Chapter 15
CYRUS WAS STARTING to feel impatient. And uneasy. If he had to be honest, which thankfully he rarely had to be, he was more the latter than the former. For a change.
And the only person he had to blame for was her.
Where the hell was she?
Kyara should be back by now—
“Mr. Wallace?”
One of the guys working from H.R. seemed to pop out of nowhere as he came standing by his desk. “H.R. would like a word with you.”
“Sure.” Cyrus hid his anger behind an easy smile even though he took note of the name on the man’s ID.
Joey from Human Resources, you’ll pay for this. How dare this idiot cause a spectacle in his domain, make it seem like he’s made a mistake? Did this idiot not know who he was?
All eyes were on them as Cyrus followed behind Joey, but as soon as they were inside the elevator, he turned to the other guy, snarling, “You’ll be out of your job before this day is over.”
No answer.
“Did you hear me?” Cyrus yelled. “You’ll be out of a—”
The elevator doors had opened while he was yelling, and he quickly summoned a smile even though he was still red-faced with anger.
Everyone was staring at him as he walked down the hallway, with Joey in front of him like a fucking warden.
Cyrus took his phone out. Maybe it was time to call his dad. If he spun this the right way, his father would—
Ah, shit.
His steps crashed to a halt when he realized that Joey was opening the door not to just any H.R. office. This door led to the room...where people were either asked to leave quietly or face charges.
Shit.
Whatever this was, Cyrus knew he had to make a strong impression, not let anyone get the best of him. He had to go in strong and—
“Babycakes.”
This wasn’t good. No good. Not good at all. But he had to brazen this out. Bully her. Bully anyone.
He came close as if to kiss her, and just as she stiffened, he whispered into her ear, “Remember my threat.”
He leaned back, but instead of cowering like she usually did—
“He just threatened me again,” his ex-girlfriend blurted out.
What the—
Cyrus could no longer keep his temper. “You bitch—” He raised his hand, thinking to slap her—
“Don’t.”
Cyrus froze. What the—what was his dad doing here? “D-Da—”
“Just sit down, son, and let’s...let’s get this over with.”
Cyrus couldn’t remember hearing his dad sound so defeated.
But then, he also couldn’t remember having so many people in one room look at him without approval.
What the hell was happening? It was making him feel panicky, but he told himself he was overthinking things.
All he had to do was pretend everything was fine, and sooner or later, it would be so.
He always got his way in the end. Always.
And so for now...
“Sure, Dad.”
He decided to play along.
“But I’m afraid this is all a misunder—”
“I’ve already read Ms. Dunn’s statement.”
Cyrus forgot about playing it cool the moment he heard this. “She’s lying, Dad! She’s nobody! You shouldn’t even be listening—”
Henry could only shake his head, unable to believe he had been so damn blind all these years. “Stop making it worse for yourself.” He had raised a monster...and he hadn’t even noticed until it was too late.
“I’m not! All I’m saying is that we don’t need to bend over backwards for someone like her. This is our company—”
“No, son. It isn’t, and it never was.”
Cyrus could only laugh weakly. “What do you mean it’s not? Whose else could it be but—”
“Mine.”
Cyrus’s head snapped to the door. He hadn’t even heard it open, and now, standing by the doorway of all people—
Lyrius Havington, the world’s biggest killjoy.
“Get out,” Cyrus growled, “if you don’t want to lose—”
“He’s your uncle,” Henry thundered, “so show him some respect!”
Kyara couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and her ex-boyfriend seemed to feel the same way, if his slack jaw was anything to go by.
Lyrius...was Cyrus’s uncle?
He had told her earlier that he had a plan, and that all he needed from her was to trust him, and so this.
..this was it? He was Cyrus’s uncle, and as she continued listening to Henry, all the missing puzzle pieces started falling into place, and she came to realize just how the rumor mills got everything completely wrong.
You never met your grandfather, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Lyrius crossed the room while his older half-brother was still speaking, and he could feel his nephew’s eyes watching him as he took his place behind Kyara’s chair and placed his hands on her shoulders.
It was a claim of ownership, and everyone in the room knew it.
He was a selfish and unpleasant man. He didn’t marry my mother because she was the hired help.
He wanted to marry Lyrius’s mother because of her money, but when her parents asked him to sign a prenup, he dumped her instead.
Then he took me in, groomed me to inherit Wallace International, and when he realized I had no head for business but Lyrius did. ..
The older man’s face contorted with a painful grimace.
He was shameless enough to call for Lyrius on his deathbed.
Asked him to help me with the company, and Lyrius agreed under one condition.
That our relationship never become public because it would hurt his grandparents if they were to know of it.
Once Henry was done speaking, the door opened on cue, with Lara walking in to read out loud Cyrus’s list of violations in his three years of employment history.
“Internal Investigation Report, Wallace International,” Lara read, and her voice had gone into the brisk professional register she used for client briefings. “Subject: Cyrus Henry Wallace, Senior Associate, Accounting.”
Cyrus made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Bullshit!”
“Compiled by Office of the General Counsel in coordination with Human Resources, with the cooperation of the office of the Chief Executive Officer.”
“I’m being framed, Dad! Can’t you see what’s happening?
Lara turned to the next page as if she hadn’t heard anything.
Kristine Campbell, terminated without cause...
Kyara paled as she realized who it was Lara was talking about. Kristine...was the reason Cyrus had been in such a good mood last year.
Pearl Villar...
Hilda Penn...
The list went on and on. Kyara couldn’t believe she had been so blind all these years. And while Cyrus contested them all—
Item three: Collusion with Didi Peyton, Senior Associate, Marketing, in the unauthorized appropriation of company funds for an unsanctioned trip to Las Vegas.
Item four: Embezzlement
It was only when Lara talked about Cyrus stealing company funds that he went berserk, lunging toward Kyara without warning—
Oh God, help!
Her eyes automatically squeezed shut.
But nothing happened.
Instead, she heard a loud, hard sound—like someone’s fist connecting with another person’s face—and when she opened her eyes, it was just in time to see Cyrus falling to the floor as Lyrius knocked him out cold.
Everything had happened so, so fast, and Kyara could only watch in stunned silence when everyone, Cyrus’s dad himself included, seemed to take everything in stride.
It was as if they had a meeting about this beforehand, and everything—including Cyrus being bodily carried out on a stretcher, which somehow just happened to be immediately available—was going according to plan.
But surely...that couldn’t be so.
Right?
She turned her gaze to Lyrius and the company’s CEO. They didn’t resemble each other at all, and maybe that was why no one had ever expected them to be half-brothers. No one would have suspected such a thing, and that was why the rumors...
“Do you need anything before I go?”
Lara’s voice drew her out of her thoughts, and Kyara could only shake her head. “I’m...I’m good, and...” She managed a wobbly smile for the other woman. “I know you have a hand in this.”
“Well, of course.” Lara’s lack of hesitation in confirming her involvement had Kyara laughing, the sound of which consequently caused Lyrius to look their way, and when her boss arched his brow—
She had worked for him long enough to know what that meant, and in less than five seconds, Lara had the whole room cleared out—
Whoa.
Kyara was starting to feel like this was all a dream, with how everything was just moving so, so fast. How in the world was it just the two of them inside the room, and her heart started hammering against her chest as Lyrius came to stand in front of her, his beautiful face still taut with concern.
She looked up into his eyes, and the words simply came tumbling out.
“I love you, Lyrius.”
He jerked as if he had been sucker punched, and a wobbly laugh escaped her.
“Say it again,” he said hoarsely.
“I love you,” she said tearily. “I love you so, so much. I can’t believe you’re real. I can’t believe I was so blind. I p-promise I’ll make it up to you, I promise I’ll spend the rest of—”
Lyrius had to haul her back into his arms, otherwise she was going to kill him with her sweetness.
“Just remember this one thing.”
She nodded against his chest.
“You’re mine. Forever.”
Kyara couldn’t reply, with Lyrius already kissing her so, so deeply that the whole world was slowly fading away even despire the whispers outside the room growing louder and louder, with the news about Cyrus’s downfall spreading like wildfire as someone from H.R.
told someone from Marketing, who then told someone in Operations, who then. ..well...
Kyara would learn about all of this from Lara later on, but for now...
Oh, Lyrius.
This kiss had her unable to think, and she couldn’t even remember her own name or how to breathe. She couldn’t remember anything at all except for that.
She was his.
Forever.