KEIFER POV
The moment Jay Jay ripped herself out of my embrace and ran straight toward Sara, the air in my lungs turned to ash.
My arms remained half-raised for a fraction of a second before I forced them back to my sides, my jaw clenching so hard my back teeth ground together.
I stood there alone on the polished floor, watching her laughing, breathing easily, completely transformed the second she was out of my shadow.
The heat of her body was still branded against my chest.
Her scent still lingered in my nostrils.
For three seconds, she had wrapped her arms around my waist and held on like she used to, and having that warmth stripped away so violently made the monster inside me itch to tear the ballroom apart.
Footsteps clicked against the marble behind me.
“Managed to get a hug out of her, huh?” David said, stepping up beside me with a low, amused hum.
I didn’t turn my head.
I kept my eyes locked onto Jay Jay’s back, my voice dropping into that flat, lethal register that usually preceded a gunshot.
“Lay your hands on her again like you did earlier, David, and see what happens to your fingers.”
David let out a dry, quiet chuckle, completely unfazed by the death threat.
“Chill, Keifer. I have zero interest in your girl,” David murmured, swirling the amber liquid in his tumbler as his sharp gaze drifted past Jay Jay and locked directly onto the brunette in ivory silk standing beside her.
“My only interest in this room is the girl standing right next to yours.”
A dark, humorless smirk touched the corner of my mouth.
“Good. Keep your hands on Sara, and don’t make me have to bury my best friend in an unmarked grave.”
David rolled his eyes at my threat, taking a slow sip from his glass without bothering to argue
A moment later, Percy slid up beside me, leaning casually against the railing with a smirk playing on his lips.
“When is your father announcing the arrangement?” I asked him, keeping my voice low so only the two of us could hear over the hum of the crowd.
“Probably once everyone finishes arriving and settles into their tables,” Percy replied smoothly, checking the platinum watch gleaming on his wrist.
“There’s still a whole convoy of foreign delegates and board directors clearing security downstairs. We’re aiming for around nine o’clock.”
I glanced down at my own watch.
Seven o’clock.
Two fucking hours.
A silent storm of frustration raged behind my ribs.
How the hell was I supposed to hold back for two entire hours?
Two hours of standing in this crowded room, watching men stare at her bare shoulders, watching her laugh with her friends while keeping ten yards between us, pretending she isn’t already mine.
Every second felt like glass scraping against my throat, but I had waited years for this night.
“Mr. Watson. A rare sight to see you mingling among the sheep,” a voice interrupted my thoughts.
It was Vance Ashford, one of the primary commercial developers on the Mariano firm’s harbor expansion project.
Rich, arrogant, and entirely too comfortable breathing my air.
“Ashford,” I said, barely glancing at him.
“I thought your family preferred hiding behind offshore shell corporations.”
Vance let out a dry, forced chuckle, swirling his champagne flute.
“Just making sure our investments are secure tonight. The harbor development is massive. I hear Architect Mariano has been doing remarkable work on the blueprints.”
His gaze drifted across the room, landing right on Jay Jay.
My fingers tightened around my crystal tumbler until the glass began to stress.
A dark, ugly instinct crawled up my throat.
“Don’t look at her,” I murmured, my voice dropping so low and flat that the smile died on Ashford’s face instantly.
“Excuse me?” Ashford blinked, thrown off.
“I said, don’t look at her,” I repeated, leaning in just enough for him to catch the cold, unhinged edge in my eyes.
“Talk about your concrete and your cargo ports all night if you want to keep breathing, Vance. But if your eyes wander toward her for another second, I will make sure your investments are the only thing your company has left to bury you with.”
Ashford’s face paled, the arrogance draining right out of him.
“Understood, Mr. Watson. Business only.”
“Good. Now get out of my sight.”
I watched him scramble toward the bar like a kicked dog, then turned my eyes straight back to where they belonged.
Jay Jay was talking to Sara, laughing at something, entirely unaware of the blood I was ready to spill just to keep other men from breathing her name.
JAY JAY POV
Look, I love Sara with my whole heart, I really do.
