"Why do you look like soone died?" Dimitri barked out over breakfast, staring stonily at Alia over their breakfast. "You’ve been moping for several days."
"Excuse ?" Alia asked, wondering if the early hour was affecting her hearing. Or it could possibly be the lack of sleep.
It was hard to get any sleep after Ronan had reminded her of the engagent party. Matteo was getting married to Emline despite whatever he told her. Her invitation continued to burn a hole in the rucksack she had haphazardly tossed it in when she moved out of Matteo’s apartnt, and she had not found herself the courage to open it again.
Needless to say, Alia knew she would not be invited. Horace Hawthorne would have to be insane to allow for her to co within ten feet of his family after all that had transpired.
Her heart gave a painful twinge. It was one thing for Emline and her mother to slander her, but she didn’t want Horace to believe she was a gold-digger responsible for leaking Emline’s nudes. No matter how much she disliked her, there were lines she wouldn’t cross!
"Your expression ruins my appetite," Dimitri Sullivan said without mincing any words. "You look like soone died, or defecated in your breakfast. This does not bode well, since you were the one who made breakfast."
He then glanced down at his plate, an expression of distaste at the simple egg and toast Alia had made. Since she was effectively free-loading and putting Dimitri out of his room, she thought she might as well do the chores to make up for it.
"No, no, the breakfast is perfectly fine," Alia said, taking a big bite of her toast to prove that it was delicious and not-poisoned.
Then she choked at the dryness of the bread. It might not have been poisoned, but it was certainly a bit too burnt for her liking. She had gotten lost in her thoughts and toasted the bread for too long.
Dimitri let out a sigh. "My brother has briefly updated on your issues. You would do well to sue Caleb Walton for fraud and deceit." He then handed her a stack of na cards.
’Apex Law Firm’
’LWM Legal Advice’
’Regal Law Associates’
This ti, Alia choked for a different reason. "These are... lawyers?"
"Of course. Do you think I would carry around a stack of na cards for janitors?" Dimitri replied, as though she had asked a foolish question. Alia flushed in embarrassnt.
"These are the lawyers that specialize in cases like yours, albeit none of their clients were as brazen as Walton. You can get a hefty amount of settlent and live the rest of your life as a wealthy woman."
Alia blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating.
"I... thank you?" she said bemusedly. "But I have no money to hire any lawyer." And she didn’t want to borrow money from Matteo, Ronan, or Cherry. This feud was between her and Caleb alone. "Not to ntion, with the way things are now..."
She had too much on her plate to even think about suing Caleb. She hadn’t even realized it was an option.
"Keep them for the future then," Dimitri said with a casual shrug. "Whether you use them as coasters or line them on the floor, it doesn’t matter to . Either way, I’m not taking them back."
"Thank you, then," Alia said ekly, pocketing them all. "It ans a lot that you made so much effort for when we hardly know each other."
"Don’t take it the wrong way," Dimitri warned. "I’m just doing this because I hate n like Caleb Walton. And your deanor makes your father upset, which in turn upsets ."
In these past few days, Dimitri had ford a strange friendship with her father over chess out of all things. They often played matches in the evening, after Dimitri had returned for work.
"Got it," Alia said with a small smile. "Then I must thank you for accompanying my father in the evenings. He doesn’t have many friends." And what little friends he had had all but left him after Alia’s scandal hit the news.
Dimitri coughed slightly, the back of his ears turning red. "You’re welco. Now eat your food. You’re looking too skinny, and your father worries. I bought a shipnt of organic vegetables for him― they will aid his recovery."
"Yes, yes." Alia nodded in amusent, and she wondered if that was how having an older brother felt. "And what about Ronan? Did you get him anything?"
"He gets to stay in this house, isn’t it enough?" Dimitri retorted with a raised eyebrow, staring at soone in the doorway. Alia turned around to see Ronan give his older brother the middle finger before leaving the house for work.
"Ronan, breakfast!"
"Leave him, he never wakes up in ti to eat his morning al. That’s why he has indigestion." Dimitri sighed.
"I do not!" Ronan’s voice yelled from outside. "Don’t slander ! I’ll sue you!"
"With what lawyers?" Dimitri retorted. "And don’t forget to bring your keys and your phone!"
"Got them!" Ronan yelled back. "Bye! Both of you!"
"You care for him a lot," Alia observed, with a soft curl of her lips. "It’s sweet."
"Soone has to," Dimitri grumbled, his face red as he buttered his toast aggressively. She wanted to laugh. Sohow, Ronan failed to ntion how cute his older brother was when he was flustered. Alia was reminded of a haughty cat that pretended it didn’t care when it actually did. "It’s not like our parents were fantastic caregivers."
"Oh..." She had heard from Ronan, but she was surprised to know that they didn’t care much for their oldest either.
"It is what it is," Dimitri said, with the voice of soone who made peace with it. "Now eat your food."
The rest of the breakfast was spent in companionable silence until it was broken by Alia’s ringtone. She looked at it and nearly fell to the floor in surprise.
It was Horace Hawthorne.
Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to answer that for you?"
"No need!" Alia squeaked, but she couldn’t deny that the offer was tempting. Dimitri seed like soone who would be able to stare down a natural disaster, let alone Horace Hawthorne.
"Put him on speaker then," Dimitri said and Alia did so.
"Hello?" Alia asked hesitantly. There was heavy breathing on the other end, and Dimitri imdiately grabbed a notepad and began scribbling. Alia’s eyes widened as she read his words.
’If this is a prank call, I will sue under Law 540 of Charter 323―’
Thankfully, there was no need for Alia to resort to suing, as Horace Hawthorne’s reedy voice ca from the other end of the line.
"Alia? Are you there?"
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