Tempted By My Ex’s Brother-In-Law - Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Aria’s POV
God, it felt amazing not having to suck up to anyone in this damn house anymore. I’d officially decided. Starting now, only my damn feeling mattered.
“You heard me. That was a big fat fuck off to you,” I said with a grin and flipped him off.
His entire face turned red with anger.
“How dare you!” he growled. “You are by far the most vulgar, disrespectful, and dull woman I have ever seen around our Alpha. You do not deserve his affection—”
I yawned. “Your opinions mean absolutely nothing to me. Can I leave now?”
I turned to head back to my room. Now the first thing on my to-do list: figure out how to get Mrs. Jones back. I couldn’t stand that arrogant old prick another day.
“Wait.”
He rushed forward and blocked my way.
“What now?” I frowned.
“I was sent here by the former Luna and Alpha. Since it’s now a fact that you’re staying by Alpha Grayson’s side, they expect you to at least pay attention to your appearance and behavior.”
I guess he thought name-dropping the old Alpha and Luna would somehow scare me.
But it really didn’t work as well as he thought.
“What’s wrong with the way I look or act?” I asked coldly.
He gave me one of those nasty, judgmental once-overs.
“First of all, your outfit looks cheap—you look like a grocery store cashier.” His eyes swept over my jeans and landed on my flats. “We don’t want you lowering the Alpha’s status by wearing off-the-rack junk like that.”
“I’m going to be the kind of women who wear heels and dresses at their own house. That’s just not me,” I said flatly.
But of course, he wasn’t done. His gaze moved to my hair.
“And your hair. I get it, women from slums like you don’t have time to care about the details. But hair says a lot about social status. You shouldn’t have any strange styles or split ends. Weekly treatments are the bare minimum.”
I really thought he’d stop there.
But nope.
“And we need to work on your manners. You probably think living here gives you some sort of privilege, but it doesn’t. You’re not Alpha Grayson’s date, not even officially his mistress, and that puts you on the same level as the servants. Which means you should never walk in front of him. Never stand next to him. And never turn your back on him at any time.”
Oh dear Moon Goddess.
That was a lot of “Nevers.”
I let out a loud, scornful laugh. “Does Grayson even know you’re here today?”
“Don’t call the Alpha by name!” he snapped, chest rising and falling rapidly. “I understand that you grew up without a mother, which possibly explains your lack of manners—”
Okay, that just crossed the line.
“Who told you I didn’t have a mother?” I asked icily.
“Everyone knew,” he snorted. “She ran off when you were little, didn’t she? And you never had a proper female role model growing up. How irresponsible and reckless of her.”
I stared at him for one second.
Then suddenly, I stepped forward and punched him straight in the nose.
His fancy gold-rimmed glasses went flying.
He let out a wail and stumbled back. “You crazy little rat—!”
“The only manners I know are that you don’t barge into someone’s space, insult them from head to toe, and then throw in the fact that they’re basically a motherless orphan!” I snapped, clenching my fist. “Next time you mention my mother, I’ll break your fucking nose.”
He was literally shaking with rage.
“Alpha Grayson will hear about all of this!” he roared.
“Go ahead. Tell your dear Alpha. Tell him to kick me out of this place. I’d never step into this fucking house again if he hadn’t begged me to come back.”
With that, I shoved past him and headed upstairs, going back to my room.
As soon as I closed the door, I turned on the TV.
It was the first time in days that I had a chance to check on the outside world.
I couldn’t wait to see what people were saying about Grayson’s return, his little speech…and me.
The second the screen lit up, the news was already covering it.
“Attention members, Alpha Grayson is finally back!” The female anchor said excitedly. “After all the worst-case scenarios were tossed around, after his sister nearly destroyed the pack’s economy, he finally made a public appearance today. And within 5 minutes of that appearance, the company’s stock price skyrocketed.”
The male anchor jumped in. “So to Lady Delilah and her husband Jace Carter, we say—Please stop meddling in pack business. You two are both idiots. Go back to filming reality show and leave grown-up stuff to your big brother.”
I let out a low laugh.
Looked like Delilah and Jace had completely fucked up.
They went through all that effort to steal the project from me, only for the whole thing to go up in flames.
Now the world knew how stupid they were.
