Sweet Hatred-Chapter 443: Judgement Day

KAEL

We dressed without a word.

Aria chose a simple but elegant navy dress that hugged her figure without being provocative. Professional. Appropriate for whatever circus my father had orchestrated.

I tugged on a dark suit, glanced at my reflection, and found her eyes already fixed on me.

"Ready?" I asked.

She gave a single nod, but the rigid line of her shoulders betrayed her.

The drive to Roman Holdings passed in a vacuum of sound. The headquarters stabbed into the sky ahead, fifty floors of steel and reflective glass in the financial district’s core. A fortress. A cage. A testament to everything my family built.

And swarming with media.

They clustered like insects. Satellite vans. Camera lenses catching the morning light. A chorus of shouted questions waiting for a victim.

I stopped the car a short distance away, my teeth grinding together at the sight.

"You can stay here," I told Aria, turning to her. "If this is too much—"

She released a slow, measured breath, as if settling something inside herself.

Then she faced me, her gaze like molten gold, solid and unyielding.

‎"I’m done hiding," she said firmly. "Done running from everything."

"From what?"

"From the fact that I love you." Not a tremor, not a flicker of doubt. "And I would fight the world to keep you safe. Especially after how much I hurt you."

Something thick and fierce closed up my throat.

"I know you feel the same," she went on, her fingers closing over mine. "And I refuse to be a secret. Not ever again."

The sheer, staggering force of my gratitude was a physical weight.

I unclipped my seatbelt, framed her face with my hands, and crushed my mouth to hers.

When I leaned back, a faint smile touched her lips.

‎"You took away all my lipstick," she said, wiping at my lips with her thumb.

‎

‎I chuckled. "You always bring more with you."

‎

‎"Unfortunately not this time."

The pressure in the car lessened by a single, fragile degree.

My phone vibrated. Niko.

‎"I’ve spotted your car. We’re moving into position now."

‎

‎"Copy," I said, ending the call.

‎

I looked at Aria. "Stay put. I’ll get your door."

I exited first.

The reaction was instantaneous.

They surged toward me, a single organism of noise and light. Flashes popped. Voices tangled into a meaningless roar.

"Mr. Roman! Any comment on Sarah Brown’s claims?"

"Did you assault her at the medical facility?"

"Are you attending the will reading?"

Niko and his team materialized, a solid wall of black suits holding back the tide.

I paid them no mind, circling the car to open Aria’s door.

The moment she emerged, the frenzy doubled.

I seized her hand, my body turning to block her from the worst of it.

"Miss Thorne! Define your relationship with Kael Roman!"

"Any response to Sarah Brown’s accusations?"

"Sarah Brown has vanished—do you have a message for her?"

I felt Aria’s entire body go rigid at that final question, her step hitching.

I bent close, my voice a low vibration near her ear.

"Don’t engage. They’re scavengers."

She pulled in a sharp breath and moved forward, her grip on my hand becoming a vise.

We breached the main doors, and the chaos faded to a dull hum behind thick glass.

The lobby was a cavern of cold marble and chrome, our footsteps the only noise.

Then I saw him.

Andrew.

He stood in the corridor leading deeper into the building, his phone pressed to his head, a shadow of a bruise coloring his cheekbone.

"Find her," he hissed into the receiver. "I don’t care how. Just do it."

Sarah. That was my instant guess. He was hunting for Sarah.

His eyes snapped to us.

His focus dropped to our joined hands, and that smug, contemptuous grin I loathed spread across his face.

"Well," he drawled, shoving his phone into his pocket. "Making it public now? Done pretending you’re not fucking the help?"

Annoyance, sharp and immediate, spiked through my veins.

Not for me. His opinion of me is worthless.

But Aria deserved none of his poison.

"Choose your next words with care," I said, my tone dropping to a place that promised violence.

He laughed, a hollow, grating sound.

His attention slid to Aria, a slow, deliberate inspection that made my vision tint red.

"You look stunning, Ms. Thorne," he said. "It’s honestly remarkable how you grow more appealing each time I see you."

He moved a step closer.

‎"I know my brother’s probably fucking you well enough," he continued, his voice crude and deliberate. "But if you ever want to experience someone who can actually satisfy you properly, I’d be more than happy to show you what a real man can do."

‎I snapped.

‎

‎I didn’t care that it was bait. Didn’t care that he was trying to get a reaction.

‎

I stepped forward, my hand forming a fist...

"Is that all you have?"

Aria’s voice cut through the fury, clean and sharp as broken glass.

I stopped dead.

She moved past me, letting go of my hand, but not completely, her expression a frozen mask of contempt.

