Free Web NovelChapter 18: Chapter 17 A Problem Named Mireya
"Wait."
My voice came out sharper than I intended.
Laziel stopped at the door.
I followed him immediately. "What do you mean she has his eyes?"
For a second, he simply stared at me.
Then one dark eyebrow lifted.
"Your daughter."
My stomach dropped. "What about her?"
"The eyes."
He shrugged like he wasn’t casually shortening my lifespan. "They’re green."
I blinked, trying to force my face to stay completely still. "So?"
His gaze moved over my face, scanning every twitch of my features. "They didn’t come from you."
Laziel turned and continued walking toward his desk. "You have hazel eyes. Anastelle doesn’t."
He sat down, opening a document as though he hadn’t just triggered a full mental breakdown in the middle of his room. "Children usually inherit features from someone."
I stood frozen by the edge of the desk. "Are you trying to say something, Mr. Monroe?"
For a brief second, amusement flickered across his face. "I’m saying your daughter probably resembles her father."
Oh.
That was it?
That was all?
I should have felt relieved. I should have taken a deep breath and moved on.
Instead, I felt worse.
Because ever since this man had entered my life, every sentence that left his mouth felt like a threat disguised as a conversation. Every question felt like an interrogation. Every glance felt like an investigation.
Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe he really was just talking about basic biology and eye color.
But what if he wasn’t?
What if he was testing me? Watching my reaction. Waiting for me to slip up and give away a name. Waiting for me to confirm the one secret that could destroy my entire world.
I hadn’t been able to think straight since the day Laziel Monroe hired me. My brain was fried from the late nights, the stress, and the constant survival mode. And standing there now, staring at the man calmly reviewing paperwork behind his desk, I realized something terrifying.
I no longer knew whether the danger was real...
Or if I was slowly driving myself insane.
.....
The study had gone unusually quiet.
Laziel looked up from the report in his hand.
Silence.
No arguing.
No sarcastic comments.
No muttered insults directed at his existence.
Hmmm. That was suspicious.
His gaze shifted toward the desk across the room.
Mireya was asleep.
The pen had slipped from her fingers, rolling slightly to the side. Several documents were crumpled beneath her cheek, her forehead resting directly against the paperwork she was supposed to be organizing.
For a moment, Laziel simply stared— then he checked the time.
11:37 PM.
Idiot.
She had actually fallen asleep working.
Slowly, he stood from his chair.
Mireya hadn’t moved. Not even when he stopped directly beside her.
For once, she wasn’t glaring at him. For once, she wasn’t threatening to quit. For once, she wasn’t calling him a psychopath under her breath.
His eyes narrowed. This was probably the longest she had remained quiet since entering his life. A personal record. He should frame it.
Carefully, he pulled a file from beneath her face to keep it from wrinkling further.
She immediately frowned in her sleep, her brows pulling together.
"No..." she mumbled.
Laziel paused.
A second later, she burrowed deeper into the remaining paperwork, looking completely uncomfortable but too exhausted to wake up.
What kind of person falls asleep on financial reports?
An irritating one. That was what.
He glanced around the study. Then toward the open doors of his bedroom.
This was absurd. Completely absurd.
No employee had ever entered this wing of his mansion. No assistant had ever stepped inside his private study. Most people didn’t even know it existed. Not even family. Certainly not friends.
And definitely not his wife. She didn’t have the right to just walk into his space whenever she pleased. The only people who ever saw the inside of these walls were the servants who cleaned, and occasionally, the girls he brought to his bed for a single night before forgetting their names.
Yet somehow, Mireya Brenner had managed to invade every corner of his routine within a few weeks.
Annoying woman.
Without another word, he bent down and lifted her into his arms.
She weighed almost nothing. The realization made his grip tighten slightly, his hands anchoring her secure against his chest. Instinctively, she shifted closer in her sleep, seeking the warmth.
His entire body went completely still.
Laziel carried her into the master bedroom anyway. He lowered her carefully onto the mattress, sliding his arms out from beneath her.
For a long moment, he stood there by the edge of the bed. Watching. Studying the soft, innocent lines of her face under the moonlight filtering through the glass. She looked entirely different like this—fragile, almost gentle.
It was a complete contrast to the woman who woke up every day ready to fight him.
He tried to understand why this woman had become such a problem for him. She wasn’t particularly obedient. She challenged him constantly. Disobeyed him regularly. Insulted him whenever the opportunity presented itself.
And somehow... that was exactly the problem.
Everyone feared him. Everyone obeyed him. Everyone watched their words around him, terrified of making a single mistake.
Mireya didn’t.
She looked him straight in the eye and argued. Walked away from him at a high-society gala.
And somehow survived.
He smirked. If anyone else spoke to him the way Mireya did, they would already be unemployed. Or buried somewhere inconvenient six feet under the ground.
Yet here she was. Sleeping peacefully in his bed, completely oblivious to the rules she was breaking.
And for the first time in years, Laziel found himself looking forward to tomorrow’s argument.
