Brooklyn looked at the guests milling about. They were all dressed to the nines. He didn't know how to handle himself around them."It's been so long since we last saw each other, Mr. Dimitri." A woman in glasses approached Brooklyn and Dimitri, her arm in Victor's. "How have you been recently?""I've been great," Dimitri said coldly. "Thanks for your concern, Ms. Hayes, but no thanks.""This must be Mr. Zachary Hart." Sheila Hayes looked at Brooklyn, her gaze gentle. "He doesn't look as bad as the rumors make him out to be. In fact, he looks pretty obedient.""If you don't have anything else to say, Ms. Hayes, Zachary and I are going to leave." Dimitri didn't seem to like Sheila much. He'd barely spoken to her when he gestured for Brooklyn to push him away."There are certain things that we just can't force, Dimitri," Sheila said icily. "Whatever happens in a relationship is only the business of the parties involved, but neither of you represent just yourselves. Honestly, Victor
Brooklyn was lost for words. He was indeed shorter than Mischa, but he wasn't short."Don't make fun of him. You head upstairs first," Dimitri said."It'd be better for me to head up with you, wouldn't it?" Mischa smiled. "Don't bother trying to get Zachary to accompany you upstairs. It's not going to happen.""Shut up." Dimitri was annoyed by her. "If you don't have anything else to say, you can go now.""Come on, don't be like that. I have to push you up, don't I?" Mischa took the handles of the wheelchair from Brooklyn and smiled at him. "You can head outside to get something to eat if you don't have anything to attend to, Zachary. We'll be down once we're done up there.""Uh…" Brooklyn felt a little lost, but Dimitri didn't deny Mischa's words. The former could only watch as the siblings headed upstairs.Brooklyn stood before the elevator, not knowing what to do. He felt like a lost child who didn't know what his next step was.He watched as people came and went before him.
Brooklyn looked at Victor, subconsciously not wanting to meet his eyes. He didn't want Victor to know he was speaking to Wilson."You, back there. What's your name?" Victor stepped past Brooklyn and approached Wilson. "You're a waiter here, aren't you?""I'm Wilson Sutton, sir," Wilson said.Brooklyn had a bad feeling about this. Before he could say anything, Victor punched Wilson, making the latter fall to the ground.Wilson let out a muffled groan. He didn't know what he'd done to piss Victor off, so he remained on the ground without saying anything."What are you doing?" Brooklyn ran to stand before Wilson, shielding the latter with his body. "What makes you think you can just hit someone like that?""What makes me think that? My bad mood tells me I can do it, and the fact that my family hired him tells me I can do it. I can do whatever I want to him," Victor said impatiently. "You, come over here and wipe my shoes."Wilson clenched his fists but didn't say anything. He got u
"Have you forgotten that I'm an Alpha, Zachary?" Victor sneered at Brooklyn. "Who is this dude to you? Why are you trying so hard to save him? Did you guys already know each other before today?""How could I… possibly know… Mr. Hart…" Wilson was finding it hard to breathe, and his face hurt like hell. However, this wasn't the time to retaliate. Compliance and obedience were the only things that could make his life easier at that moment."I suppose that's true. There's no way you two could be acquainted." Wilson's compliance made Victor feel better. He released Wilson and stopped channeling his pheromones. Then, he flung Wilson to the ground.Brooklyn immediately hurried over to help Wilson up. As soon as his hands touched Wilson, Victor chuckled and said, "You're so kind, Zachary. You don't act like a rich kid at all—look at how much you care for the hired help.""You've got a shitty mouth, Victor," Brooklyn said coldly. "You'll end up in trouble one day because of it.""What the
"I did nothing of the sort!" Brooklyn looked anxiously at Dimitri. The latter merely looked at him without saying anything."What do you mean, you did nothing? You lied, didn't you? You must know this fellow." Victor looked mocking. "I heard you used to have a Beta lover from the underground level—this guy's a Beta. And look at how protective you are of him.""I'm not!" Brooklyn didn't know how to explain the matter; it seemed there wasn't any way for him to explain. To him, any explanation would blow his cover.Just then, Mischa looked around at everyone with a cheeky smile. She said, "We should talk about this where there aren't so many people, shouldn't we? This isn't the best place to chat. We'd only be embarrassing ourselves.""Let's head to the pavilion in the garden, then," Victor said. "Come along, Wilson."Wilson had already turned to leave. He'd only taken a few steps when someone stopped him. He turned to give the people waiting for him a resigned look."You're one of
Mischa held Brooklyn's hand and said gently, "If possible, please cheat on Dimitri as soon as possible. I'm desperate to see him make a fool of himself."He pulled away from her, feeling a little scared. Then, he looked at Dimitri and said in a small voice, "Your sister's scary.""She's a psycho who should've been admitted to an institution ages ago." Dimitri rolled his eyes at Mischa. It was a crying shame that no one in their family was normal."Don't say that about her, " Brooklyn hurriedly said. "You'll hurt her feelings, and she's still so young…""I'm 22 this year, Zachary. I'm not young anymore." Mischa grinned. She pointed at Wilson and said, "I'll take this with me. You guys can go ahead and talk.""Wait, we haven't gotten to the bottom of this. How can you just take him away?" Victor felt like Dimitri and Mischa had played him. They didn't seem to have any intention of looking into Wilson and Brooklyn's relationship."It doesn't matter anymore," Dimitri said coldly. "I
Dimitri knew Brooklyn had nothing to do with this, of course. He knew the situation had only happened because he hadn't been by the latter's side. Still, he was mad."Why didn't you think about calling me when running into trouble?" Dimitri clutched the armrests of his wheelchair tightly. "I would've immediately come down if you'd called me. Why didn't you?""I…" Brooklyn was a little scared of him. "I was worried you wouldn't have time to answer my call. You were with your mother, weren't you? I would've disturbed you if I'd called.""Zachary!" Dimitri raised his voice. "Come here."Brooklyn circled to stand before him. Then, he crouched so they were eye-level and asked, "What's wrong?""I want you to understand one thing, Zachary. You'll always be my top priority. Always." Dimitri caressed his face. "I'll back you up and support you forever."Brooklyn looked at him without saying anything. Sometimes, he couldn't help thinking that he didn't want to lie to Dimitri like this. The
Dimitri released Brooklyn and looked at the maid. There was a trace of blood on his lips, which he was well aware of. He reached out to hold Brooklyn steady."Are you okay?" he asked. "It's time for the banquet.""Yeah." Brooklyn nodded, sounding weak. That alone was enough to tell that he wasn't doing so well.Dimitri knew that Brooklyn was probably feeling like jelly now. It couldn't be comfortable. He'd channeled more of his pheromones into Brooklyn's body earlier, which meant the effect he had on the latter would amplify.Brooklyn needed to rest, not attend a banquet. Dimitri knew he shouldn't have done it, but he'd lost control of himself because he was afraid of things going wrong. He was worried Brooklyn would disappear once he had his back turned."Let's join the celebration, then." He wanted to be understanding and allow Brooklyn to rest, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had to have the latter by his side. Otherwise, how would he be able to explain to his parent