Ethan Storm’s Dark Awakening novel Chapter 24

The restaurant buzzed with the low hum of conversation and the soft clink of cutlery. Waiters weaved between tables, and golden light spilled from ornate chandeliers. But that peaceful ambiance shattered like glass the moment Belen Morgan stormed through the entrance like a thundercloud on legs.

His sharp eyes scanned the room—and froze.

Near the window, poised like she owned the place, sat a woman in an elegant black dress. Alice Morgan. The niece his family had written off. The woman everyone had assumed was lost, if not dead.

Belen’s mouth dried. She looked untouched. Unharmed. Alive.

But that could only mean one thing.

She had submitted to Martin Irving.

“Alice!” Belen’s voice cracked like a whip through the restaurant.

Conversations dropped. Forks paused in mid-air. Alice slowly lowered her wine glass, not a single muscle betraying emotion, and turned toward him with the kind of smile that could cut steel.

“What a coincidence,” she murmured, voice laced with sarcasm. “Did you come here to ruin everyone’s dinner—or just mine?”

“Cut the crap!” Belen snapped, stomping across the restaurant floor like he owned it. “You—how dare you show your face here like nothing happened?! After being taken away by the Irvings, I thought you were finished! And now you’re out here… flirting with some random man?”

The man beside her chuckled, resting his hand lightly on the table. “Random? That’s rude. I’m sitting right here.”

Alice leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs slowly, deliberately. “Belen, go away. You’re making a scene.”

“Go away?” His laugh was bitter. “Are you joking? You think this is some kind of game? Martin Irving took you—everyone saw it. No one expected you to survive that, let alone waltz into a restaurant with a smirk and some mysterious stranger. Do you have any idea what kind of danger you’re putting all of us in?!”

“Oh, please,” Alice drawled. “You all stood by when I was dragged away. Not one word. Not one attempt to help. Now you’re scared because I came back without crawling?”

Belen’s face darkened. “We stayed silent for your sake! We thought—”

“No,” she cut him off sharply. “You hoped. You hoped I’d be broken. You hoped Martin would crush me so you and dear Grandmother Veronica could finally be rid of me.”

“Don’t twist things!” he barked. “Grandmother’s doing everything she can to protect this family. You—you’re the one jeopardizing everything!”

Alice’s eyes flared. “You mean everything I built?”

Belen’s grip tightened on the back of her chair. “You need to go back to Martin and fix this mess before it blows up in our faces. Apologize. Serve him. Do whatever it takes to keep him calm.”

Alice stood abruptly, her chair screeching behind her. The restaurant hushed, tension thick in the air.

“I’m not your puppet,” she said, her voice low and trembling with suppressed fury. “And Martin Irving is not my master.”

Belen’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t interrupt.

“I held this company together while the rest of you played obedient lapdogs,” she continued, her voice sharp with restrained fury. “I brokered the deals, secured the mergers, cleaned up every mess Grandmother’s favorite left behind—and still, it was never enough. All because I’m Lawrence’s daughter—the child of the one son, out of her three boys and one daughter, she couldn’t stand.”

“Don’t speak like that about Grandmother,” Belen warned, voice shaking.

“She can keep scheming all she wants,” Alice said coldly. “We both know your father, Oliver, is her favorite—and that’s exactly why she treats you like royalty and treats me like I’m nothing, no matter how hard I work to keep the family business running. Veronica has always wanted to undermine me just to push her precious Belen into inheriting everything. But I’m not stepping aside so you can play the golden prince. If she wants a war, I’ll give her one.”

“Alice—”

She turned her glare back to him. “I’m done being polite. The next time you want to cry about ‘family honor,’ go weep to Veronica. I don’t take orders from traitors.”

Belen flinched, but she wasn’t done.

“You all decided I was disposable. Now you’ll live to regret that.”

Her gaze swept the room, meeting the stunned eyes of onlookers who dared to keep watching. Then she looked back at Belen, her voice hardening.

“I’m taking back everything that was mine. The company. The legacy. The respect. Everything Veronica tried to erase. I’m reclaiming it piece by piece—and no one, not even you, will stop me.”