The heavy rain tapping against the Frosts’ villa’s wide glass panels was nothing compared to the storm already brewing inside the living room.
Heston Frost stood near the fireplace, one hand resting on the edge of the marble mantle, the other swirling a glass of untouched bourbon. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow. His jaw twitched. In front of him stood the two n responsible for keeping his daughter safe.
Well... supposed to be.
"Say that again," Heston said, his voice even but dangerous.
The older of the two guards, Brenner, hesitated before speaking. "She insisted, sir. Told us she didn’t want company. Said it was personal and that she had it handled."
"You work for , Brenner. Not her. She says jump, you ask how high? Is that it?" Heston barked.
"No, sir," Brenner said quickly. "But she was persuasive, and—"
"And what? She’s just twenty-one. You’ve been in this ga for fifteen years and got outmaneuvered by a girl with a soft voice and tender face? You let the only daughter of the Frost family vanish overnight, with no follow-up?"
The younger guard, Malik, tried to speak. "Sir, she didn’t disappear. She left the house at 8 A.M., told the gate security she would be back in an hour, then..."
"Then nothing!" Heston’s voice cracked like a whip. He slamd his glass onto the mantle, the sound sharp enough to silence the room. "It’s been twenty-seven hours. Not a call. Not a check-in. Not a damn trace. And neither of you had the brains to track where she was actually going?"
The silence that followed was suffocating. The bourbon glass wobbled in place, dancing on the polished stone like a ticking clock.
Heston exhaled slowly and turned toward them. His eyes, steely and shadowed under the soft lighting, were now calm but colder.
"Fine," he said. "You let her go. Let’s fix it. Where can we find her?"
Brenner and Malik exchanged a glance. A quiet passed between them—words unspoken, but heavy.
"Well?" Heston prompted, his eyes sharp.
Malik cleared his throat. "There’s... soone she’s been spending ti with. A boy. On campus."
Heston didn’t react, but his silence grew louder.
"His na’s Jayden. Not sure of the last na at first, but we did a deeper pull last week after they went on a date. Full na’s Jayden Cole. Honors program. Business faculty. Low profile until recently."
That na.
The mont it hit the air, sothing shifted.
Heston’s posture stiffened.
"Jayden... Cole?" he asked, voice just above a whisper. His fingers slowly curled against the side of his thigh. He wasn’t looking at the guards anymore. He was staring into the past.
Malik nodded. "Yes, sir. We—"
"Cole?" Heston repeated, louder now. He took a step forward, eyes narrowing. "Erson Cole’s son?"
"We believe so. Sa surna, sa region. They lived in Eastview, an older house in the Hillside district. His mother’s na is Naylah. Widowed."
Heston exhaled, low and bitter, like a man catching the scent of sothing long buried.
"That son of a fraud," he muttered, his eyes filled with disappointnt. Not in Jayden, but in his daughter.
The room was thick with unspoken weight. Malik shifted his stance slightly.
"I thought that family disappeared after the trial," Heston said, walking slowly back toward the center of the room. "Erson Cole. That man tried to bring down Kingsley Group with his pathetic self-righteous act and forged docunts. Got caught. Died in custody like a rat. And now his bastard boy is laying hands on my daughter?"
He turned, face tightening with disdain.
"She’s been seeing him? Secretly?"
Brenner nodded. "Sir, we believe it’s not been up to a month. Quiet etings. No PDA, but... the pattern’s there. She waits for him at the campus fountain. Skips lunch. We’ve seen them in cafés and even parking decks."
"And you didn’t think this was relevant to ntion?"
"We didn’t see him as a threat. Until now," Malik cut in, his eyes tense.
Heston laughed. It wasn’t a joyful sound. It was a dry, serrated chuckle that died before it began.
"Well, consider this your wake-up call," he said. "You don’t wait until sothing’s a threat. You look at the bloodline."
He strode to the glass windows, looking out into the dark garden beyond.
"Find her! Campus, streets, cafés... Anywhere! I don’t care. Check that boy’s address, friends, class schedule. I want her brought ho. No mistakes. No questions."
Brenner quickly straightened with a sharp look of approval appearing on his face. "Yes, sir."
Malik also nodded.
"And when you find him..."
Heston turned back, his gaze sharp as he thought about sothing.
"...make it very clear that this isn’t a romance he’s writing his way into. This is the Frost family. This is legacy. If he wants to chase dreams, let him do it away from my blood."
He stepped closer to the n with his voice low.
"You warn him once. No threats, just the tone. If he doesn’t back off, we’ll raise the volu."
Malik nodded slowly. "Understood."
"I want this handled today. Quietly. No ss... No press. If the boy’s smart, he’ll disappear on his own," he nodded in belief.
And then, with the bourbon glass still trembling faintly behind him, Heston Frost sank into the leather armchair by the fire, his face lit by orange flas.
He still there for more than a minute, thinking wide as he contemplated, his eyes seed to burn in anger, his fist clenched.
After a mont, he turned to the bodyguards who still stood there, waiting to receive his order to go ahead with their mission.
"Dismissed," he muttered.
The two guards bowed slightly and left the room, leaving the head of the Frost family staring into firelight, alone with his fury...
"Jayden Cole... Tch! Is that why she refused to marry Kael? She chose a pathetic nobody over the future king of Nortasia?!"
Heston’s eye glinted in awe.
"What charm has that guy used on my daughter?!
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