Free Web NovelChapter 214: Chapter 214
Aria’s POV
I blinked, startled. “Williams? Why so sudden?”
“Well—uh—don’t ask so many questions!” he laughed. “I’m boarding now. I’ll land in two hours. You and Jonathan better come pick me up!”
His voice was as loud and unreasonable as ever but somehow, it made my shoulders relax.
“Alright,” I said, smiling despite myself. “I’ll be there.”
Without him, clearing my name back then would have been far harder.
“Promise!” he confirmed before hanging up.
Alpha Jonathan and I met up to pick Williams from the airport.
When the plane landed, Alpha Jonathan put a call through to Williams. “The driver has your luggage,” came Jonathan’s calm voice through the receiver. “Aria and I are waiting for you.”
Jonathan ended the call smoothly and slipped his phone away.
“He’s off the plane. We will just wait a moment for him to get here.”
His smile was gentle, polished, the kind that put people at ease. I waved it off lightly.
“Williams and I are old friends. Waiting is the least I can do.”
Jonathan smiled but didn’t continue. His gaze flicked subtly across the crowd, alert and calculating.
Then...a sharp, shrill voice cut through the air like a snapped twig.
“Aria? What are you doing here?”
I recognized it instantly. It was Sophia.
My brows knit together, irritation flashing coldly through my eyes as I turned. I didn’t bother masking it. Ignoring Sophia entirely only made her anger spike.
“Aria, I’m talking to you!”
She reached for my arm.
Before her fingers could touch me, a firm hand blocked her.
Sophia stiffened and looked up.
Jonathan met her gaze with a polite smile that held no warmth at all. Authority radiated from him, calm and sharp, like a fox baring teeth without growling.
“Ms. Sophia Darvin,” he said mildly, “it’s important to maintain decorum in public.”
Sophia froze.
My wolf huffed quietly inside me. Good. She understands dominance.
“Sophia!”
Jessica’s excited voice broke the tension, but the moment she saw the scene, displeasure flashed across her face.
“What are you doing?!” She rushed forward, pulling Sophia behind her protectively.
Then she turned on me.
“Honestly, Aria,” she snapped, her eyes blazing. “You think you’re something special now just because you latched onto another rich alpha? Sophia is your sister! And you treat her like this?”
Her voice grated against my ears, sharp enough to trigger a dull throb in my head.
Don’t escalate, I reminded myself.
Things had only just settled. I didn’t want unnecessary attention.
I exchanged a brief glance with Jonathan. He understood exactly what I meant. I wanted us to move away from trouble and find another spot where we can wait for Williams.
But my decision to leave seemed to embolden Jessica. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
“So?” she pressed. “You’re just leaving? Apologize to Sophia!”
I stopped.
Slowly, I turned back.
The noise from the crowd around us faded into the background as my wolf lifted her head, eyes narrowing.
Some prey only stops when you bare your fangs.
“Apologize?” I echoed, a faint sneer curling my lips.
Jessica hadn’t expected that. She blinked, momentarily stunned.
“If you don’t,” she threatened, lifting her chin, “I’ll expose you to the media! Selina might be a public figure, but with your arrogance, who would keep supporting you?”
She looked triumphant, convinced she’d cornered me.
I stared at her. Not coldly, not angrily. Just... blankly.
As if asking, Are you actually this foolish?
Her face flushed, then twisted in frustration. “What kind of look is that?!”
“What are you all doing?”
A confused male voice interrupted us.
Williams appeared out of nowhere, carrying a huge box of limited-edition collectibles in one arm and several bags of snacks in the other. A lollipop stuck out of his mouth, his words slightly muffled.
Jessica’s fierce expression froze.
She hurriedly smoothed her hair. “What... what are you doing here?”
Williams blinked at her, genuinely puzzled. “This is the arrivals area?”
Jonathan stepped forward immediately to help with the collectibles. Williams instinctively tried to hand some to me, but Jonathan’s cool glance stopped him in the middle of the act.
Williams obediently kept holding them.
I almost smiled.
The easy, familiar rhythm between the three of us didn’t go unnoticed.
Sophia and Jessica exchanged a look.
“Aren’t you Alpha Williams, Top designer for Celestyr brand?” Sophia asked.
Jessica nudged her, “Of course he is...I met him in the plane earlier and got his autograph”, she said with a smile, colour creeping to her cheek as she tugged a hair behind her ear seductively.
Sophia, confused glanced between Williams and me, “You know her?”, she asked.
Williams smirked, “Isn’t that a dumb question? Of course I know her...she is Selina, out top designer”.
Sophia’s fingers clenched at her side.
Her mind must be trying to work out how I got to know several influential people. In recent times, she has seen me with top figures, industry elite. It wouldn’t make sense to her, considering she had always only known me as a lawyer and a luna who got trampled upon severally until she landed in prison.
What she didn’t know was that I built a network on my own right from an early age.
Her gaze slid to the brothers. First to Jonathan, who carried himself with effortless composure, he was handsome and steady. He also had an undeniable powerful presence. Jonathan was the executive director of Celestyr Brand, that much was clear.
Her eyes darted to Williams who was its star designer.
Then they landed on me with disdain. I could see how much of a pain it was for her to believe I was Selina.
My wolf laughed softly inside me.
Believe whatever helps you sleep step sister, she murmured.
Seeing how silent both women had become, I turned slightly, signaling Jonathan and Williams that we should leave.
But trouble, as always, had sharp claws and no sense of timing.
Sophia stepped forward.
She bit her lip, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears, her posture fragile and unwilling. It was so practiced it almost deserved applause.
My wolf bristled instantly.
Careful, she warned. That one is about to bare her fangs in public.
“Sister,” Sophia said, her voice trembling with what sounded like righteous sorrow, “you and Nathan haven’t divorced yet. How can you be so shameless, meeting strange men alone?”
