One Night Mistake… Now I Carry the Mafia Heir

Chapter 68: 68/The Fatal Hallucination

Chapter 68

Cedric’s Point of View

Stephanie sat across from me, eating in total silence and provocative calmness, as if she were intentionally ignoring my presence, which felt like it was scorching the room. Damn her... even the way she chews her food, her delicate movements with the fork, makes me lose what’s left of my mind. Why does this woman look different to me than every other woman on Earth? Why does she steal my breath and make my heart flutter even when she doesn’t utter a single word?

Isabella broke my tangled train of thought with a curious question: "Tell me, do you two know the baby’s gender yet? Is it a boy or a girl?"

Before Stephanie could open her mouth to answer, Alexander rushed to reply with a tone of confidence and possession, as if he were the one primarily concerned: "We don’t know the gender yet. The doctor said it’s still early, but they are twins."

In that moment, I felt my entire body stiffen like stone, and the veins in my neck began to throb violently, almost bursting through my skin. My brother wants to steal my children from me right before my eyes! By what right does he answer this question as if he were the true father? With what audacity does he claim these little ones as his own in my presence?

Isabella gasped with artificial excitement. "Twins! Oh, that’s truly wonderful! What an amazing surprise!"

Then she turned toward me, her eyes locking onto mine with a strange demand and a repulsive, childish tone: "Cedric... I want to have twins from you too!"

I looked at her with internal coldness and detachment. Did she think I was an online store where she could just press a "Download Twins" button to get her wish? Disgust crawled up my throat, but I suppressed my feelings, painted a cold, fake smile, and said mechanically: "As you wish, Isabella dear. Everything in its time."

Suddenly, the sharp sound of a fork and knife hitting the metal plate echoed loudly, creating an annoying ring that made everyone stop eating and turn toward Stephanie. She looked extremely embarrassed, her face flushing crimson as she lowered her gaze. "I... I’m sorry. They slipped from my hand," she whispered in a trembling voice.

"It’s okay, my daughter. Nothing happened," my grandfather said in a calm, steady tone to diffuse the situation.

But she couldn’t continue. She stood up abruptly, pulling the cloth napkin from her lap with a sharp, quick motion. "I’m full, thank you... I’ll go to my room to sleep now," she said, trying to remain composed.

I had no intention of letting her escape so easily without leaving a mark on her heart. I leaned back in my chair, watching her depart, and spoke in a provocative, mocking tone: "So soon, Stephanie? Dinner isn’t over yet. Won’t you stay with us for a while to sit and talk as one family?"

She answered without granting me the honor of a glance, the psychological exhaustion and fatigue clear in the huskiness of her voice: "I am very tired, and I don’t have the strength to talk."

At that critical juncture, Isabella wrapped her hand possessively around my arm and said with a sickening daintiness while looking at my grandfather: "Since everyone is tired, I also feel exhausted... I’ll sleep here in the palace tonight. I don’t want to drive at this hour."

My gaze froze for a second. The idea of Isabella staying in the palace—in the same hallway where Stephanie sleeps—would turn our night into a burning hell. It was exactly what I was planning for and fearing all at once.

"Of course, the palace is yours, and you can stay here, Isabella," my grandfather said in a calm, decisive tone.

I caught Stephanie’s features stiffening as if she had been slapped. Her eyes widened in shock before a clear annoyance and bitterness, which she couldn’t hide behind her mask of coldness, washed over her face. The sight of her distress and the jealousy in her eyes satisfied my wounded pride and quenched my thirst for revenge a little. She didn’t wait to hear another word; she turned, her body taut as a drawn bow, and left the hall with quick steps that were almost a run.

Isabella smiled with clear victory and stood up, hooking her arm through mine with a force that made me feel claustrophobic. "Grandfather, excuse us... Cedric and I will go rest now."

I froze for seconds, feeling the pressure of her fingers on my arm increase. "Isn’t it too early for sleep?" I asked, trying to gain any extra time to escape this trap. "The evening has only just begun."

But she gave me no chance to retreat or maneuver. She pulled me lightly, whispering in my ear in an authoritative tone: "No, it’s the perfect time... Come on, get up!"

I realized in that moment that things were beginning to take a dangerous turn I hadn’t originally calculated, but I was forced to continue this filthy theatrical performance until the final curtain. I let out a suppressed sigh of frustration and rose from my seat. Turning to my grandfather, I said stonily: "Goodnight, Grandfather."

