Sweet Hatred Chapter 224: So confusing

My stomach twisted. I didn’t like the feeling. At all.

Ash’s voice cut through my spiral again. "You didn’t have to co, by the way. I could’ve handled the security updates myself."

That snapped out of it.

I turned toward her, voice clipped. "It’s my job, isn’t it?"

Her brows lifted ever so slightly, pleasantly surprised.

And I hated that part of always wanted her approval. Why the hell do I care what Ashlyn thinks?

But she didn’t press. Instead, she smiled in that way of hers that always felt like she knew five more things than she let on, and gestured for us to walk side by side.

"Co on," she said smoothly. "They’ve set up the main security interface two levels down in the tech bay. Facial recognition’s been recalibrated since the incident. I need your eyes on the entry flow."

"Of course," I said, my voice more composed now.

But I didn’t miss her glance at my neck.

And I really didn’t miss the smugness bleeding from her smirk when she looked away.

I tried to ignore the echo of Kael’s kiss still humming along my jaw.

Tried to ignore the way Ashlyn walked like she didn’t give a damn that her fiancé had just been kissing another woman like she was everything he’d ever wanted.

God she was so confusing. And maybe I was too.

But sothing in her tone, sothing I couldn’t na yet, told the ga had only just begun.

....

Golden hour spilled like lted honey across the floor, the sun dipping low behind the sprawling palms and glass edges of the estate. The gala was monts from beginning, staff scattered like silk ants, adjusting floral arrangents, polishing champagne flutes, doing last checks on security tags, earpieces, surveillance drones. A quiet hum of prestige and danger.

Ash and I weren’t dressed yet. We were still doing a final sweep of the main event space, where the early-arrival VIPs had begun to trickle in for the welco drinks and photo ops. Staff dressed in black and white moved like clockwork between marble bars, crystal arrangents, and periter checkpoints with face scanners disguised as art. Everything looked effortless.

Still I was too distracted.

Too aware.

Too tense.

The mont I saw the cluster of guards in black suits moving toward us like a storm tide, I knew. Even before I saw him.

Kael Roman walked like nothing in the world had the right to look him in the eyes. Like the land itself parted to make room for him. I almost forgot how that felt, to be in a room when he entered it. How the atmosphere bent around him like he was the gravity source.

And beside him, flanked with effortless grace and an expensive smile, stood none other than him, the Vice President.

Of the actual fucking country.

He stood sharp-featured, grey at the temples, wearing secrets and a limited-edition silk tie like it was all just another day in power.

Ashlyn stepped forward first, all grace and diplomacy. I followed slightly behind her, ntally preparing for a handshake, a smile, a hello, Mr. Second Most Powerful Man in the Nation, but I couldn’t even pretend to focus as they approached.

Ash straightened. Her mask of elegance snapping on with one flick of her shoulder.

"Mr. Vice President," she greeted coolly, offering her hand.

"Miss Stanley," he returned, kissing her knuckles like old money n did when they were about to destroy soone or write a million-dollar check. "You’re even more striking than your father described."

They exchanged pleasantries, about the Stanley conglorate, the gala’s purpose, the advancents of the biotech project, and I stood silently beside her, my entire skin humming.

Because I could feel him.

Kael didn’t say a word. Not to . Not to Ash.

But his stare was setting my bones on fire. I barely registered Ash exchanging a poised, casual greeting with the VP anymore. All I could hear was the hamring in my chest. All I could feel was Kael, watching like I’d wronged him. Like I’d teased him. Like I owed him.

I hadn’t even looked at him in the eye yet. I refused to. I thought maybe if I didn’t, it would dull the ache forming in my chest again.

But my body was traitorous.

And Kael Roman was... Kael Roman.

The man who had kissed into oblivion hours ago now stood draped in the clean-cut black of his tailored suit, every line sharp enough to slice glass, every hair in place, his face carved from ice and wrath.

When I finally glanced up, God help , our eyes t.

And I froze.

Because his gaze wasn’t just burning.

It was devouring.

Those green glacier eyes, tinged with sothing much darker, locked onto mine like he’d been waiting for to crack. And the worst part? I almost did. Right there. In front of the Vice President of the entire goddamn country.

He wasn’t just pissed. He was lethal. Controlled rage, narrowed eyes that shimred like polished steel under the low lights. That kind of rage that didn’t make noise, it waited. It calculated. It devoured

I swallowed.

His lips curved just barely. Like he knew what I was thinking. What I was feeling.

’I missed you so much.’

His voice echoed in my mind, tangled with mory and heat.

I jerked my gaze away just as Langston and Ash shook hands again.

"Well then," the VP said, "I’ll see you shortly. Looking forward to the reveal."

Ash smiled like a queen. "Likewise."

The group moved again, past us, their shadows falling over the marble like spilled ink. And even as Kael brushed by , saying nothing, not even a whisper...

I knew.

He’d felt it too.

I couldn’t help it.

I turned.

And so did he.

Our eyes collided like a car crash in slow motion.

He was still walking. Slower than the others, staring back at like I was the only thing in the room that existed. Like the entire gala could burn and he’d still find in the ashes.

I looked away first.

Barely.