***LANCE'S POV***
It was quarter past ten in the morning when I found myself back at the Carter family mansion.
The place was quieter than it had been the previous day, when guests had gone in and out of the living room bearing gifts for the new mates.
I hated that. With everything in me. But I was sure my father hated it even more than I did.
Groggily, with dizzy eyes, I walked toward the dining room. My father, Marius, was already seated and forcing porridge down his throat.
He didn't make it obvious, but I knew he was forcing himself — even to sit at the table.
"Good morning, grandpa," I greeted the old man seated at the extreme end of the table.
He raised a hand and waved at me, continuing to gobble his food happily.
He was the reason Marius was at the table. No wonder.
Adrian's father, Darius, was seated to the right, while Marius sat on the left. I walked to the left and sat beside my father.
Adrian should have been next to his own father, but he was nowhere to be found. Not that I cared. He had always acted as if he were better than me, simply because he was the rightful heir.
"Where have you been?" my father's angry voice cut through the silence of the table — but not with his mouth. It came through the mind link.
He had activated it with me the very day he picked me off the streets twelve years ago, when he promised to raise the little boy I was then.
"Slept off after the party," I muttered back. I couldn't tell him I hadn't even been present at the party, except when I'd gone to meet my boyfriend — the one who broke up with me.
"Good for you. You were at the wedding party! Adrian's wedding party! How about yours?! When is it going to be? Adrian just secured an alliance with the Obsidian Howl Pack, and you're still here walking empty-handed with no mate or alliance!" he lashed at me through the link.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. My eyes darted around the table even though I knew none of the others could hear our private exchange. It was just me and him — like always. But I still wanted to be sure. Also, it gave me time to stall.
The man was always on my neck, always giving me a hard time. But never in front of others. To them, he made me seem like the ideal, powerful son they all prayed for.
The opposite of Adrian who was seen as a weakling wherever he went, with complaints trailing behind him.
Sometimes I wondered if my father had only picked me up to antagonize his twin brother's son. Which, of course, might be the exact reason he had brought me in.
"I heard Adrian hasn't been able to secure the merger with Power Corporations. How long will the company have to keep waiting on him to do that? We have other agendas on the table that need tending to."
I hadn't wanted to bring this up — especially not at breakfast, and not the morning after his wedding. But being cornered, with no proper response for the man, I knew silence would come back to bite me later. I had no other choice.
Darius dropped his spoon. Fury burned in his eyes. If not for the old man sitting at the table, he might have bared his teeth, punched me and reminded me of my place before storming off.
I was used to it. Being the twins' punching bag whenever they needed to vent their frustrations in their endless power struggles.
The old man said nothing, but turned his gaze to Darius. Since Adrian would be away for his honeymoon, he expected Darius to know about the merger, at least.
"Why don't you have anything to say, brother? Is the project not coming out well?" Marius mocked, reveling in the opening I had given him.
"Dad, I told you to hand that responsibility to Lance. He would have secured that merger months ago. It's been three months, yet Adrian hasn't provided any real results." My father gloated, his voice brimming with satisfaction.
Darius clenched his fists. I noticed, but pretended not to. Why bother? He was always angry whenever his precious son was criticized. As if Adrian were so saintly he couldn't make mistakes. I almost laughed.
As if on cue, Adrian's voice drifted in from the entrance. I heard him greeting the family as he walked into the house, looking disheveled — as though he had been running from a ghost.
My lips twisted into a sneer as I turned and saw him.
I had just been broken up with the night before, and no one seemed to notice. Who would, anyway? I wasn't even a real Carter — just the adopted stray.
It was always Adrian. The golden boy of the Carters. Even though there was nothing golden about him.
He always took ages to deliver on the tasks expected of him at the company, yet no one complained. Not even his father. Darius would hush it up, covering the mess to protect his son's spotless reputation.
But me? If I wasted more than a day of the week allotted for a task — no matter how large — I wouldn't hear the end of it. At board meetings, I was always dragged over the coals.
That was my place. My role. A pawn. Marius only used me for his selfish battles.
I even remembered back in high school, when Adrian was reported for kissing another boy. The student hadn't seen his face, only the Carter surname tag on his chest.
Darius had given up a company share to Marius to settle it — and me? I had been forced to confess to the school principal, claiming responsibility for the "unnatural kiss."
That boy had been Landon Hayes. That was how we became friends, lovers… and now—
I stopped myself. The thoughts threatened to consume me.
That wasn't who I was. I just had to endure all of this… for now.