Captive Mate BL Chapter 225: - - 225-

Lake walked into the room, making sure to put so distance between himself and Matilda, because she really looked like she wanted to claw his eyes out.

"So interesting news reached ," Matilda began, her red-painted lips twisted. "That a staff at the mansion had started to act out of line..."

Lake’s brows raised in realization - he could guess off the top of his head how said news reached Matilda.

He silently listened, having a gut feeling that he would be there for a while.

"And as one of Davian’s only surviving relatives, it’s imperative that I step in and do sothing about this."

Lake shifted his weight from foot to foot, he was yet to have lunch and it didn’t help that he had been standing before Matilda got here.

"Because I will sooner be buried than allow soone of your standing to worm your way into the prestigious House of Black..."

Lake wanted to tell her that there was very little prestige in being part of the Mafia, but doing that would be throwing stones in a glass house.

Arthur returned at this point, practically glowing as he ticulously poured Matilda her glass of wine.

The butler didn’t leave, instead, he stood in a corner, listening intently.

Lake could picture him dashing to the bar to get the drinks in ti to be a witness to him getting a dressing down.

And as he stood there, getting scolded by two people who would never know what it was like to live his life, Lake had enough.

"I’m sure he told you I stole from Master Davian," He interrupted Matilda self- righteous preaching about a mafia family she wasn’t even part of.

Matilda sneered, not appreciating him speaking up. "I wasn’t surprised to hear that. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree."

Lake clenched his teeth in anger. If being his father would spare him a life of servitude, he would be stupid not to embrace that.

"Then pay ." He said quietly but it was nothing like the quiet tone he used to appease people.

"W-What?" Matilda choked on her wine.

"You can afford to. Pay or I’ll return to work, listening to you isn’t part of my duties."

Matilda had to pat her chest to get things moving again, red-faced from anger and nearly choking.

In his corner, Arthur’s eyes were bulging out of his head. He nearly bit his tongue to keep his words in, wary of interrupting Matilda.

"You wretched whore!" She shot to her feet.

Lake took a couple of steps back, uninterested in getting hit again. "Na calling isn’t going to get rid of ..."

He knew he was backed into a corner. Master Davian was away on a business trip so he couldn’t even rely on the Mafia King’s recent kindness to help him out.

Matilda had enough influence to get rid of him right there, and even if Master Davian could help him, Lake was tired.

His father’s debt was cleared, and for the first ti in his life, he could do sothing else.

For the first ti in his life, he could make his choice of if he wanted to be a part of the mafia or not.

And circumstances were making that decision really easy for him. He had no energy to keep dealing with situations like this.

"Fine." Matilda agreed, visibly shaking from anger. "I will wire you One. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars." She said, emphasizing each word.

"I want you to take that money and stay far from Davian..."

Lake was hardly listening to the rest of her words, pleasantly surprised that she would give him that much money so easily - he should have been a crook much earlier.

"If I find out that you tried to seek Davian out after today, I will find you, and I will end you."

Lake was in too much of a good mood to be upset by her threat, for a hundred thousand dollars he would move out of the country if she wanted.

"You don’t have to worry about that, I’ll leave as soon as I get the money." He said with a smile in his voice.

Lake shot Arthur a toothy smile as he walked out, reveling in the butler’s outrage.

Matilda must have been really scared of him to give in so easily. But the mistake she made was getting her information from Arthur.

The butler hated him, so of course, he would paint the narrative to make him out to be an absolute devil.

It was hard to complain, because it all worked out well for him. His father’s debt was paid, and he would be getting money that was all his.

If Lake sat down for a mont to process that, he would break down. To have money all to himself that didn’t have to go to the millions in debt his father left him.

He went downstairs, it should be ti for his lunch break but he just sat listlessly on a delicate couch and stared into space.

Matilda wasted no ti getting his money to him, and Lake was relieved because it ant that he got out of curtain washing.

He shot to his feet as soon as he saw the notification of the money, quick to transfer it into a couple of different accounts - just to be safe.

Lake made his way over to the locker rooms afterward, the other staffs were just returning from their lunch break but he ignored them like he always did.

Taking off his uniform for what was hopefully his last ti and clearing out his locker.

He had no future plans, and that was actually kind of freeing because it ant that nothing was set in stone.

He was already out of the gates before Arthur could co find him to harass him one last ti, taking a cab to his apartnt.

The first thing he did was get himself so food to eat. Being at the apartnt so early on a working day was strange, frequently checking his account balance like he was certain it would disappear.

- -

Matilda sat brooding in the living room after getting rid of the trashy maid.

She found it difficult to enjoy her wine even after successfully getting rid of him.

Arthur had been very instruntal in her finding out about this and nipping it in the bud.

But she knew that the only reason it had gotten to her ears was because the butler had motives of his own.

She didn’t mind that he had essentially used her, because this was more important to her than it would ever be for a replaceable butler.

Her nephew being uninterested in love or a mate made it easy and difficult to influence who he ended up with to her own benefit.

Because it ant that she didn’t have to worry about other won but getting him to take interest in her choice would be a herculean task.

It was due ti for her to show more interest in her nephew’s life, of course.

She couldn’t let him fall prey to gold-digging lowlifes, and the only way to ensure that, would be to move into the mansion.

Matilda saw a perfect opening, and she would be stupid not to take it.

Previously, she didn’t exactly have a reason to visit the mansion, much more stay for a while but she had found a loophole. Davian could be swayed if she was persistent enough.

As soon as she had established herself in the mansion, she would be able to personally screen any woman or Oga trying to latch onto Davian.

So in a way, Lake had also been useful to her. One hundred thousand dollars was peanuts in comparison to what she stood to gain if everything went right.

- -

Caspian thought about Lake every now and then, the Oga had apparently gotten everything figured out.

He supposed he half-wished that he would have been able to convince him to stay with him.

Maybe it was because they were both similar in ages and male Ogas, but being around him reminded Caspian that he didn’t have a friend.

He could use Asher’s influence to contact Lake but he has already interfered too much in the matter.

It didn’t help that it was directly connected to Davian, it was for the best if he found soone else to be friends with.

But losing potential friends aside, Caspian had completely recovered from his cold, which ant that he could again bug his mate.

Because, of course, if he didn’t have friends, who else was he supposed to ss with?

After their official mating, everything seed to be getting in the way of him doing that - Lake’s unfortunate situation included.

Trying to bring up the conversation about Asher’s lingerie kink was like trying to talk to a brick wall.

And of course, he wasn’t going to do sothing inconsiderate like deck himself completely from head to toe in lingerie.

But he could do sothing less dangerous and more fun.