Undressed By His Arrogance-Chapter 258: It Really Wasn’t

Joey looked at him with pure horror. "Fuck you! I could have at least finished that episode if I knew the trip was going to be useless."

"It wasn’t." He started the car. "It really wasn’t."

He drove away from the Rothschild mansion as evening lights glowed behind them.

The engagement could hold.

The champagne could flow.

The world could applaud Ivy and Eugene all night long.

Winn had seen what he needed to see. And now—

He had time.

Time to plan.

Time to plot.

Time to get away with murder... hopefully.

*****

Monday morning arrived with its usual corporate sharpness. The skyline outside Winn’s office was washed in bright sunlight.

Lydia poked her head through the doorway.

"Sir," Lydia said carefully. "A Mr. Eugene Rothschild is here to see you."

Winn didn’t look up immediately. He slowly closed the file he’d been reading, fingers tapping once on the cover before he lifted his gaze.

He smiled. Extremely pleased. He’d been expecting this visit since the moment he left the engagement party. He’d guessed — accurately — that Eugene would be the first to show up.

"Send him in," Winn told Lydia.

Moments later, Eugene entered Winn’s office.

"Mr. Kane," Eugene said, taking a seat. "I’m sure you have been expecting me."

"I have." Winn rested his arms on the desk, steepling his fingers. "Congratulations on your engagement."

"Thank you."

Winn’s grin widened. "I must say, Eugene... You are a brilliant man. Gosh! Your plan is exquisite. Wow! Just—wow!"

Eugene’s brows twitched. "Are you done patronizing me?"

"Not remotely," Winn replied. "I first saw you when you and Ivy were having a date. I ran a check on you."

"You were sparkling clean," Winn continued. "A good boy. The Rothschild golden child. Well behaved. Perfect."

Eugene didn’t react.

Winn chuckled softly. "I told Reese — no one can be perfect. But you... You came close. And then we had dinner together at the Everest home. Ivy was sitting next to me, right there beside me—quivering in my hands."

Eugene stiffened, shoulders locking. "Enough."

"Oh? We’re just getting started." Winn leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I watched you that night. You barely looked at her. I thought, this guy must trust her so much. He suspects nothing."

Eugene’s eyes flickered.

"He truly is perfect," Winn added mockingly. "But even if you did suspect something..." He tilted his head. "You didn’t care, did you? Because Ivy was the perfect bride for you."

"Will you get on with this?" Eugene snapped, irritation leaking through his usually polished composure.

Winn chuckled as he slid off his executive chair and perched on the edge of his desk.

"You picked a woman you knew was absolutely in love with another man," Winn said. "And convinced her to be with you. Because you needed a cover for hiding in the closet."

He laughed again—full-bodied, amused, cruel.

"Perfect plan, Eugene. Perfect."

Eugene’s nostrils flared. His posture remained upright, aristocratic, but the tips of his ears had gone faintly red.

"Were you ever going to tell her?" Winn asked. "Or did you plan to play the devoted husband forever? Touch her, kiss her, smile at her?"

"Was she ever going to tell me she was still in love with you?" he shot back.

"That much is pretty obvious, isn’t it?" he whispered. "She is mine. She will always be mine."

Eugene swallowed, hard—his Adam’s apple bobbing.

"And you," Winn continued, tapping his finger on the desk, "are going to help me keep it that way."

Eugene stiffened. "Or what?"

Winn unfolded his legs and stood, walking toward Eugene. He stopped beside the chair, leaning down so the difference in height became a psychological weapon.

"Or I will be the one to inform your very traditional family," Winn said softly, "that I found their perfect son on his engagement night, a couple doors away from his fiancée... getting his dick sucked by his lover – a man."

Winn straightened, smoothed his shirt sleeve, and walked back toward his chair.

"No one will believe you," Eugene managed. His confidence was slipping—fast. He adjusted his tie, then realized his hands were trembling and shoved them under the desk where Winn couldn’t see.

"Won’t they?" Winn asked. "As of this moment, with the information I have, I am digging deeper into your life." His eyes lifted to Eugene’s. "I will flash a light under the ass of every male friend, male associate, male everything in your life."

Eugene swallowed. His fingers twitched along the seams of his trousers, betraying nerves he tried desperately to hide.

"I will dig inside your ass so deep, you’d think there was a dick in there, Eugene."

"Mr Kane..." he began.

"I’m not done!" Winn snapped. Eugene’s mouth shut instantly.

"You will keep up the engagement sham until I am ready for her. And then you will tell her."

He shook his head, words stumbling past fear. "I cannot. I cannot let anyone affiliated with my family know."

"I don’t care, Eugene. You wanted to use her."

"The same way she planned to use me," he fired back.

"Do you want to get punched in the face, Eugene?...You will tell her."

"You don’t understand the kind of family I have," he protested. "My father... he worships the Rothschild name. Expectations are iron bars, Winn. I was raised inside a cage built by men who would rather die than face embarrassment. They will not tolerate this."

"Have you met mine? My mother is a weakling. My father—who is not even my real father—is an abusive son of a bitch who ruined my life along with Ivy’s, and my sister, the only thing I thought was good and honest in my entire goddamned life, turned out to be a backstabbing bitch."

"You wanna talk to me about dysfunctional families? My family is the reason you are about to ruin her life all over again. All. Over. Again. Be a goddamned man, Eugene. Own who you are... just don’t do it now, okay? Give me a bit of time."