Auctioned to the Cruel King - Chapter 79: Chapter 79

Lance’s POV
I could feel the heat rising behind my ribs again. Not rage. Just… weight. That kind of pressure that settles deep and makes your breath feel like it’s caught behind your teeth. Curse me. I leaned back in my chair, pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes. The pressure helped, but only just.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” she said, voice neutral.
“What do you want?” My voice lacked bite. It sounded dull, tired, like it had been scraped raw and left in the cold.
She tilted her head. “I just came to check on you. Heard you weren’t feeling well. Thought I’d come rub your ego a little. But wow. Turns out you're not dying. Just... expecting.” A pause, which I didn’t care about. Viv’s tone shifted—less mocking, more curious. “Honestly, I didn’t even know there was a possibility after what...” She didn't finish.
I leaned forward and pressed my thumb and forefinger into the corners of my eyes. A slow pressure to ease the sting behind them. I didn’t need this right now.
“I’m not in the mood for your games, Vivian.”
She didn’t bristle the way she usually would. Instead, “I’m not playing games, I’m genuinely happy for you. But at the same time…baffled.”
I exhaled through my nose. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t know,” I said flatly.
She gave a bitter laugh. “What? How was I supposed to know?”
I leaned forward, voice quiet but lined with steel. “Your sudden insistence on having dinner with us two nights ago. The way you kept dodging her name… refusing to speak about her, even when you never shut up before.”
Viv’s lips parted, but no sound came.
“I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying,” I continued. “And that was a lie of omission.”
“It was not my place.”
“When is it ever your place before you stick your nose in?” I barked.
She flinched. Slightly.
“So that’s what this is about,” she snapped. “You’re pissed I didn’t tell you.”
“You were the last person I expected to withhold something this important from me. Something that should’ve been...”
Her mouth twisted. “That’s rich. When I talk too much, I’m the villain. I don't talk and reveal anything at all, I'm still the villain. Damned if I do or don’t.” She scoffed. “Quit it with the lashing out at me when we both know whom you should be talking to… but I would advise against that and ask you to just wait given the fragility of her.”
My jaw clenched. “Oh, now you suddenly care.”
Vivian’s expression contorted—no humor left in her face now. Her lips peeled back slightly, not in a smirk this time, but in something raw and stung. “I’ve always cared. For you. For the pack.”
She stepped forward, her voice rising, not to a scream, but a sharp, aching fury.
“I became what they all detest just so you could thrive. I carried the shame, the whispers, the backhanded praise. You know it. So don’t you ever, ever question whether I care or not.”
I didn’t answer right away.
Because beneath all her fire, I heard it, the real thing she’d never said aloud. Not for years. That she loved me. Maybe not in the way I needed now, but she had. Still did, maybe. And I’d used that, time and time again. She let me.
I didn’t want to argue anymore. I didn’t want to bleed anyone else just because I didn’t know where to put my anger. All I wanted was to be still. To rest. To think—think about how I could’ve handled everything better. With Kayla. More especially with Kayla.
The bargain had been simple: give me a child.
But now the news of that child sat in my chest like a ghost and I hated how I’d learned it. That I’d failed as a mate.
“I know that was harsh of me to say,” I muttered. “I’m sorry.”
She looked away, jaw tight.
“It hurts more because it’s coming from you. Of all people… you.”
Her voice dropped on that last part. Lower and wounded. Vivian didn’t show softness often. She wore her armor like skin, and even when she cracked, it was sharp and cutting. But now… there was nothing sly about the way she looked. Just tired. Sad. And that made something in me twist.
I exhaled sharply. I wanted to cross the space between us. Sit beside her. Rubbed a hand over her shoulder, slow and careful. But I didn't.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, quieter this time. “Truly.”
Maybe I said it because we were finally getting along again. Or maybe because, for once, she wasn’t being impossible. Or maybe it was everything else—Kayla, the baby, the knowledge that nothing was ever going to be simple again if I didn't set things right.
Vivian stared down at the ground, silent for a moment. Then a soft sound escaped her throat, a giggle. She brushed her hair behind her ears, eyes glinting like she was trying to keep the tears away by sheer force of will.
Then she laughed.
Full-bodied laugh. That kind of laugh that made no sense but said everything.
But I went with what she would want to hear. “Oh, come on. I can’t believe I fell for that. You’re still doing this?”
She shrugged, grinning through the remnants of something close to pain. “What? You picked the argument. I just played the part.”
But I saw it.
I’d known her long enough to read the cracks in the façade. She was hurting. Deep down. That’s why she laughed so loud—so I wouldn’t ask more questions.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I fell into that one.”
She let the grin linger for a moment before her voice softened.
“So what are you going to do?”
I leaned back, elbows resting on my knees. “What you already said. I wait. When she’s ready to tell me… I’ll be ready to listen.”
Viv nodded. “And act surprised. Don’t forget to act surprised.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“So.” She straightened a little. “The real reason I came to talk to you…” She gestured vaguely toward the hall. “I saw Ric. He looked like someone punched him in the gut and pissed in his coffee. What happened?”
“I’ll talk to him later.”
“Why’s he so pissed off?”
“He thinks I don’t trust him,” I said simply.
Vivian frowned and cocked her head. “Gee. Why would he think that?”
I gave her a flat look. She arched one brow. “What did you do?”
“I brought someone else in,” I said. “To look into Landon. Well, behind Ric’s back it is.”
“Look into?”
“Gather information. You know exactly what I mean.”
She exhaled. “And you didn’t tell him?”
That was what it was.
“He had too much on his plate,” I said. “And it wasn’t… planned.”
Viv studied me for a moment. “Still. Ric isn’t stupid. And he’s loyal to a fault. You should’ve told him.”
“I know.”
There was a pause.
Then she stood, brushing invisible dust off her skirt. “Anyway. That’s all I came to say. Now it’s time for me to go bask in his torment.”
“Be careful,” I muttered, half-amused.
“Always,” she said, then paused. “But… are you going to be okay?”
“I’m excellent.”
She looked at me, gaze narrowing. “No. I mean in general. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Go for it.”
Viv turned, smirking faintly now. “Okay then. I’m already too hot waiting for the experience.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “He’s ripe for the picking.”