Chapter 16
Fiona’s POV
(28)
I felt heat crawl up my neck the moment Killian opened the door of his car and started to walk toward us. Not from the sun but from my mother’s face lighting up like a Christmas tree. She grasped my arm so joyfully that I nearly forgot how deeply complex all of this was.
“Isn’t that your husband?” she asked, clearly pleased. “But you said he wasn’t coming because he was busy?”
I didn’t answer. I just blinked.
Next to me, my brother bit his lip and looked down like he was holding something in. Then his shoulders started shaking- he was laughing silently.
Oh, he was having way too much fun with this.
Killian finally approached, shooting a few smiles around the table, looking like he owned the whole city. My mom stood up straight, fidgeting with her dress in excitement. Me, however, I felt pained, like I was about to sink into the ground.
I folded my arms across my body and turned to look at him. “Right? Isn’t that what you told me?” I asked, struggling not to raise my voice. “That you couldnt come because you were busy?”
Killian met my gaze with that aggravatingly unbothered look, then he released a light chuckle that was lower savoring every moment of my flustered state.
Immediately, he addressed my mother, “Ma’am it’s a pleasure to meet you. I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it today, but I couldn’t risk missing my first opportunity to meet my in–laws.”
He said it so smoothly I nearly believed him.
My mother smiled like he’d just given her a lottery ticket. “Oh, what a lovely man! So respectful! You’ve done well, Fiona.”
I stared at her, mouth ajar, left in the corner of the room like a shadow. And of course that’s when my brother just lost it, not even bothering to cover the laughter. His head thrown back and all.
I went to his side and pinched his arm, hard.
“Ow!” he yelped, rubbing the spot
“Serves you right,” I said under my breath.
Meanwhile, Killian was enveloped by my mother in a bear hug, as though she were meeting him for the first time. “Come, come inside! I’ve made something special!” and practically dragging him by the hand into the house.
I walked behind the two of them, annoyed, embarrassed, and a little amused all at the same time. This wasn’t the way today was supposed to play out.
–
No sooner had we entered the living room than she announced, “Wait here I will get the rice,” and vanished into the kitchen like a tornado.
And then we were alone.
Killian stood leaning back against the wall, crossed arms, watching her walk away with something much akin to smug amusement. I crossed my arms and turned toward him.
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Chapter 16
“What did you think of that performance out there?” I demanded.
He glanced at me and smirked, that same wicked little twist of his lips that made me wanna sock something. “What performance?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t act innocent. You laughed like a prince and seduced my mum. You made me sound like a liar!”
He tilted his head slightly. “I didn’t make you say I’m not coming.”
1
“Don’t turn this around on me,” I said. “Why did you even show up? I thought you were joking!”
He shrugged, unbothered. “What is it to me that you get angry?”
The nerve of this man.
I glared at him, my fists clenched, and inhaled deeply. I was the one who was supposed to be calm. But there was something about him his tone, his calm, that stupid, unfairly hot smile that just rubbed me the wrong way.
–
He began walking in front of me down the hallway as I trailed a few steps behind, muttering to myself.
Then he stopped.
In the center of the hall.
I almost bumped into him.
I looked up, confused. “What now?”
He didn’t say anything. Just stood there, seeming vaguely amused. As if he sensed I was unraveling, and he was just biding his time to see how far I would fall.
I glared at him more intensely. Then I stomped my foot on the ground like a brat who was throwing a tantrum. “Ugh!”
My arms folded tighter. I was mad mad that he came, mad that he looked so gorgeous, mad that my mother already
loved him.
Then I looked up.
–
And I noticed that he had turned around.
He was staring directly at me.
I wasn’t prepared for him to turn and look at me like that.
–
His silver eyes met mine – silent, resolute, a touch amused – but something else had remained in them too. Something unreadable. For a moment, I froze, stunned. Then I remembered who I was. I straightened my back, lifted my chin, collected myself.
I walked by him like I hadn’t not just pitched a silent tantrum half a second earlier.
In the main house, the dining table was already laid. The aroma of steaming rice, fried plantains and peppered chicken enveloped me like a big, hot hug. My mother, bless her overly zealous heart, had spread enough food to feed a football
team.
Dinner was quiet at first, but soon enough my mother and brother resumed their usual antics.
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Chapter 16
“Oh, Fiona was the top student in her class. Always top of the class. She even got perfect scores when she was sick,” my mother gushed, beaming at Killian as if he was already family.
“She even kicked the boys‘ butts at math,” my brother said with a smile, and then he turned to me and said, “Before you began making questionable life choices.”
I jabbed him with my elbow under the table.
Killian laughed politely, but he seemed much more interested in the back–and–forth with my father, who was by then already deep into a conversation with Killian about real estate and international mergers. I observed them from the opposite side of the table. It felt odd seeing Killian like this – he wasn’t just a cold, calculated businessman or a controlling husband. He was relaxed, chatty, even charming. It was… disarming.
And my father stood then and waved his hand for Killian to come with him to the study, where they could talk properly. “Let the women gossip for a bit longer,” he joked.
Before he left, Killian gave me a look something unreadable again, perhaps an acknowledgment. Maybe something else.
–
20)
The table became quieter after they departed. My mother stood up not long after, leaving just me and my brother seated at our largely empty plates.
I had been about to tease him for devouring the plantains before I had a chance to do so when Killian came back. His expression turned graver then. Whatever he talked about with my father, it was clear there was no room for humor.
He settled opposite me, looked around to see if we were alone, then leaned in a bit. “Have you learned anything?” he asked, his voice low.
The air shifted. I looked over at my brother, then nodded. “I met this lady, a colleague of his. Indeed he did take drugs. But he wasn’t an addict.”
Killian’s jaw tightened, and his thought–darkened gaze filled the screen.
My brother leaned forward. “This is becoming bigger and harder than we thought,” he said gravely. “Desmond’s network … it’s not corruption, it’s organized.”
Then he faced me with an expression that was hurt before he even spoke.
“You’re dumb,” he said, shaking his head. “You were married to him for years and you had no idea the degree of power he’d built up behind your back?”
The words hit me like a slap. I stiffened.
“Are you so blinded that you fell in love with someone like that?”
There was a weighty silence after that. I wanted to explain myself, to tell him that I’d known some parts of him were
that I hadn’t been completely blind. But love has a way of dulling the edges of cruelty, and we are always too
dangerous late.
–
Killian didn’t say a word. He just stared at me, his eyes inscrutable again, but his jaw tight.
Before I could answer – before the tension turned into something unbridgeable – my mother burst back into the room,
She waved a small brown bottle triumphantly in the air. “I almost forgot!” She said, grinning from ear to ear. “This is a tonic to which my doctor friend gave me! It’s made from natural roots. Very good for women! Strengthens the womb, aids with daily… activities.”
My eyes widened in horror.
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Chapter 16
“Mum!” I said, already dreading the next part.
She slammed the bottle on the table and kept rambling. “It even helps you get pregnant more quickly. Young folks, you have to take this seriously. I want grandchildren soon.”
“Mum, please-
Killian coughed slightly, his eyes avoiding my own.
And then she said it.
“It’ll improve your sex life, Fiona.”
My soul nearly left my body. My brother laughed, almost roaring with mirth.
“MOTHER!” I squealed, leaping up so quickly that my chair almost fell over.
Then I went rushing to get the tonic.
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