CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
"Mrs. Kostas," she glided across the room to press her lips to my mother's cheek. "Lovely as ever."
My mother endured the kiss with stiff tolerance. "Indeed, I am. Though, I hadn't scheduled a harbinger of doom on today's calendar. Tell me, which horseman are you meant to be?"
Danielle's smile dimmed like a faulty circuit.
"Famine, I think," my mother decided, honeying her venom. "You've always had that quality, leaving men hungry without knowing what for."
"Your wit remains unmatched," Danielle managed, her laugh brittle.
"One of my few flaws," my mother countered, claiming a chair opposite my desk. "What brings you all the way out here to his home where his fiancée will be returning to soon?"
Danielle's mouth formed a perfect smile while her eyes froze over. "I heard about the engagement and was concerned, as any friend would be," Danielle answered with practiced innocence. "After all, I've known Alaric for decades. I only want to ensure this arrangement serves his best interests."
My mother's eyebrow arched with elegant disdain. "How altruistic."
"I simply wonder," Danielle continued, turning her gaze back to me, "how Selene will manage the transition. Darius Darzi's daughter, barely seen in society. Does she even understand what being your wife entails? The scrutiny? The expectations?"
Danielle knew exactly what buttons to push, always had. The implication that Selene might be inadequate, unprepared—it was calculated to plant seeds of doubt but she must have not known me as well as claimed to, or she’d know that would never work with me.
"She understands more than most," I replied coldly.
“Okay, but how will she handle your requirements of her? Your temperament. Not everyone can navigate your moods as I did."
My mother made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "If by navigate you mean exacerbate, then yes, you were quite the skilled sailor."
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk. "Selene isn't a concern that needs your attention, Danielle. Now, if you've satisfied your curiosity—."
"I'm simply offering perspective," she interrupted. "After all, your tastes are specific. Your need for control, absolute. How will this sheltered girl respond when she discovers who you really are?"
My patience, already threadbare, snapped clean through. I rose from my chair, the movement deliberate enough to make Danielle take an instinctive step back.
"My capabilities are precisely why she's under my roof and not her father's. As for who I really am and how our relationship will work," I paused, letting the weight of silence press down on her. "That is between me and the woman I’m marrying. Not for you to worry about or feign concern over."
My mother watched the exchange with predatory interest, a half-smile playing at her lips as she tacked on, "Our family is quite delighted with the engagement."
A silence stretched between them, taut as a wire.
“You can leave now Danielle. As my mother said, Selene will be home soon, and she doesn’t need to be blindsided by you.”
Danielle released a controlled breath. "I recognize when I've overstayed my welcome."
"Do you?" Mom drawled sarcastically.
Danielle gathered herself with practiced poise. “I’ll visit you another time, Ricky.”
“Ricky? That’s terrible. I swore the beautiful boy I birthed was named, Alaric,” my mother snarked when Danielle’s footsteps could no longer be heard.
I stood again and crossed to where the bar station was set up and used the fancy espresso machine my mother had bought solely so she could have some when she came to see me. I went through the motions, poured dark coffee into a cup, and then added all her usual fixings before placing it before her.
“Tell me what that woman was really doing here.”
"She wanted conversation," I stated.
"About you, naturally. Hardly a deviation from pattern though I don’t know what she keeps sniffing around you for.
She loves a version of you that never existed and thought to score an heir who was nothing but a spoiled fool, who would get sidetracked by the viper pit between legs.
Then once she sank her teeth in, she’d be set for life with spoils and riches. ”
“Viper pit,” I repeated back, amused.
She waved me off with a manicured hand. “The point is, she is nothing like our Selene.”
"My Selene," I corrected.
"Relax, Mr. Barbarian." She took a deliberate sip of her coffee as she settled deeper into her chair; legs crossed.
“What are you doing here, mother?”
She pursed her lips. “A mom can’t come to see her son without a reason?”
I gave her a pointed stare. Her posture suggested casual conversation, but her eyes remained those of a lioness, protective ferocity disguised as maternal indulgence.
She sighed with exaggeration. “Fine. Firstly, Cassian told your father a fun little story about what transpired at the Darzi residence, who naturally shared it with me.”
"Cassian exaggerates."
"I'm sure," she replied, amusement warming her eyes. “Secondly, I came because I've already had six phone calls this morning from women whose daughters had been under consideration."
"Consideration for what?"
She gave me a look that suggested I was being deliberately obtuse. "For this position, of course."
"Ah." I leaned back in my chair. "The one you were going to try and fill for me, you mean?"
“With a proper research committee," she defended with a hint of amusement. "You way turned out much better."
“Thank you for the blessing—yet again,” I deadpanned.
A softness crept into her expression. "Are you happy, Alaric? Do you think you can be?"
The question caught me off-guard, which was rare in itself. "I'm satisfied," I replied carefully.
"I just don’t know if you'll break each other apart or forge something unbreakable.”
"Your maternal instincts are touching.”
"I'm stating facts. She's the first woman who's looked past your bank accounts and bloodline because neither fascinate her."
"I’m well aware of all this."
Her expression shifted, almost imperceptibly, to something genuine. "Then make certain she never has reason to doubt who you truly are.”
"When did you become a relationship counselor?" I asked.
"When you finally found someone worth the effort and brought her home to me and your father. I actually came to see her today, not you. That was the main reason for me being here.”
“You just saw her yesterday. I want her to get settled in here.”
“All the more reason for us to meet up with Penelope and Angel to go shopping,” she replied.
"To go where?"
"Shopping," she repeated slowly, as if I might not understand the word
"I’m not sure she’d be interested in that."
Now she looked at me as if I was obtuse.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," she huffed, rising from her seat. "I'm establishing a relationship with your future wife, my daughter-in-law."
"You've never done this before," I called after her.
She paused at the threshold, glancing back over her shoulder. "Consider it a measure of my approval, then."
Before I could respond, she disappeared down the hallway with the practiced grace that made her so effective in all things she did. I remained staring at the empty doorway as the implications settled into place.
I shook my head, reaching for my phone to check Santos's latest update.
The man was thorough in his reports, giving me exactly what I needed without unnecessary detail.
Selene had collected a few boxes of personal items, declined most of the offers to help, and maintained a dignified silence during the process.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I typed out a quick response. I hit send, then immediately opened a separate message to Trevor, my security chief.
Danielle Rousseau is no longer welcome on the property. Any attempts to enter should be handled without violence but with firmness. She is to be escorted off premises immediately if she returns.
My phone buzzed with Trevor's acknowledgment almost immediately.
Consider it done. Is there any exception for family gatherings or Dominion functions?
I typed back.
No exceptions.
My mother was right about Danielle. Her interest in me had always been transactional, but in the wrong manner.
Her vision of our future included me as a supporting character in her story, not as her equal.
She wanted my family name and connections, not the real man behind them or what it meant to be tied to us.
She had accepted our breakup, but never truly moved on. The thought of Danielle trying to use our relationship to hurt Selene wasn’t tolerable.
I mentally inventoried what else needed changing. The east wing had been empty for years, its rooms designed for a family I hadn't expected to have so soon. My mother's interference would actually help; Selene might feel more comfortable choosing how to redesign the space with them rather than me.
My fingers drummed against the desk as something unfamiliar gnawed at me—impatience and anticipation. I'd never been a man to count minutes, yet here I was, checking my watch for the third time in fifteen minutes wondering when she’d be back home.