The Seductive Pretty Boy of the Matriarchal World-Chapter 48: Little Kitten

Chapter 48: Little Kitten

Just as Elias Kane had expected, the moment he stepped out of the shower, pulled on a fresh set of clothes, and tucked the thick investigation file Liora Voss had compiled on him under one arm, he strolled out of the luxury hotel at a leisurely pace. Parked directly at the entrance was a sleek black sedan he recognized instantly—but the person waiting beside it wasn’t the usual driver.

It was a middle-aged woman with an utterly ordinary face and unremarkable build.

The woman caught sight of him and offered a respectful nod. "Miss Voss asked me to drive you back to Westbridge, Mr. Kane."

Elias caught the key detail in an instant: she had said "Miss Voss," not "Miss Blackwood." That meant Liora herself had arranged this ride.

It made perfect sense. Serena Blackwood had always handed off the task of shuttling him around to Liora. If Serena had suddenly lost interest, of course she would simply pass the job to someone else.

So it wasn’t Serena sensing something off—it was Liora hitting the brakes.

But this driver’s looks...

Elias narrowed his green eyes a fraction, then let out a low, amused chuckle.

Not trusting him even that much, huh?

In Liora Voss’s eyes, did he really look like the kind of man who couldn’t keep his hands off any woman who crossed his path?

[It should be... I mean, in Liora Voss’s eyes!]

Elias paused, irritation flickering across his face. "Shut up."

[Mm...] The system faltered, clearly aware it had slipped.

And wasn’t this exactly Liora’s way of mocking his track record with women?

Elias didn’t care in the slightest. He yanked open the car door, dropped into the backseat, and raked a hand through his still-damp golden hair, the strands cool and heavy against his fingers. "Drive."

Once the sedan pulled smoothly into traffic, he fished out his fully charged phone and scrolled through his contacts with lazy precision. His fingertip—still faintly pink from the earlier handling of the file—settled on the entry labeled Sassy Jokester.

A faint, cynical smile touched his lips. For a little dog that still hadn’t learned to heel completely, there was no way he lacked a method to fetch it back after it wandered off.

When Serena Blackwood returned to the Blackwood residence, planning to change into a fresh outfit before heading to the office, she found Liora Voss sprawled lazily across the sofa, remote in hand, watching television with the air of someone who had nowhere better to be.

The screen showed the second drama series starring the nation’s beloved film empress Seraphina Hale. The plot was sharp, the ratings excellent—Serena had heard her own subordinates raving about it for weeks.

What surprised her wasn’t that Liora was watching the show. It was the fact that Liora was here at all.

"You didn’t go pick up that impostor yourself?"

Liora lifted her gaze slowly from the screen, shifting it to Serena’s face. The corner of her mouth curved in a faint, fox-like smile. "Sis, what exactly gave you the impression I’m your little boy toy’s personal chauffeur?"

Serena answered without hesitation. "Your enthusiastic offers the last few times."

Liora’s reply was immediate and flat. "That was back when I still found him entertaining. I don’t anymore. Problem?"

Serena thought to herself that it tracked perfectly. Liora had always been like this—three-minute passions, nothing ever holding her interest for long.

Serena changed her approach. "So you did send someone else to take him?"

Liora shrugged. "Of course. Someone very plain-looking."

Serena’s brow furrowed slightly. She turned the words over in her mind for a beat before the meaning clicked into place.

"I don’t care who he flirts with." Serena began unwinding the blood-soaked bandage from her hand. The fabric was stiff and useless now, the scab beneath it already forming.

Liora let out a sharp scoff, as if the statement were the punchline to an excellent joke. "Sis, before you say something like that again, remember how you were just fighting with Giselle Frost over your little boy toy earlier? If I hadn’t stepped in, the two of you would’ve come to blows. And even then, you still managed to injure your own hand."

"Until that wound heals completely, could you maybe stop with the ’I don’t care about him’ lines?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Serena’s eyes darkened. Liora’s tone today was unusually sharp, almost aggressive. Normally her sister wouldn’t dare speak to her this way—she knew Serena could erase her romantic prospects with a single quiet word.

Yet for some reason Serena chose not to push back. She simply glanced down at the fresh scab on her palm, decided it wasn’t serious, and called out to the ever-present housekeeper. "Bring me a change of clothes."

The housekeeper, who had been standing silently in the shadows, gave a small bow. "Right away, ma’am."

Serena lowered herself onto the opposite end of the sofa and exhaled slowly, the expensive leather cool beneath her. "There’s still one more favor I need from you, even if you’ve lost interest in him."

Liora kept her eyes on the television, voice casual. "What is it?"

Serena’s gaze turned icy. "Keep tabs on that impostor. Make sure he doesn’t cozy up to Giselle Frost again."

"Hah." Liora lifted her eyes just enough to meet Serena’s. "In the end it’s still because you’re afraid he’ll seduce someone else."

Serena was quiet for a long moment, then didn’t bother denying it. "Mm."

"He’s mine. He belongs to me alone. Since he still doesn’t understand his place, someone has to keep him on a short leash."

Liora gave a subtle, unconscious nod. On this particular point, the two sisters were in perfect, chilling agreement.

If they didn’t keep a close watch on Elias Kane, he could very easily end up with more than one woman on his arm at once.

He had the nerve. He had the skill. And he most certainly had the capital.

Suddenly a phone ringtone sliced through the quiet luxury of the room. Both women turned toward the sound—it was coming from Liora’s phone resting on the coffee table.

Serena gave it a brief, indifferent glance before looking away again, expression unchanged.

Liora’s face, however, shifted dramatically.

She had zero memory of ever saving that number, yet some instinct screamed exactly who was calling.

When Liora made no move to answer, Serena’s curiosity finally stirred. "Why aren’t you picking up?"

Liora knew the correct move was to grab the phone naturally and answer right there in front of her sister, exactly as she had always done before.

But this time she didn’t.

Instead she reached over, silenced the ringer without declining the call, creating the perfect illusion that the phone had simply been left out of reach.

Serena’s expression finally changed, a spark of genuine amusement flickering in her eyes. "How rare. Is there actually a woman our Ms. Voss is afraid to face?"

"Little kitten?"

Serena read the two words glowing on the screen aloud. "Doesn’t sound like someone easy to mess with, but at least it’s not a tigress."

As she spoke, an odd thought drifted through her mind—Elias’s two sharp canine teeth. In a strange way, they really did suit the image of a little tiger.

The second she realized she was thinking about that impostor again, Serena shoved the image aside. The smile in her eyes cooled into something darker, sharper.

She failed to notice the tiny flicker of tension that crossed her sister’s face.

A moment later the call timed out on its own. Liora released a breath so faint it was nearly invisible, then drawled in her usual bored tone, "Just some clingy, unreasonable little bitch. Too lazy to deal with it."

The words had barely left her mouth when the phone started ringing again.

Serena turned her head, offering her sister a faint, knowing smile. "Definitely sounds like a handful."

She found herself oddly intrigued by whoever this potential future sister-in-law might turn out to be.