His fingers closed around them, and without bothering to explain himself, he began leading me toward the dining-room doors.
I followed because there was little else I could do, the chains between us making it painfully clear that my choice had already been taken away.
“Brother, are you going to the office?” Darien called after him, and Kianda stopped near the doorway before glancing back over his shoulder.
“Why should I go to the office when all of you should be able to work and earn for me?” he asked casually.
“You do know that without me, you wouldn’t be the first family in the entire country.” Nobody answered, and Kianda continued speaking as though he were discussing something completely ordinary.
“And for the past six months, I haven’t received any money in my accounts.
Take care of it before I decide to destroy everything.” The threat was delivered so casually that it somehow sounded even more frightening, because there was no anger in his voice and no indication that he was trying to intimidate them.
It sounded as though destroying everything was simply another option available to him if the family failed to do what he wanted.
His fingers tightened slightly around my chains before he added, “And lastly, I don’t want anyone coming into my Wing.
The next person who trespasses will lose their legs.” With that, he turned toward the door again, apparently finished with the conversation, but before he could leave, Kieran’s voice stopped him.
“Uncle…
wait.” Kianda halted and slowly turned around.
“What?” Kieran remained where he was, his expression still dark from everything that had happened earlier.
His eyes moved briefly toward me before returning to his uncle.
“What happens now?” he asked.
“She was supposed to be my bride.
You know this was an agreed arrangement.” For a moment, Kianda simply stared at him, and then a strange smile slowly appeared on his face.
“Her?” he repeated, almost as though Kieran had said something amusing.
“You aren’t the only Supreme Alpha.” His gaze moved across the room, briefly taking in the other members of the family before settling back on Kieran.
“What if I was the one who made the arrangements to begin with?
Or what exactly do you mean when you say you are the one who gets to decide?” Kianda’s eyes shifted toward Kellan.
“And aren’t you forgetting Kellan?” Kellan immediately went still, clearly realizing that he had just been dragged into a conversation he had never asked to be part of.
“Aaahhh…” Kianda continued, as though he had suddenly remembered something else.
“And don’t forget the cousins either.
I don’t think the arrangement was ever specified so clearly that only one of you could make a request.” He gave the chains in his hand a small tug, drawing me closer to his side before continuing with an almost thoughtful expression.
“And if you’re truly determined to find a bride from that family, they still have another daughter.” A faint smile spread across his face as he looked at Kieran.
“She is really, really beautiful.
Gentle, kind, lovable…” He paused deliberately, almost enjoying the expression that was beginning to form on Kieran’s face.
“I’m sure they would happily offer her.” Kieran’s expression darkened immediately, but Kianda only seemed more amused by his reaction.
“Make another request,” he said lightly.
“I’m sure they would accept.” Without giving Kieran another opportunity to respond, Kianda turned around and walked out of the dining room, taking me with him as the chains around my wrists followed his every step.
I glanced back once before the doorway disappeared behind us, and for a brief moment, I saw Kieran still standing beside the table, his eyes fixed in our direction while the rest of his family remained unusually quiet.
As Kianda continued pulling me deeper into the corridors, I couldn’t help wondering how everything had become so complicated.
I had entered the Kessan estate believing I was being brought there to become Kieran’s bride, only to discover that he already had another woman in his life, that I had been accused of something I didn’t remember doing, and that I had somehow escaped from one dangerous situation only to end up chained to a man who seemed even more unpredictable than the one I had originally been meant to marry.
And now Kianda was telling Kieran to simply choose another woman from my family as though brides could be exchanged whenever someone became dissatisfied.
I didn’t know what was happening anymore, but one thing was becoming increasingly clear to me.
Whatever I had thought my life was going to become when I left the Mills family, this was certainly not it.
The corridors eventually led us back toward the main entrance of the Kessan Estate, although I had no idea why Kianda was taking me in that direction.
I had assumed he was simply moving me to another part of the compound, perhaps another room where he intended to keep me locked away, but when the enormous front doors opened and the morning air brushed against my face, I realized that we were actually leaving the estate.
A black vehicle was already waiting outside, and several guards immediately stepped aside when Kianda approached, their eyes briefly falling toward the chains around my wrists before quickly moving away again.
Nobody asked questions, and considering everything I had witnessed since arriving at this family’s home, I suspected they had already learned that asking Kianda unnecessary questions was one of the fastest ways to ruin their day.
I followed him into the vehicle, still trying to understand what exactly he was planning to do with me.
The moment the door closed, I looked down at the chains connecting us before raising my eyes toward him.
“Where are we going?” “To work.” I stared at him in disbelief.
“Work?” “Yes.” “At the estate?” “No.
The company.” My eyebrows rose.
“You have a company?” He looked at me as though I had just asked him whether he had a head.
“Of course I have a company.” “I thought you were hiding in that terrifying wing of the estate.” “I was.” “For six months?” “Yes.” “And you still have a company?” “Yes.” I turned toward the window and stared at the passing streets, genuinely beginning to wonder whether there was anything about this family that could still surprise me.
Apparently, there was, because I had never imagined that the strange man who had spent six months hiding inside the Dark Wing could apparently decide to wake up one morning, drag a woman out of his estate in chains and casually take her to work as though nothing about the situation was unusual.
The drive took us through the heart of the capital, and gradually the residential districts surrounding the Kessan Estate gave way to the towering commercial center of the city.
Huge buildings rose on both sides of the road, their glass facades reflecting the morning sunlight while vehicles moved steadily through the busy streets below.
When our car finally slowed in front of an enormous skyscraper bearing the Kessan Corporation emblem across its entrance, I couldn’t help staring at it.
The building was several dozen floors high and surrounded by other corporate towers, private security stations and busy streets filled with people heading toward their workplaces.
Whatever this company was, it was clearly not some small family business hidden away somewhere.
The sheer size of the building made it obvious that the Kessan family controlled something far larger than I had imagined.
Kianda stepped out first and waited for me before giving the chains a gentle tug.
I reluctantly followed him toward the entrance, and the moment we walked into the building, the atmosphere changed.
Employees who had been moving through the enormous reception area slowed down, conversations faded into whispers, and several people openly stared at the sight of Kianda Kessan walking through their headquarters after apparently disappearing for six months, with a young woman following him in chains.
I lowered my head, hoping desperately that nobody would recognize me as the woman who had been brought into the Kessan family under such bizarre circumstances, but that hope disappeared almost immediately when one of the senior executives hurried toward us.
“Master Kianda,” the man greeted respectfully, bowing his head.
“We weren’t informed that you would be coming today.” “That is because I didn’t inform anyone,” Kianda replied.