"Goodnight," my grandfather replied, watching my movements with a piercing gaze, as if reading what lay behind my mask.

I walked beside Isabella toward the grand staircase, my entire body charged with unbearable tension. My eyes involuntarily searched for the ghost of Stephanie, who had disappeared into the darkness of the upper hallway, leaving behind the scent of her perfume that refused to leave my nose.

As soon as the bedroom door closed behind us, my breath hitched. Isabella’s body suddenly pressed against my back, and she wrapped her arms around me with a strange, possessive strength, burying her face between my shoulders. She breathed deeply and said with a voice full of satisfaction and victory: "Finally, Ced... finally I felt that you love me today. You were wonderful downstairs."

My body stiffened completely under her touch as if I had turned to stone. A heavy weight sat on my chest, preventing me from moving. I felt nauseous from this fake proximity. I tried to undo her hands from my waist with a forced gentleness, looking away toward the dark window. "Isabella, it’s been a long day and you’re truly tired... Come, let’s go to sleep now."

But she didn’t give up. She tightened her grip around my body and said in a playful, dainty tone: "No, I’m not as tired as you think... I only wanted to make up a convincing excuse so we could escape everyone and come up here alone."

I let out a suppressed sigh, my shoulders tense from extreme stress and anxiety. I felt an overwhelming urge to push her away. "I’m tired, Isabella, and I don’t have the energy for anything," I said in a dry, emotionless tone.

She suddenly let go of me to spin around and stand directly in front of me, facing me with a gaze that mixed wild desire with bitter reproach. She drew close to my face and said in a wavering, trembling voice: "Ced, we’ve been engaged for a long time, and yet you’ve only touched me and fucked me once in all these months... I want you now. I want you to fuck me this instant because I can’t take it anymore."

I stood in total silence, the veins in my hands bulging as I clenched my fists so hard my nails nearly dug into my flesh. It was her image Stephanie with her delicate features and eyes full of torment, that dominated my imagination and filled my being.

Meanwhile, Isabella’s bold words rang in my ears like an annoying noise, increasing my sense of suffocation and distress within these walls.

I tried to slip away from her stifling siege, looking away completely, trying to find a speck of fresh air in the room. "Isabella, listen to me well... I told you I’m exhausted, and my body can’t move."

But she had no intention of surrendering easily. She drew even closer until I felt her breath on my skin, fixing her gaze on mine with a strange persistence. "And I told you I’ve reached my limit," she whispered. "I can’t bear another second... I miss you like crazy, Cedric. Don’t you feel me?"

I let out a sharp sigh as the walls of the room seemed to close in on me and the psychological pressure grew heavier. "I miss you too, but I really need to sleep now," I said, trying to end the matter by any means.

She didn’t settle for words. She grabbed my trembling hand and squeezed it with a plea and a begging that was clear in her eyes. "Cedric, please... don’t reject me tonight," she said in a wavering voice full of need.

In that critical moment, something strange and suspicious happened in my scattered mind. Isabella’s features began to fade before my eyes, and another face began to appear with lethal clarity... it was Stephanie! I saw her standing before me, her begging for my closeness! My logical thinking vanished completely, and my vision blurred.

I grabbed her waist with a violence I hadn’t known in myself and pulled her toward me so forcefully that her body crashed against my chest, stunning her. I began to kiss her with a frantic, feverish madness. I was seeing those mesmerizing blue eyes and that fiery red hair flying in my imagination. Damn it... how feverish and longing I was for that scent and those features!

My hand extended with a tremor that hinted at an old obsession, and I stripped her of her dress with chaotic movements. Her fingers, too, were moving with frantic speed to undo the buttons of my shirt, letting it fall to the floor. I shoved her hard against the cold wall, still drowning in kissing her brutally, as if I were trying to compensate for every moment of deprivation I had lived away from Stephanie... Suddenly, in the height of that silent roar, the door was swung open violently.

My body froze in place, and I stopped moving completely as if struck by lightning. I felt the coldness of the room sweep over my body.

I turned my head very slowly, the breath leaving my bare chest with extreme difficulty, as if my lungs had failed. The ultimate shock was there... Stephanie was standing at the threshold. Her features were frozen in a shock and horror I had never seen before.

She stared at me in disbelief, seeing me bare-chested in an unmistakable situation, while Isabella was in my arms in only her underwear, pressed against me.