Sweet Hatred
Chapter 205: No One Gets To Touch Her

Chapter 205: No One Gets To Touch Her

KAEL

The office was too quiet.

Even with the low hum of the server tower and the dim buzz of the overhead lights, it was still too fucking quiet. The kind of silence that made your own thoughts feel like screams.

I’d just gotten back from another goddamn business meeting, this time in Berlin, where we toasted champagne over something the media would soon be calling The Next Technological Revolution.

Bullshit.

On the surface, it was an AI-assisted neural enhancer. ZephyrCore. A device surgically embedded behind the ear to sync biofeedback and mental cognition with digital systems. Marketed as a breakthrough for mental health, productivity, even unlocking "untapped human potential."

But I knew what it really was.

ZephyrCore wasn’t innovation, it was submission. A prototype biotech weapon disguised as wearable tech. And the bastards funding it—Stanley and my father—were already lining up their human pawns. Politicians, billionaires, military elites. Every "investor" was being sold a throne in a new kind of empire.

And guess who was securing the damn partnerships?

Me.

I volunteered for it. Took the full brunt of it. Not because I wanted a crown, I already have one, whether I want it or not.

I did it to keep Ash out of my bed.

That was the deal, wasn’t it?

Play their game, seal their contracts, and my father would forget the marriage merger with the Stanleys. But the bastard hadn’t backed down. He hadn’t said yes either. He was stalling, just like always, watching to see what I’d sacrifice next.

And truth was? I was close to snapping.

Because if he made a move on Aria... if he so much as breathed in her direction...

I closed my eyes, jaw tight.

I hadn’t seen her properly since the day I kissed her like a fucking man starved. That look she gave me, wild, raw, begging for something she couldn’t name, haunted me more than it should have.

But then, she pulled away.

Quieter. Colder. The question came back again, gnawing at the edge of my sanity.

Was she... tired of me?

The thought made my stomach twist violently. My hands clenched.

Was she seeing someone else?

Did someone else touch her now?

No.

No one gets to touch her. Not like I have. Not like I own her. Because I do. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she does.

That smile of hers, that fire in her eyes, the way she looks like she’d bite me before she kisses me, I wouldn’t let another man breathe in the space between her thighs. I’d rip him apart with my bare hands. I’d...

Knock knock.

I snapped out of it, jaw still wired tight.

"Come in."

Niko stepped in, quiet as always, but I could already tell from the look on his face, there wasn’t much to say.

"You have something for me?" I asked, still typing, not looking up.

He nodded once. "Yeah. One of the boys—Rami—tailed her like you asked."

I finally stopped typing. Glanced up.

"And?"

"She was spotted heading into an exclusive suite at the Orion Vale building."

My fingers curled on the edge of the desk.

Orion Vale.

I knew that location. Every inch of it.

"That’s where Ash is hosting the pre-Gala meetings," I said flatly.

Niko nodded again. "Exactly."

I leaned back slowly, the gears in my head clicking into place.

"What the fuck is she doing there?"

Silence.

There was only one answer.

"Ash," I muttered, the name sour on my tongue. That smug, slippery cunt. From the first moment we met, I knew what she was, clever, strategic, spoiled, dangerous.

Exactly like me.

But I didn’t trust her. Especially not with Aria.

I locked my eyes on Niko’s. "What else did you find? From the dig."

Niko didn’t speak immediately. Just reached into his jacket and pulled out a sealed envelope—clean, white, thick. He placed it on the edge of my desk like it was ticking.

I stared at it for a second. Then looked up at him. "Talk."

He tapped a finger on the envelope once. "There’s the surface-level shit. Bio, early history, known connections, and most of what the media’s been fed."

I didn’t move.

"Cut to it," I said. "Tell me what matters."

Niko gave a short nod. "Ashlyn’s record is... uneventful. Squeaky clean in public. Which already tells you something. But if you want the reality, she’s good at hiding her shadows. Her social feeds are polished to hell. Philanthropy. Arts patronage. Sponsorships. Charity appearances. She even funds an initiative for girls in STEM. Looks like she’s trying to rebrand herself as the next ’ethical tech heiress’."

