Chapter 114/Threat of punishment

Chapter 114: 114/Threat of punishment

Chapter 114

Stephanie’s point of view

I snapped my face away from his gaze in extreme tension and fear, gripping the edges of my shirt tightly to conceal the visible shaking of my hands as I stammered:

"No... it’s nothing at all, Alexander. Just regular, natural exhaustion."

In that critical, saving moment, a polite, soft knock echoed against the wood of the door. Alexander stepped back, straightening his posture with formal gravity, and commanded roughly:

"Yes, come in."

The door opened, and a completely different, docile maid stepped inside. Bowing her head respectfully, she murmured quietly:

"Dinner is served downstairs, sir."

Alexander nodded calmly, replying:

"Very well, we will be down immediately."

I instantly seized this golden lifeline with desperate eagerness, desperate to escape his piercing questions and the sharp eyes that were actively dissecting my features. Moving with frantic speed toward the exit, I forced a hurried, artificial enthusiasm into my voice:

"Let’s go downstairs... I am absolutely starving at this moment!"

I rushed out of the bedroom with frantic steps, hurrying down the grand staircase toward the ground floor.

When I reached the grand dining hall, I took my usual seat around the massive table, my limbs as cold as ice as a suffocating tension gripped me. Alexander followed closely, settling quietly into the chair beside me. We joined Grand Master Victor, who sat at the head of the table, radiating his usual dominant, unyielding authority.

After a few agonizing moments that stretched like an eternity, Cedric entered the hall with loud, confident strides, his massive, imposing build filling the space. He slid into the chair directly opposite me, leaving only the expanse of the table between us.

He slowly raised his head, locking his piercing gray eyes as sharp and predatory as a hawk’s directly into mine, instantly trapping my entire being. The very second my eyes met his, a violent, earth-shattering tremor tore through my heart and my core without a shred of mercy.

Damn this wretched weakness... despite the suffocating fear, the blackmail, and the lethal noose the maid had tied around my neck, my mind fractured in a mad, scandalous betrayal of logic, vividly resurrecting every single detail of last night inside his bedroom!

I remembered exactly how he had pinned me with excessive, dominant force against the hard wood of the locked door, driving his massive dick deep inside my pussy with a harsh, intoxicating pleasure... Damn these thoughts! My treacherous, highly aroused mind focused entirely and single-mindedly on the raw, carnal details of his thick, veiny dick, and how he had devoured my pussy with his scorching, wet tongue in that wild, explosive manner!

My breath hitched violently, my chest tightening as a searing, sinful heat rushed rapidly through my veins. I tightly clamped my thighs together beneath the surface of the table, shivering violently as I relived those explicit sexual details, biting my lower lip with excessive force from the sheer intensity of the arousal and desire consuming me... Damn it all, I was profoundly turned on again, entirely helpless against the dark magnetism of his gray eyes!

The calm, grounded voice of Grand Master Victor suddenly shattered the wall of my explicit fantasies and my wild, erotic internal storm. He scrutinized me closely, furrowing his eyebrows with stern concern:

"Stephanie... why are you so pale, and why haven’t you touched your plate?"

I flinched in absolute panic, terrified that my scandalous thoughts had been written across my face. Realizing that I hadn’t even picked up my fork, I moved my trembling hand nervously over the table, stammering out:

"Oh... forgive me, Grandfather. I was just lost in thought regarding some design concepts for work."

Alexander turned toward me affectionately, placing his warm palm gently over my shoulder as he asked softly:

"Did your new job and training drain you that much today?"

Snapping my guilty, highly tense gaze away from Cedric’s burning eyes, I stared deeply into my food, stating with a visible sharpness:

"No, I didn’t face any mentionable exhaustion there."

Inside my mind, I instantly discarded any thought of telling him about Mr. Vincetti’s provocative behavior and his humiliating revenge at the firm. I decided with absolute, stubborn finality that I would handle that tyrannical manager entirely on my own, relying solely on myself without dragging Alexander into my professional warfare.

Suddenly, and without any preamble, Cedric shifted powerfully in his chair. Locking his sharp, dangerous gray eyes into mine, he delivered a rough, low rumble that shook the entire room:

"If your superior at work is exhausting you or crossing his boundaries with you in any manner... just tell me about it."

Alexander snapped his head toward his brother instantly upon hearing his blatant interference. His features hardened into solid stone, his eyes narrowing with a bitter, dangerous fury as he countered with sharp irony:

"And what exactly would you do to him if she told you, Cedric? Would you simply march over and execute him with your weapon?"

Cedric tilted his head with a lethal coldness and a highly provocative stability. Staring directly into my eyes with absolute, unyielding arrogance, he issued his direct challenge:

"Yes. That is precisely what I will do to anyone who dares to disturb her."

My stomach upended in genuine terror at his declaration. Was he truly capable of executing my manager in cold blood over a workspace dispute? Even though the wretched Vincetti absolutely deserved punishment for his tyrannical actions, no... I absolutely did not want Mr. Vincetti to die because of me!

Fiercely battling for breath, I locked my eyes onto Cedric with an excessive stubbornness, speaking in a sharp, authoritative tone to terminate the escalating conflict:

"He is doing absolutely nothing wrong. Please, leave my manager alone and do not interfere between us!"

Cedric’s jaw clenched with a burning, violent intensity at my public defense of another man right before his eyes. His pupils dilated into a terrifying, predatory blackness, locking a lethal vow into my trembling nerves as he barked with a dangerous edge:

"If you ever dare to defend him in that desperate manner before me again... I will kill him without a single second of hesitation!"

I swallowed with extreme difficulty, an icy chill cascading through my limbs at his thunderous, murderous tone. Alexander turned his entire frame toward his brother, his body stiffening like solid granite as he demanded with a suppressed, lethal venom:

"What exactly do you mean by that threat and that blatant possessiveness over my wife, Cedric?"

Cedric shifted his gaze away with absolute, cutting indifference, showcasing that he didn’t give his brother’s wrath a single shred of weight, replying coldly:

"That matter is entirely outside your business or your concern."

Grand Master Victor slammed his palm firmly against the surface of the table, cutting through the rising storm. Locking his sharp, authoritative eyes onto both of them, he boomed in a commanding tone that severed all threads of the argument:

"Cease this childish nonsense and this pathetic bickering over my dining table immediately!"

An absolute, suffocating silence locked over the room under the supreme authority of the patriarch. We forced ourselves to finish the remainder of the meal in total, agonizing tension. Unable to endure another second inside this hidden battlefield, I slowly pushed my wooden chair back, standing up with a thoroughly drained body as I murmured:

"Excuse me, everyone... I am going upstairs to sleep."

I bolted from the dining hall with rapid paces. Without a second of hesitation, Alexander stood up to accompany me. We climbed the grand staircase together in a heavy, ominous silence until we entered our shared bedroom.

The exact second the door clicked shut behind us, Alexander turned with a swift, aggressive motion. Extending his large hand, he gripped my arm with violent force, pulling my body flush against his rigid chest. His blue eyes blazed with a harsh, unyielding intensity as he demanded strictly, completely stripped of his usual gentleness:

"Stephanie... is there something you are actively hiding from me? You called me repeatedly and with absolute desperation this morning. Something major happened to you today, and I demand an immediate explanation!"

I tried to wrench my arm away from his iron grip with burning frustration, snapping my pale face away from his gaze as I yelled in exhaustion:

"I already told you it is nothing, Alexander! Let go of me!"

He refused to accept my constant evasion and stubborn defiance. Taking a massive step forward, he pinned my body completely against the hard wall. His other hand lashed out with lightning speed, locking onto my second arm, entirely paralyzing my movements and shattering my defenses. Locking his dark, piercing blue eyes into the depths of my pupils, he growled with absolute insistence and a rough finality:

"Stephanie... I am the one asking you clearly right now. Answer me!"

My breath came in frantic, angry gasps as a sudden wave of nausea mixed with my intense rage. My shoulders shook violently as I fought with every ounce of strength to break free from his unyielding hands, but it was entirely useless. I screamed directly in his face with a glaring, desperate irritation:

"Ugh, for heaven’s sake, Alexander! I have told you a hundred times already, there is absolutely nothing!"

In that exact, vulnerable split-second, his entire expression shifted horrifically before my eyes. Every single trace of warmth, affection, and gentleness vanished with a terrifying speed, replaced by a cold, dictatorial, and tyrannical rigidity a terrifying mask that instantly reminded me of how he used to control me when he was my high school professor.

His eyes narrowed sharply, piercing directly into my soul, as he leaned his head down dangerously close to my face, uttering a chillingly quiet, low rumble that instantly froze the blood inside my veins:

"Do you truly want me to take things to the level of punishment with you, Steph?"