Young Master Lucien’s Bride

Chapter Ten

Lucien’s POV

The entire restaurant was staring, but I didn't give a single damn about the crowd. Let them watch. Let them film. My hand was clamping down on Jason's wrist like a vise, the bones in his arm practically shifting under the pressure of my grip. He was glaring at me with these bloodshot, pathetic eyes, his chest heaving as he tried to pull away from me, but he was completely trapped. He was weak, fueled by nothing but cheap liquor and a bruised ego, and it disgusted me that this was the man Lila had spent years crying over.

I stepped a inch closer, crowding him until he was forced to lean back against the edge of our booth. I leaned in close, my voice dropping into a lethal, quiet whisper that only he could hear over the low murmur of the shocked diners.

"If you don't turn around and walk out of this building right now," I hissed, my thumb pressing hard into his pulse point, "I will ensure your little auto shop is leveled by morning. I will buy the land, revoke your lease, and leave you with absolutely nothing but the clothes on your back. Do you understand me, Jason?"

His face went from a flush red to a sudden, pale shade of green. The alcohol-fueled courage completely drained out of him, replaced by the realization that I wasn't playing a game. He knew I had the money, and he knew I had the power to do exactly what I promised.

He spit out one last insult, turning his head to glare at the booth where my wife was sitting. "She's a parasite, Lucien. You deserve each other."

With a sudden, violent jerk, he shoved past the security guards who had finally managed to hustle over across the dining room floor. They didn't even have to touch him; they just surrounded him in a heavy wall of black suits, guiding his drunk butt straight out the back door of the restaurant and into the alley away from the cameras.

The heavy silence of the dining room rushed back in, suffocating and awkward. I took a deep breath, smoothing down the front of my tailored suit jacket, and turned around to check on Lila. I braced myself for the worst. I expected her to be crying, to be completely broken down in tears after hearing the man she loved call her such disgusting names in public.

Instead, she wasn't crying at all.

Lila was sitting perfectly straight in the leather booth, her hands clenched into white-knuckled fists against the green silk of her dress. She was just sitting there with this look of absolute, burning fury directed entirely at the empty space near the coat check where Jason had just been standing. Her jaw was set, her eyes flashing with a hot, dangerous rage that surprised me. She looked less like a victim and more like a soldier waiting for the next strike.

The pale waiter from earlier tried to awkwardly serve our appetizers, his hands shaking violently as he lowered a plate of caviar onto the white tablecloth between us. "Uh... your starters, Mr. Knight."

The mood was completely ruined. The entire room was whispering, eyes darting toward our booth every two seconds. I didn't want her to endure another second of their pathetic judgment.

I reached into my pocket, threw my black card onto the table next to the untouched food, and looked at her. "We're leaving. Before the press gets wind of the circus."

Lila didn't say a word. She grabbed her small clutch, slid out of the booth, and marched toward the exit without waiting for me. I followed closely behind her, my eyes scanning the room to ensure no one dared to step into her path.

During the ride back to the mansion, the silence inside the car was deafening. Lila didn't say a single word the entire time. She just stared out the dark window, her reflection showing her jaw clenched so tight I was genuinely worried it might c***k from the pressure. She was staring at the passing streetlights, her fingers digging into the leather of her purse.

I watched her from the other side of the seat, my chest tightening with an ache I couldn't explain. I wanted to reach out. I wanted to tell her that Jason was an absolute i***t who didn't deserve her thoughts, let alone her anger. I wanted to tell her that his words were completely meaningless, that she wasn't a parasite for trying to keep her mother alive. But I kept my mouth shut. I gripped my own knees and stared straight ahead, because I knew the sound of my voice would just make her angrier. To her, I was just another version of the monster she was currently fighting.

When the car finally pulled up to the grand entrance of the mansion, she didn't wait for the vehicle to fully stop. The second the tires settled against the gravel, Lila dashed out of the car before the driver could even get the door open.

She slammed the car door shut behind her, grabbed the skirt of her green dress, and practically sprinted up the stone steps of the porch. She threw open the heavy front doors and flew up the grand staircase. A second later, the distant, violent sound of her bedroom door slamming shut echoed through the house, so hard and loud that the crystal downstairs chandelier actually rattled in the foyer.

I stood by the car, watching the empty staircase, a tired sigh escaping my lips.

"Should I send up some tea, sir?" Arthur asked quietly, appearing from the shadows of the hallway as I finally walked inside.

"No," I muttered. "Leave her be."

I spent the rest of the night pacing around the dark, dusty corners of the library. The bottle of scotch sat untouched on the desk; I didn't even want the burn of the alcohol tonight. Instead, I found myself standing by the large window, staring down at the legal marriage certificate that rested on the table. The neat, bold black ink of my own signature looked back at me, next to her printed name.

A heavy, crushing realization hit me right then, settling deep into my bones as I listened to the absolute silence of the massive house.

Protecting her from the world was going to be a lot harder than just paying off her family's debt. I could buy her mother the best doctors in the country, and I could throw millions of dollars at her father's failures, but I couldn't protect her heart from the people she used to trust. I couldn't shield her from the collateral damage to my own name, or the cruelty of a cousin who would rather see her drown than see her safe with me.