"The old bastard is about to hand over his business to the other twin after all." I scoffed, lips curling. "Scratch that. I want the real thing."

Niko hesitated, then leaned in slightly. "Fine. Beneath the PR bullshit, Ash actually has a pretty structured life. Not just some spoiled rich girl doing coke in a yacht bathroom."

I arched a brow.

"She races vintage cars. Hangs out with ex-Oxford rebels. Keeps a private lab space in the old Bellamy building—where she ’tinkers.’ Like, real hardware. Builds shit. Programs her own AI from scratch. Not your average influencer."

That made me pause.

"She’s capable." I said slowly, watching Niko carefully.

"Yeah," he said. "Scarily so."

He scratched the back of his neck. "But there’s more."

And that’s when he pulled out a smaller envelope from inside the first one. Lighter. Thinner. And slid it across the desk like it carried weight.

I didn’t open it.

I just stared at it. Something about the way he passed it over felt off.

"What’s in there?"

Niko hesitated. "A photo. One that I think we weren’t supposed to find."

My hand hovered over it. Then I picked it up, slipped a finger beneath the edge, and flipped it open.

I stared at the picture.

No words came out of me. No change in expression.

But inside?

Something shifted.

Ashlyn wasn’t who I thought she was.

Not entirely, at least.

There was a crack in the mask. Not a dangerous one. Not threatening. But personal. Human.

And in her world? That was the real scandal.

I slid the photo back inside.

Didn’t say a word about it.

Didn’t need to.

Because now I knew.

Ash wasn’t just another puppet strung up by her daddy’s money. She was... something else.

And that meant whatever game she was playing with Aria, it wasn’t surface-level bullshit. It wasn’t just to piss me off or stir chaos.

She had an endgame.

And I’d be damned if I let her use Aria as her pawn to get there.

I stared at the sealed photo in my hands, but it was Aria’s face burning through my thoughts. Her voice echoing in the back of my skull. That fucking kiss still clinging to my mouth like a ghost.

I should’ve been thinking about Ash and her next move.

About this entire twisted biotech ploy our fathers were dragging us into. About the fact that I was running out of ways to stall the inevitable. But all I could feel was need.

For her.

I tossed the envelope aside and leaned back, dragging my fingers through my hair like I could dig her out of my goddamn skull. That last kiss that I couldn’t get out of my damned mind, it wrecked me. Shattered every inch of composure I’d been clinging to. She looked at me like she hated me and wanted to be ruined by me all in one breath.

And I lived for it.

The distance between us was gnawing at me. I didn’t know where her head was. I didn’t know what the fuck she was doing, what she was feeling. I didn’t even know if she still wanted me.

And that uncertainty?

It made me fucking feral.

I flattened my palm on top of the desk, jaw clenching so tight I thought my teeth would crack. I could go to wherever she was in a second. She wasn’t hiding from me. I’d have her address, her movements, her proximity in less than a minute. I had the power to.

But I didn’t want to scare her off.

I wanted her back.

Willingly. Desperately. The way she looked at me when she was bare and mine.

And still, I couldn’t just sit here, twiddling my fingers like a coward.

"Niko," I said, voice low, thick.

He glanced up from the folder, nodding once. "Yes sir?"

"Keep watching her."

He paused. "Aria?"

I nodded.

"I want every fucking move she makes. If she’s sad, I want to know why. If she’s smiling—I want a picture of it. If some fucker so much as breathes too close to her, I want his name."

Niko didn’t argue. Just swallowed and gave me a simple, "Understood."

He started packing the file again, sliding papers back in, tucking away secrets I hadn’t even scratched the surface of. My mind was still spinning, plotting, calculating, aching, when the door creaked open.

He stopped mid-pack.

So did I.

Ash strolled in like she owned the air we were breathing.

High heels, red lips, and a smile that knew too much.

"Oh, don’t stop on my account," she purred, leaning against the doorway like this was her office.

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