But right now, standing in these lethal five-inch designer stilettos while high-society vultures circle around us with plates of microscopic caviar?
I am about five seconds away from taking off my shoes, sitting on the floor, and having an emotional breakdown.
“Jay, you are zoning out again,” Sara whispered, nudging my arm with her champagne glass.
“And stop gripping your wrist like that, you’re going to wrinkle the sleeve.”
“I am not zoning out, I am mentally calculating how many minutes it would take me to crawl under the catering table, steal a tray of mini barbecue skewers, and escape through the emergency exit,” I hissed back, keeping my teeth clamped together in a picture-perfect beauty-queen smile for a photographer walking past.
“You are wearing a custom burgundy gown that probably costs more than a luxury sedan, and you want to crawl under a tablecloth for barbecue?”
“Carbs don’t judge, Sara. People in velvet do,” I pointed out practically.
Then I felt it again.
That heavy, suffocating prickle on the back of my neck.
I didn’t even need to look to know who it was.
Mark Keifer Watson was standing near the mezzanine railing staring straight at me.
He had just chased off some poor rich guy in a tuxedo, who was currently running toward the restrooms like his pants were on fire.
Classic Keifer.
Still terrifying grown men before nine o’clock on a Sunday.
“He hasn’t stopped looking at you since you walked into the room,” Sara murmured, leaning in like she was sharing national security secrets.
“It’s giving a possessive mafia kingpin, but also kind of pathetic lost puppy?”
“More like an angry pit bull that wants to bite my head off,” I grumbled under my breath.
“If he keeps staring at me with those murder eyes, my makeup is going to melt off from sheer second-hand radiation. Can your boy David come drag him away already?”
“David is not my boy,” Sara immediately denied, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
“Right, and I’m a professional ballerina,” I deadpanned, rolling my eyes.
“He has been tracking your dress with night-vision eyes for the past hour. You two are as transparent as my office windows.”
The grandfather clock near the grand archway struck eight-thirty, and the crystal chimes echoed right through my skull like a funeral toll.
Before I could even pretend to choke on a mini tart to get sent to the hospital, the room went entirely quiet.
Dad walked up the carpeted stairs to the stage.
The man radiated pure, terrifying elegance.
He stood behind the podium, adjusting the microphone with one hand, looking out over the sea of media moguls, and corrupt politicians like he owned every single breath in the room.
“Good evening, everyone,” Dad’s deep, velvety voice boomed through the speakers.
The entire ballroom erupted into thunderous, rehearsed applause.
People were clapping like their bank accounts depended on it, which, knowing Dad, they probably did.
I took half a step backward, preparing to blend into the velvet curtains and disappear forever, when two broad walls of muscle blocked my escape route completely.
Aries and Percy flanked me on either side like heavily armed prison wardens in designer tuxedos.
“Time to move, Jay,” Aries said, his tone deadpan and completely devoid of mercy.
I looked up at both of them, blinking rapidly and putting on my most innocent, angelic puppy-dog face.
“Why? I am genuinely so comfortable right here by the dessert table. The lighting is flattering, the air conditioning is great, and I won’t ruin Dad’s spotlight. You guys go ahead. I’ll wave from back here.”
“Nice try, goblin,” Percy snickered, reaching down, hooking an arm under my elbow, and basically hoisting me off my feet before I could dig my heels into the carpet.
“Come on, sis. Showtime.”
“You are the worst brother in the history of siblings,” I hissed under my breath, pouting furiously as he dragged me toward the stage stairs.
“I love you too, now smile for the thirty high-definition cameras aiming at your forehead,” Percy muttered back out of the side of his mouth.
I smoothed down my burgundy velvet dress with sweaty palms, pasted on a stiff, smile and let my traitorous brothers guide me straight up onto the platform
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So sorry i couldn’t upload yesterday!!!
I was tried after coming from my evening classes 😭😭😭
So sorry i couldn’t upload yesterday!!!
I was tried after coming from my evening classes 😭😭😭
next chapter target:
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I have school today so I will upload after 3 or 4 pm