“And we couldn’t help but notice,” the female anchor continued, “Alpha Grayson didn’t return alone.”
“That’s right. A woman named Aria Collins appeared with him in public.”
They flashed a photo of me and Grayson at the airport.
God, my hair looked like crap.
I looked like I just got off a late shift at a gas station. No wonder people were questioning why Grayson would choose someone like me.
“So what do we know about her?” the female anchor asked.
“She works at Apex and apparently used to date Lady Delilah’s husband, Jace Carter.”
“Ooh, the drama!” she gasped. “We all know our Alpha has a bit of a playboy rep. He’s dated many celebs and socialites, but this is the first time he’s ever publicly acknowledged a relationship. Now the biggest question—Will this girl become our future Luna?”
I caught myself biting my nail as I stared at the screen.
“No way in hell,” the male anchor said bluntly.
“How do you know? Alpha seems to really like her.”
“Not enough to call her his girlfriend,” he said with a smirk. “Seriously, what does ‘my precious thing’ even mean? Sounds like something you say to a booty call so you don’t have to commit.”
The female anchor burst out laughing. “Exactly! And I bet no one in Red Stone would ever accept someone like her as our Luna.”
“Of course not. The Harts only marry nobility. That’s been their ironclad rule for centuries. It’s why they keep producing powerful Alphas like Grayson. But Aria Collins? She’s not just non-noble. She’s not even middle class. She’s a full-blown slum kid.”
My eyes widened.
They showed a slideshow of me.
School photos from when I was a kid, pictures of me in Frostpine, even one where I was bargain shopping at a dollar store.
Where the hell did they get all that?!
That was private. They had no right!
“Oh my god, look at her lining up for discount groceries,” the female anchor said with a shrill laugh. “Even I wouldn’t do that.”
“Very disgracing, right? I can’t believe any man would still find her attractive after seeing those pictures.”
“God, let’s just hope Alpha Grayson finds his real soulmate soon—someone beautiful, noble, someone who actually deserves to be Luna. And Aria Collins should just back the fuck off.”
It wasn’t stopping.
They kept airing more pictures, revealing more of my life.
They even showed my home address, my grandma’s care facility, May’s workplace.
Everything about me was suddenly fair game for public humiliation.
“Fuck,” I growled.
I grabbed my phone and called him.
“You need to come home. Now.” I snapped as soon as he picked up.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’ll fucking tell you when you get here.” I hung up without waiting for a reply.
Honestly, I didn’t expect him to drop everything and run back just because of one angry call. That was mostly me blowing off steam.
But 20 minutes later, I heard a car outside.
I threw my door open and ran down the stairs.
He’d just stepped into the foyer, looking sharp and cold as ever. That old bastard Tarry popped out of nowhere to greet him.
“Welcome back home, Alpha Grayson,” he bowed. “Now if you’re not too busy, I’d like to discuss a few things—”
I cut in, striding straight up. “What took you so long?”
“I came the second I got your call.” Grayson stared at me with a frown. “What’s the emergency? Are you ill?”
Tarry cleared his throat loudly, jumping in again. “As I was saying, Alpha, I had a very important message from the former Luna and Alpha—”
“There’s a fucking news broadcast dragging me through the mud,” I said loudly, cutting him off.
“Miss Collins!” Tarry barked, spinning toward me, red with rage. “Can’t you see the Alpha and I are speaking? Interrupting like that is precisely the behavior you need to work on!”
I sneered. “Alpha Grayson, your butler here just can’t wait to talk to you. Tell him, who should fuck off? Me or him?”
“You stay, Aria.” Grayson said without hesitation, before giving Tarry a stern look. “Keep your mouth shut when your masters are speaking. That’s lesson one for a butler, Tarry.”
The old man turned purple in the face.
“You were saying?” Grayson looked back at me.
“There’s a news program exposing all my personal info. Now the whole world knows my house number in Frostpine. That stunt you pulled at the airport caused this.”
His face darkened immediately. “I see. That station will lose its broadcast license by tomorrow. You’ll receive their formal apology.”
But I still wasn’t satisfied. There’s more steam to blow off.
“You want me in this house, right?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“But I can’t stand this old prick.” I turned my glare on Tarry. “Get rid of him for me, Grayson.”