Sweet Hatred-Chapter 399: Threat

A few days after that phone call, I walked into the office expecting everything to go back to normal. Aria would be gone, nursing her wounds somewhere, and I’d be the one to put her back together piece by piece.

Instead, I saw her.

Walking through the lobby like she’d never left. Head high, shoulders back, that determined set to her jaw I’d seen a thousand times before.

I froze where I stood, confusion flooding through me.

What the hell was she doing here?

She spotted me and headed straight over, weaving through people and their curious stares. They were whispering, I could hear the buzz of speculation around us.

She dragged me to the floor where I worked. To my own seat. To explain to me.

But then,

The voice came from behind her. Deep, controlled, authoritative.

Aria turned, and I looked past her to see him for the first time up close.

Kael Roman. The CEO.

It was my first time seeing him up close.

He was tall, well over six feet, with dark hair styled precisely, sharp features, and eyes that seemed to assess everything in a single glance.

He wore a suit that probably cost more than my monthly rent, and he carried himself like someone who’d never questioned his place in the world.

He looked at Aria like she was the only person in the room.

He came himself to announce Aria’s new position and reinstatement as employee.

The murmurs grew louder. Shock. Confusion. Some jealousy from the women who’d probably been angling for that position themselves.

But I barely heard any of it.

Once again, she rose. And I stayed in the shadow.

I should have been happy for her. Should have hugged her, congratulated her, celebrated this unexpected turn of fortune.

But all I felt was rage.

White-hot, consuming rage that made my hands shake and my vision narrow.

She was leaving me behind.

Again.

And this time, it was worse than before. Because I could see it, in the way Kael looked at her, in the way she looked back at him.

This wasn’t just a professional relationship. This wasn’t just a boss reinstating a competent employee.

There was something between them.

Something that made my stomach twist with a feeling I couldn’t quite name.

Want? Jealousy? Fear?

All of it.

I watched him watch her, cataloging every micro-expression, every subtle shift in body language.

He wanted her. And she... god, she was falling for him even if she hadn’t realized it yet. No amount of glaring could hide it.

I could see it happening in real time, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I blinked, forced a smile and watched as Kael pulled her away with a command.

That night, I sat in my apartment and thought about what to do.

Kael Roman was a threat unlike any I’d faced before. Too powerful to intimidate. Too wealthy to bribe. Too connected to simply... remove.

But I could still reach Aria. Make her paranoid. Make her question whether this new life was as safe as it seemed.

I pulled out a piece of paper, thick, expensive cardstock I’d been saving for something special. With a razor blade, I made a small cut on my finger, let the blood well up, and used it to write in careful, deliberate strokes:

I’m watching you.

The letters dried dark red, almost brown. Perfect.

I slipped it into an envelope, wrapped it with a thin red ribbon, and the next day, left it on Aria’s new desk.

I waited for her reaction. Waited for her to come to me scared, paranoid, needing protection.

But she barely reacted at all. In fact she never mentioned it to me.

But I knew she found it, opened it, read it.

Over the following weeks, I watched helplessly as Aria slipped further and further from my reach.

She was always busy now. Always traveling. Overseas trips in Kael’s private jet. Weekend getaways to close deals. Late nights at the office that turned into early mornings.

She was caught up in his world, a world of wealth and power and luxury I couldn’t access, couldn’t compete with.

I’d text her and wait hours for a response. Call her and get sent to voicemail. Suggest getting together and hear "I’m so sorry, I’m just swamped right now."

She was slipping away.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I’d watch them sometimes, from a distance. The way Kael looked at her, like she was everything. Like the sun rose and set in her smile. The way she softened around him, let her guard down in ways she’d never done with anyone else. Not even me.

He was changing her. Making her independent. Making her not need me.

How? How does she keep winning?

Every obstacle I put in her path, she somehow turned into an opportunity. Every attempt to isolate her just made her find new people to depend on.

And Kael, Kael was different from all the others. He wasn’t using her. Wasn’t weak. Wasn’t someone I could manipulate or seduce or remove.

He was genuinely in love with her.

And she was falling for him too.

I was starting to panic. Really panic. For the first time since Cain, I didn’t know what to do.

Then I discovered Mia.

Kael’s former secretary. The one who’d been pushed aside when Aria took over. I’d seen her around, bitter, angry, watching Kael and Aria with naked jealousy in her eyes.

She was obsessed with him. Anyone could see it.

And obsessed people were easy to manipulate.

I approached her carefully. Anonymously at first, a few messages sent from burner accounts, feeding her information about Aria’s schedule, where she’d be and when.

Planting seeds about how Aria had stolen what should have been hers. How if Aria were just... gone... maybe Kael would see Mia again. Really see her.

Mia latched onto it like a drowning woman grabbing a lifeline without too much questions.

I didn’t tell her to kidnap Aria. I didn’t have to.

I just gave her the tools and watched her come to that conclusion on her own.

The plan was perfect. Mia would take Aria. I’d "discover" where she was being held. I’d save her, be the hero, prove that I was the one she could rely on, that Kael couldn’t protect her the way I could.

And Mia? Well, Mia was a loose end. I’d already arranged for a trailer to have brake failure on the route I knew she’d take when fleeing the scene. Two birds, one stone.

It should have worked.

Mia hired goons to kidnap Aria and I got the anonymous tip I’d arranged to send myself.

Rushed to the location. Had my own people I’d paid, ready to rescue her.

Had my speech prepared... ’I found you, I’ve got you, you’re safe now’ ready to deliver the moment I pulled her free.

But when I got there, Kael was already there.

He’d somehow tracked her faster than I had.

Had already called, not the police, but the fucking army. He was carrying Aria out of the building himself, holding her like she was made of glass, his face twisted with more emotion than I’d ever seen on a man.

Aria clung to him, collapsed into his chest.

I stood at the edge of the scene, invisible. Irrelevant.

Once again, he was there first. Once again, I didn’t matter.

Then the police themselves arrived. Mia fled in her car, and twelve miles down the highway, her brakes failed exactly as I’d planned.

The trailer struck her vehicle head-on. She died instantly.

Aria was traumatized but alive.

And me? I played the concerned best friend. Showed up with concern sympathy when she reached out. But Aria barely seemed to notice I was there.

She had Kael now. And Kael was apparently all she needed.

I watched them over the following months. Watched them grow closer, more entwined.

They fought sometimes, I’d hear about it from Aria herself and every time I’d think:

This is it. This is when she’ll need me.

But she never did.

They’d come back together, stronger than before. Like every fight just proved how much they meant to each other.

He was supposed to be temporary. They all were. But he stayed.

And she let him.

I started to realize something that made my chest tight with a feeling close to despair:

I was losing her.

Not temporarily. Not in a way I could fix with the right manipulation or the right crisis.

Really losing her.

So I waited. Watched. Studied him.

Looked for weaknesses.

And slowly, carefully, I started to form a new plan.

Because if I couldn’t remove Kael from Aria’s life through force or manipulation...

Then I’d have to destroy him another way.

Make him into someone she couldn’t love anymore. Someone who’d hurt her so badly she’d have no choice but to run.

And when she did, I’d be there.

Waiting.

Like I always was.