"A desperate little boy hiding behind cheap insults and expensive perfume," she said. "You’re so terrified of your brother that this pathetic display is the only power you have. It’s honestly pitiful."

Andrew’s smirk cracked.

"You want to talk about satisfaction?" Aria continued, her words like surgical strikes.

"The only thing you’ve ever pleased is your own mirror. And even that’s a lie. You’re a placeholder. A spare part your father endured out of obligation. No amount of money, or status, or degrading women will ever make you the son he wanted."

I watched, utterly arrested.

A mottled flush crawled up Andrew’s neck.

"You think you can speak to me like—"

"I’m not done," she sliced through his protest. "You play at being a king, but everyone sees the truth. You’re the consolation prize. The son Ewan was stuck with. And all the money and influence in the world won’t fix the fact that you are, and will always be, nothing without his name."

Andrew strode forward, shoving his face into hers.

"You think you’re better than me? You’re nothing but a cheap whore from the gutter. Your father was a pathetic drunk who died begging like a dog, and your mother—" his smile turned vicious,

"—your mother spent her whole miserable life in pain because she was too weak to do anything about it. Just like you. Spreading your legs is the only thing you’re good for, so don’t pretend you’re anything more than—"

The sound was a sharp, wet crack.

Andrew reeled back, blood already gushing from his nostrils.

Aria had hit him.

Then she was a blur of motion, tearing from my grasp, slamming him to the polished floor.

Her fists hammered down, one, two, three solid impacts before I could react.

"Say it!" she screamed, striking him again. "Say another word about them!"

People froze. Phones were lifted, screens glowing.

I signaled my team, then physically hauled Aria off him, lifting her as she thrashed and cursed.

"Release me!" she yelled. "That bastard—"

I carried her down the hall, into the first empty office, and kicked the door shut.

I set her on her feet, and she immediately tried to shove past me.

"Aria," I commanded, bracing against the door. "Enough."

"He called me—he said—" Her voice fractured. "My parents. He—"

"I heard," I said, my own voice quiet. "I heard everything, baby. And he’s going to pay for it."

Her chest heaved. Her hands trembled violently. Her eyes were infernos of rage and gathering tears.

I hadn’t witnessed this raw, feral version of her in forever. The one who acknowledged no master.

God, it was a beautiful sight.

I looked at her hands. The knuckles were already swelling, skin split and darkening.

‎"Wait here," I said.

‎

‎I stepped out briefly, finding a first aid kit in the hallway, then returned.

‎

‎Aria was pacing, still muttering curses under her breath.

‎

‎I caught her wrist gently. "Come here."

‎

‎She let me guide her to sit down, though she was still vibrating with anger.

‎

I knelt before her and started cleaning the cuts on her hand.

"That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen," I told her.

She stared. "What?"

"You. Destroying Andrew." I pressed my lips to her injured knuckles. "I have never been more attracted to you than I am at this moment."

A reluctant, sharp-edged smile touched her mouth. "Someone needs to put that fucking animal in the ground."

A genuine laugh broke from me. I pulled her closer, wrapping the white gauze around her hand.

"I love you," I whispered into her hair.

"I love you, too. But when do I get to beat him up?"

"Soon."

I kissed her then, a deep, claiming kiss that tasted of adrenaline and iron.

When we separated, her breath had evened, though that dangerous light still burned in her eyes.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded.

We left the office and walked to the executive conference room. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The space was engineered for dominance. Vast windows presented the entire city. A monstrous table of polished wood dominated the center, flanked by deep leather chairs. Heavy, expensive art hung in silence. Every detail whispered of control.

Several people were already seated. Board members. Executives. Advisors. Distant relatives who were no more than strangers.

And Andrew, slumped at the far end with a wad of crimson-stained tissues held to his ruined nose.

His glare was pure venom as we entered.

I looked through him, guiding Aria to our seats near the table’s head.

We sat. I kept my palm over her bandaged hand, feeling the frantic beat of her pulse against mine.

The room filled slowly. A murmur of tense conversation. Uncomfortable stares flicking between Andrew and me.

Finally, the lead attorney, Whitmore, a man entangled with my family for thirty years entered, a leather briefcase in his grip.

"Thank you for gathering," he began, his tone somber. "Given recent events, we will proceed with the reading of Ewan Roman’s final will and testament, as he directed."

He opened the case and withdrew a dense document.

My gut twisted.

This was it.

Whatever final manipulation my father had engineered, whatever last trick he had planned, it was now.

Whitmore cleared his throat.

"I, Ewan Alistair Roman, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament..."

As his voice droned into the tense silence, Aria’s fingers tightened around mine.

Whatever happened next, I wasn’t facing it by myself.