Sweet Hatred Chapter 358: Standing too close

Sarah moved with unhurried steps, her heels barely whispering against the floor as she circled the room like she owned it. Like she owned .

Her fingers trailed over the edge of my desk, grazing the neat stack of contracts, her smile small and knowing. "You vanish to Spain for weeks," she murmured, almost conversational, "dragging her away as you please, like a doll you can pull off a shelf whenever it suits you. And you think it’s fine to pretend?"

I ignored the bait, leaning back in my chair, my voice flat. "Why are you here?"

She didn’t answer. Her reflection flickered in the glass wall as she turned, her head tilting with mock innocence. "You ignored my calls Mr. Roman. Even after I warned you the first ti. And then I hear— Kael Roman whisking her away again. Tell ..." her eyes sharpened, "what exactly were you up to with Aria this ti?"

"It’s none of your business."

She stopped. The smile stretched into sothing ugly, disbelief dripping from her voice as she echoed , softly mocking: "None of my business?"

The sweetness snapped, the mask falling away in an instant. Her eyes hardened, the air thickening as that sinister aura rolled off her in waves.

She stepped closer. Each stride deliberate, closing the distance until her perfu wrapped around like smoke. Her voice climbed, words breaking into a jagged spiral:

"You’ve been the wall between us. From the mont you appeared, it’s been Kael this, Kael that. Do you know what it’s like to watch her eyes shift every ti your na is ntioned? To know that every part of her world bends around you now? Everything has been about you."

Her voice cracked, then smoothed into a threat, low and cutting. "Sir... You shouldn’t be playing hard to get with . Not when we’ve already shared such a blissful, passionate night together." Her lips curled. "It would be... tragic... if Aria were to ever find out."

My fists clenched, my nails cutting crescents into my palms. My voice was ice. "Aren’t you ashad of this? To call yourself her best friend and stoop to hell."

"Yes," Sarah said easily, her tone almost serene. "And that’s exactly why I’m doing this. Because Aria ans more to than you could ever imagine. More than you’ll ever understand in your lifeti."

Confusion edged into my chest, unwelco, twisting. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Her laugh was soft, humorless. "Don’t act dumb. You’re itching to get rid of ... I can see it. But you’re scared. Scared of how it would turn out. Scared to see Aria lose her spark again." Her eyes glimred. "And you should be. Because if you try anything funny Sir, I’ve already prepared a video. A perfect little clip of our wild night together. Imagine Aria’s face when she sees you gripping my waist and slamming into like your life depended on it."

The words landed like a blade. My pulse stuttered, then roared. A video.

A fucking video?

The crack in my chest hardened into steel. I rose slowly, every inch of towering over her, my shadow swallowing her figure against the desk. My voice dropped into a lethal growl. "I could kill you right here, Sarah. Snap your neck and bury you under my office, and no one would ask a fucking question."

Her smile didn’t waver. She leaned in, her voice honey-laced poison. "But you won’t. Because you’re fucking coward. Because you know Aria has already lost too much. First her mother. Then her father—ripped from the past only to die in front of her. If her precious best friend were to die next, do you think she’d survive it? Do you think you could survive watching her shatter again?"

Silence. My chest heaved once, fury and helplessness colliding. I couldn’t dispute it. Not without lying to myself.

My tone went razor-flat. "If you have nothing aningful to say to , get the hell out."

Sarah tilted her head, lips curving sly. "aningful? Oh, sir. I’m here to give you a way out. For a price, of course."

Before I could demand her terms, the doors swung open again.

Ash stepped in.

Her sharp eyes scanned the room instantly, standing too close to Sarah, Sarah’s body angled toward mine like she’d won sothing. Her gaze narrowed, suspicion flickering beneath the calm mask she wore.

"Am I interrupting?" Ash’s tone was smooth, but her eyes were blades.

I straightened imdiately, cold as stone. "You are. But it doesn’t matter. We were done."

Sarah’s smile slipped back into its innocent veneer as effortlessly as breathing. She turned, strutting toward the door with a cat like ease. "Ashlyn. Always a pleasure to see you."

Ash said nothing back and simply nodded, just watched her leave, her jaw tight. The mont the doors shut, her eyes cut to .

"Why the hell was Sarah in your office?" She didn’t bother to hide the suspicion in her voice. "Standing too close."

I forced the tension out of my shoulders, my tone clipped, precise. "Whatever you’re thinking is not the case."

Her brows lifted, arms crossing slowly. "Then tell what I should think."

I stepped around the desk, putting the polished oak between us, every movent deliberate. "Think that we were having a discussion about work."

Ash studied , unblinking. "That’s quite the thinking for to do when all I saw was you letting her breathe the sa air as you."

My patience frayed. "Drop it."

The command snapped through the room like a whip. Cold. Absolute.

For a mont, her jaw clenched, testing . Then, finally, she exhaled, easing into one of the seats opposite my desk. "Fine."

Her tone cooled, businesslike. "I heard you ca back from Spain. Which ant Aria must be back too. I thought about visiting her first, but I figured I’d stop here." She folded her legs, slipping seamlessly into corporate precision. "It’s ti to discuss the end of our oversight on Zephyrcore."

The word cut through my head like static. Zephyrcore. Months of collaboration, strategy, sleepless nights negotiating the R&D bottlenecks—neuro-interface prototypes, endless testing, calibration cycles. And now the device was done. Completed. Fully tested. Ready for launch.

Her family and mine would still be bound by the larger investnt alliance, but the oversight partnership... her and I personally steering the project through developnt at her personal request... was finished.

She adjusted the cuff of her blazer, her gaze sharp. "We’ve carried it through from prototype to market-ready. The launch team can handle it now. Which ans, technically, we’re out. You and I. Done overseeing."

Her words rolled over , but Sarah’s presence still clung to the room like smoke. That cloying perfu. Her threats. That video.

A wave of nausea brushed the back of my throat, the edges of my vision tightening. I locked it down with the sa iron control I always had, my expression unreadable.

"Good," I said, voice steady. "Then that Chapter’s closed."

Ash tilted her head, watching a beat longer, as if she could sense the static humming under my skin. But she didn’t push. She only leaned back, perfectly at ease, while I fought to keep the dizziness buried.

I told myself it was temporary. Just Sarah’s poison still lingering in the air.

I just had to survive the next few hours.

And I’ll see Aria.

And nothing else would matter again.