Page 68 of King of Rage

‘Why does everything I do for her only make her angrier?’ He studied her, frustration beginning to simmer beneath his confusion. ‘Is she really so unhappy with me that even my attempts to make her happy only make things worse?’

Lucius picked up the box and set it aside before leaning back against the edge of his desk.

“It was a simple gesture, Stella,” he said, his voice tightening. “It doesn’t have to turn into an argument between us.”

Stella’s expression darkened even further.

“A simple gesture?” she repeated, disbelief dripping from her voice. “You used your wealth and connections to take control of the business I built with my own hands, and you thought I wouldn’t see through it?”

She stepped closer, her eyes blazing.

“No one gets to use me, Lucius Frost.”

Lucius’s jaw tightened.

Her words cut deeper than she realized. He had been trying to make an effort for her, yet she had twisted everything into an accusation that he was using her.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

‘She thinks I’m using her?’

He had never wanted anything from her except the chance to be close to her again. Yet, in her eyes, every attempt he made seemed to prove that he wanted only a physical relationship with her and nothing more.

‘Does she despise me that much?’

His frustration grew as an old wound reopened.

A year ago, she had asked him for a breakup out of nowhere, leaving him to deal with the consequences alone. He had spent the entire year trying to understand how everything between them had fallen apart.

And now, even when he was doing everything he could to win her back, she looked at him as though every effort he made was nothing more than another reason to hate him.

Back then, when Stella had come to his house to collect her belongings, the maid had told him she was there. He had walked past her in the living room without even looking at her and gone straight to his study.

He hadn’t allowed himself to look at her because he knew that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from begging her to stay.

For the entire year that followed, he had tried to forget her. He had forced himself not to think about her, not to remember the life they had shared, and not to dwell on why she had walked away.

He had failed miserably.

And now she was standing in front of him again, and he was just as helpless around her as he had been before.

Lucius abruptly tossed the box of fruit aside. It hit the edge of his desk, sending the contents scattering across the floor.

He straightened, his jaw clenched as he tried to get his temper under control. But the anger and jealousy burning inside him were already pushing his restraint to its limit.

He stepped closer to Stella, his expression hardening.

“You’re right,” he growled. “I shouldn’t have had anything to do with you the moment I saw your entire house filled with photographs of your fucking husband.”

Jealousy sharpened every word. The image of Shane’s photographs displayed throughout Stella’s home had been tormenting him, and now that he was standing in front of her, all the anger he had been holding back came rushing to the surface.

He didn’t wait for her to respond.

He turned and stormed out of the office, his footsteps echoing sharply across the floor.

Stella remained where she was, staring after him in confusion.

“What the hell is he talking about?” she muttered. “What do Shane’s photographs have to do with any of this?”