The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 91

Chapter 91 Supposed To Be Mine

The yacht rocked gently in its private slip at the marina, the only sound was the soft lap of water against the hull and the distant hum of the city. Inside the master cabin, the lights were dim, casting long shadows across the sleek modern furniture and the figure of Sarah Lyros curled up on the white leather sofa.

She’d been quiet since they’d left the gala. Too quiet. Xan knew that silence. It was the sort that came before a storm, the type where she was processing something, turning it over and over in that strange, fractured mind of hers until she either came to a conclusion or shattered completely.

He poured himself another whiskey, his third since they’d boarded. Or maybe his fourth. He’d lost count somewhere around the time he’d watched Elera walk onto that stage and become someone else entirely. Someone he’d never known. Someone who’d been hiding in plain sight while he’d been treating her like a prize to be won and then destroyed.

The memory of it made his jaw clench. The applause. The cameras. The way she’d stood there in that nidnight blue dress that made her look like some kind of dark queen, holding that crystal award like it was a scepter. And then that speech. That damned speech where she’d looked right at Vex and basically confessed her feelings in front of four hundred people.

And Vex had kissed her. Really kissed her. And it was not some polite, for–show peck. A real kiss. It was a kiss that said mine in a way that made Xan want to put his fist through a wall.

Did you mean it?”

Sarah’s voice cut through his thoughts, soft and eerie in the dim light. She was sitting up now, watching

im with those pale, unsettling eyes that always seemed to see too much.

Mean what?” Xan asked, though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

What you said to her. At the awards.” Sarah’s head tilted slightly, like a bird examining something dead on he ground. “You told her she was worth loving. That you threw away something actually valuable. Did you mean that?”

Xan turned away from her, looking out the window at the dark water. He could lie. He was good at lying. He’d been lying to everyone including himself for so long that it came naturally. But Sarah had a way of knowing. She always knew.

Sarah stared at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then slowly, like ice melting, she smiled. “You were trying to turn her.”

“Exactly,” Xan said, warming to the lie now. He crossed the cabin and sat down next to her, taking her cold hands in his. “Think about it. Elera is powerful. More powerful than we realized. She’s got money, resources, probably multiple identities, connections we can’t even begin to map. If we can bring her to our side, if we can make her see that Vex is using her just like everyone else has used her, she becomes our weapon instead of his.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify