Chapter 337-They Are The Real Players
Chapter 337-They Are The Real Players
Lara;
For a moment, it felt like I was in a dream, because the voice that had just reached my ears was one I never expected to hear again.
Hearing it again felt like dying and coming back to life.
I stared at everyone’s faces, too afraid to turn around.
The very comfortable look on everyone’s faces scared me.
Zoe tried to hold back her smirk as she took a bite of her food.
Lady Vivian’s eyes were shining with new hope.
Amy and Colin’s eyes widened.
They shared a glance with bright smiles before looking back at the person who had just arrived.
And then there was Markus, who had fear in his eyes.
"What happened? You’re not even going to turn around and look at me? I mean, wouldn’t you look me in the eye and remind me that you won everything?"
As her voice came closer, like she was whispering right behind me, I pulled my body forward and then turned around.
And right there, before my eyes, stood the woman who should not have been here.
"Iris?" I asked, trying to get up, but she placed both her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down to sit again.
For a moment, I could not even respond.
I just sat there without moving, as if, if I did not move, it would somehow turn out to be not real.
Then Kash arrived, and I lifted my head toward him, trying to ask what was going on, how the woman who betrayed him was back in the mansion.
Kash came and sat in the seat opposite me very casually, focusing on his food.
"Come on, my dear. Wouldn’t you sit and eat with me?" he called to Iris.
She walked around the table and offered her hand to Kash, and he helped her sit down before the two of them giggled softly.
"Mom, you’re back!" Amy and Colin screamed happily, getting up to hug their mother.
But I was still sitting there like I had a fever, like I was trapped in a nightmare.
Then I turned to look at Lady Vivian and Zoe, confused about why they were treating this so normally.
"Here, try this, Iris," Zoe said casually, offering her some food.
"Try this too," Lady Vivian added as she began pouring fresh orange juice for Iris.
I shook my head again and again, trying to confirm if this was truly happening, because none of it made any sense.
How was she back again?
"What is going on?" I asked in a broken tone.
"Why is she back?" I asked again, turning to Markus, whose eyes widened before he sank into his seat, not even trying to remind them what this woman had done to them.
"Wait, I... I do not approve of this. What is going on?" I said, my voice starting to rise as nobody responded to me anymore.
"I have missed you so much," Kash murmured to Iris, leaning toward her and pressing a quick kiss on her cheek, all of it right in front of my eyes.
Tears began gathering in my eyes because nothing was making any sense.
"Why is she back?" I asked again, sniffling hard this time.
"Kash, please tell me. What is she doing back here? Do you not remember what she has done?" I cried again.
Kash simply shrugged his shoulders very casually.
"I realized that I cannot live without her, so I forgive her for whatever she did," he said with no regret, no anger, and no guilt.
"No, this cannot be true. How can you?" I said, turning to Iris.
"How can you forgive him? Did he not beat you? Did he not reject you?" I demanded.
But in response to my words, Iris started laughing out loud, and Kash, his mother, and Zoe laughed along with her.
While I was panicking and trying to understand what was happening, Markus tried to stand up, but Zoe held his hand and forced him to sit back down.
That was when I realized something was wrong.
"You must have received a video on your phone. Why don’t you check it?" Zoe said calmly as she continued eating.
I could not check my phone, but Markus did.
And when I heard the noise, the voices, I already knew what was happening.
It was a recording of me and Markus. Not just a recording, but a video of us making plans to get rid of Iris, Kash’s family, and then his children.
All of it was in one video.
"Your Highness, I was blackmailed," Markus said quickly, raising his hand first.
However, Kash gave him one glare, and Markus fell silent.
Then Kash began to look at me.
I could not fathom what had happened. Did all of this happen afterward? Where did they get this video from?
"It is not true. I did not do it. It is AI," I mumbled.
And the family started to laugh once again.
"How could you forgive him?" I asked Iris, because I thought that was the best thing to do, to make sure she did not forget the humiliation she had gone through.
"How could I not forget what?" Iris asked in a confused tone.
The calmness in her voice scared me.
"He rejected you. He beat you," I continued, but as I spoke, they began laughing again.
Everything suddenly became clear to me.
"It was all our plan, you idiot," Zoe said, rolling her eyes as she reached for her food.
"You all played me?" I asked, pointing at my chest.
Kash finished his bite, took the napkin off his lap, and suddenly threw it on the table with such force that the noise made me flinch.
"Do you have any idea what you are going to get for playing with the Alpha King?" he yelled, making my eyes widen.
That much anger.
I had lost him.
He was looking at me with nothing but hatred in his eyes.
"Kash, you know I love you," I said, my lips curling downward as I got up from my seat.
I walked toward him and noticed he was holding Iris’s hand.
"No, let go of that hand. She is not worthy of your love."
As soon as I said that, something in Kash snapped.
He flipped out, got up, shoved the chair away, and grabbed both my arms, shaking me.
"Did you seriously fucking think you would come between me and Iris and I would let you do that?"
As he screamed, he shook me so hard that tears began running down my face.
"But I had you," I uttered, while he laughed right in my face.
"You never had me, you stupid bitch."
Kash’s words made my jaw drop.
I had known Kash for a very long time.
I had seen him get angry and all those things, but I had never heard him use that kind of tone for anyone.
For him to say that to me made me feel like I had truly lost him.
"I’m a bitch?" I asked, tearing up.
"Oh boy, it seems like she’s completely delusional." That came from Zoe.
I could not even snap at her anymore. I turned to look at her, then sniffled, holding back my tears.
"Zoe, I understand that now you think it was all a plan, and maybe that Iris was played by Markus," I continued, instantly pointing at Markus when mentioning him, trying to put the blame on him for the whole Markus and Iris situation.
Markus returned the glare to me, his jaw clenched tight.
"But trust me, I’ve been your friend for a very long time. How could you accept Iris and not me?"
It felt as if I was speaking another language.
At first, Zoe kept watching my face like she did not understand, then she started laughing as if it were a joke.
"Um, you’re no one’s friend, Lara. Maybe you’re forgetting that the minute you thought you had the power, you tried to get rid of me and my mother. It’s literally in the video. It is clearly defined by your actions. How could you still try to fool us?" Zoe shot back, her tone laced with sarcasm and taunting.
I looked down to hide my eyes because I was embarrassed.
I don’t know what got over me, but I always wanted more. I always wanted all the power.
When I was living with my father, I wanted his attention to myself. And now that I have Kash, I want him all to myself.
Why do they see my toxicity in this and not my love for these people, not my possessiveness for them?
At this point, I could tell that I was losing Kash.
But I was not going to let it go now.
He had to accept me.
"Kash," I uttered, holding his hand, but he shrugged himself free and looked at me like I was something disgusting.
"Please, you need to forgive me," I cried, trying to reach for his hand again and again until Iris stood up.
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