CHAPTER 140: CAREFUL NOW, MOTHER...

"Do you have someone you like?"

Silence stretched, unbearable. Then, with her heart hammering against her ribs, Suzy whispered, "Y–Yes."

The sound was fragile, trembling, but it shattered across the table like a crack in glass across marble.

Her mother’s head snapped toward her. "What?" The word cut, sharp with disbelief. "Who?"

It was as though the whole table turned as one. Every eye pinned her down. Her parents. The Matriarch and Patriarch. Hades and Alice. Dawin, inscrutable as ever. Van, his usual smug grin faltering into genuine curiosity.

But Suzy didn’t meet any of their gazes. She couldn’t. Her lungs burned with the effort of holding air, of holding herself together.

Beneath the table, Gavin moved again. His hand twitched in hers, firm, insistent. He tried to pry his fingers free, his restraint almost painful to feel.

He was a man who wasn’t used to resistance. Who expected obedience. But she clung tighter.

Desperate. Anchorless.

His jaw flexed once, irritation plain.

Let go, his grip demanded.

No, hers answered.

Why the hell was her grip so strong?

And then, with a faint, controlled exhale, Gavin stilled. He gave up. His palm stayed under hers, caught and surrendered.

Fine. Whatever.

Weirdo.

"It’s... just someone," Suzy murmured, barely audible.

The Matriarch arched one sculpted brow. Her lips curled in disdain. "Just someone?" she echoed, like the words were filth on her tongue.

Before Suzy could flinch, her father spoke. His voice was tight, hard, as if forced through clenched teeth. "If she doesn’t wish to say, then she shouldn’t be forced. Do not put my daughter in a corner."

Suzy’s eyes flickered up to him. Her father, usually so measured, so silent in these wars. The sternness in his voice, the protection beneath it, hit her harder than anything else had tonight. Her throat ached. Her eyes burned, blurring as sudden tears welled, unbidden and unmanageable.

The Matriarch scoffed, louder this time, her voice sharpened to a blade. "So what then? Do we sit idly by, let another family take him, all because your daughter wants to chase... cockroaches fluttering in her chest?"

Alice flinched. It wasn’t even aimed at her, yet the venom in the Matriarch’s tone made her shoulders tighten.

The insult dripped. Cold. Deliberate. Mockery so vicious it stung more than a slap.

Poor Suzy. Her lip trembled, one hand darting quickly to wipe away the tear that escaped before it could betray her further. She was unraveling in plain sight but trying to keep herself together.

Gavin glanced at her briefly, then tugged her hand, a silent warning: don’t cry beside me.

Meanwhile, Alice’s fingers twitched in her lap. She shouldn’t interfere. It wasn’t her place. This wasn’t her fight. And yet watching Suzy fold in on herself, silent against the blade of those words, Alice couldn’t stand it. She nudged Hades with her knee.

He didn’t move. His expression didn’t shift. He merely sipped his wine, the picture of detachment. He wanted no part of this, and she knew that. Still, she nudged again. And again. Her eyes burned into him, pleading.

The Matriarch, as though none of it mattered, pressed forward. "Get ready for the gala," she said in finality, her tone clipped, absolute. "You have to meet him."

The dismissal was brutal. Conversation closed. Decision made. By her.

Suzy’s father looked livid. He was about to speak but then...

With a sigh so quiet it was almost an exhale of boredom, Hades shifted.

"If you like him so much," he said, his tone even, slow, almost lazy as his gaze settled on the Matriarch, "perhaps you should just... marry him yourself?"

"..."

Silence devoured the table. So profound, so absolute, even the walls seemed to lean closer to listen.

A spoon clattered further down the long table, but no one claimed it.

Alice hadn’t expected that. Not from him. Her breath hitched, and before she could stop it, a strangled laugh cracked free. A croak more than a laugh, really, but it was enough. She tried to fake it for a cough, but it was too late. To be fair, it hadn’t been just her. Even Van had laughed, shoulders shaking with ill-contained amusement. And both Gavin and Dawin hadn’t been able to hide the twitch at the corner of their mouths.

But she... Alice, was the only one the Matriarch saw. As though hers had left more impact.

The woman’s head turned slowly, dangerously, toward her.

"Hades!" came the Patriarch’s sharp, stern voice, breaking through like thunder.

But the Matriarch didn’t heed him. She was already seething, fury radiating off her in waves. She turned her face toward Hades, venom sharpening every word.

"You—" Her voice shook with outrage. "Is this what you’ve become since marrying her? Worse? Uncouth. Insolent."

At last, the pretense fractured. No more tight smiles. No more gilded civility. The contempt that had long simmered beneath her tongue spilled free now, unrestrained.

Her chin jerked toward Alice, dismissing her without granting her the dignity of a look. "Perhaps this is exactly what I feared. One mistake already made—" her voice cut lower, crueler, "—and now you would encourage a second, letting the family mix with just anyone?"

Just anyone.

It wasn’t merely an insult. It was dismissal. Reduction. As if Alice’s presence itself was a stain.

Alice froze. The word mistake rang in her ears like a bell that wouldn’t stop ringing. Because right now, she wasn’t even thinking about herself but about Aurora.

But before Hades could respond, another voice slid in. Quietly.

"Careful now, Mother."

Dawin.

The words weren’t loud, yet they carried. Smooth. Offhand, almost. But his gaze was sharp, deliberate, as it fixed on the Matriarch.

The Patriarch leaned back in his chair, his frown carving deeper. "Dawin...!"

The poor man looked exhausted. No wonder he didn’t like joining family dinners and always preferred to have himself buried in work.

"WHAT HAS COME OVER YOU LOT?" the head of the table thundered, glaring from one side to the other.