that what I’d become?

I ran a hand through my hair, tugged at the strands, trying to ground myself. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. About her. About the way she looked at me, like I was the problem. Like she didn’t want me anymore.

And maybe she doesn’t.

Maybe... she’s slipping. And I don’t know how to stop it.

Ever since that unwanted name came back into my life—Ash Stanley—this spiral started. My father had mentioned her before. Some arranged idea. A proposition. I hadn’t cared. I didn’t even remember the details because it didn’t fucking matter. Not when Aria existed.

But now Ash was here. All teeth and lipstick and the kind of calculated charm I despised.

And Aria... she saw. She felt it.

And I didn’t fix it in time.

I leaned against the desk and stared at the door she walked out of. My hands curled into fists.

I’m addicted to her.

To her voice. Her scent. The fire in her eyes. The bite in her words. Her anger. Her softness when she lets it slip. The way she challenges me, ruins me, without even realizing it.

I don’t want to let her go.

And I won’t.

Not like this.

Not when she still looked so fucking beautiful, even as she glared at me like she wanted me dead.

Goddamn it, Aria.

What are you doing to me?

The moment I got back to my office, I pulled out my phone.

"Niko," I said, voice sharp. "Prepare the car. I’m paying my father a visit."

There was a brief pause on the other end before Niko replied, "Understood, sir."

I hung up before he could ask questions. I didn’t have any answers anyway. Not the kind I wanted to give.

I rode the elevator down to the private garage. The concrete walls echoed with the low hum of engines, cold and hollow. Niko stood by the car already, one hand on the door, always sharp, always ready.

I slid into the back seat without a word.

Just as the door clicked shut, my phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

_ It was nice meeting you, future hubby ;)_

I didn’t even need to open the message to know who it was.

Ash fucking Stanley.

I exhaled through my nose, thumb already hovering over the block option when another message caught my eye, an older one. Dated months back.

It had been opened.

From the same number.

Back when I’d fallen sick.

I didn’t remember seeing it. Didn’t even know she had my number back then. But somehow, that message had been opened. Either someone opened it while I was out cold... or I’d missed something entirely.

I stared at it for a beat, the muscles in my jaw twitching. I could spiral over that later.

I blocked her.

Deleted the entire thread.

Fucking parasite.

The phone slipped into my lap, but my fingers twitched restlessly. My head fell back against the seat as the city blurred past the tinted windows, but even the motion didn’t soothe the gnawing ache inside my chest.

Aria.

She hadn’t even looked back.

Not once.

I didn’t even know what the fuck I’d done, was it Ash? The contract? Me? All of the above?

My knee bounced, the inside of my jaw sore from clenching. I couldn’t get the image of her walking away out of my head. She hadn’t just been angry. She’d been hurt. Worse... she’d been done.

I hated that I didn’t know how to fix it. Usually, I could throw money at a problem. Trips. Clothes. Jewelry. A penthouse in Paris, a villa in the Maldives, a diamond fucking planet if she wanted one.

But would any of that even matter to her?

How the fuck do you make someone like Aria happy?

My pride kicked in, hard. I almost scoffed at myself.

But then... I glanced at the man in the driver’s seat.

Niko.

I ran a hand through my hair, groaning under my breath, debating it.

No. Stupid.

But the silence in the car felt like it was closing in around me.

Fuck it.

"...Niko," I muttered.

He glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "Sir?"

A long beat passed.

"I’m asking you something. Don’t make me repeat it."

He blinked, clearly caught off guard. "I haven’t said anything yet."

I gritted my teeth, then exhaled. "What do women want?"

Now he really did stare at me through the mirror.

"...Excuse me?"

I shifted uncomfortably, loosening my tie like it was strangling me. "I’m asking—how do you make a woman happy?"

Silence.

Then Niko did something I hadn’t seen in all our years working together.

He laughed.

It wasn’t loud, and he tried to cover it with a cough, but it was there. The bastard was amused.

"I—uh. I don’t... I don’t really know, sir," he said. "I’ve never been that close to any woman in my life. Unless you count my mother."

I rolled my eyes. "That’s not helpful."

"Well..." he said, cautious now, "if she’s upset, maybe just... give her some space?"

I repeated it, like the word offended me. "Space."

He nodded. "Sometimes people need room to breathe."

I leaned back, staring at the ceiling of the car like the answer to the universe was written there in invisible ink. "You mean actual space? Like, the cosmic kind?"

Niko’s brows furrowed. "I mean—"

"I could do that," I muttered. "Build her a ship. Send her to the fucking moon. That’d be easier than letting her slip away."

He didn’t reply.

Smart man.

I stayed quiet the rest of the ride, but the truth circled me like a noose.

I could burn the world down if she asked me to.

But I didn’t know how to keep her.