Page 12 of Hateful Games

“I’ve filled my quota of being nice and charming for the week. Besides, this is just a farce of a meeting and I’m not one for letting bygones be bygones. Mihir and Lily should know what they signed their daughter up for.”

“Then just say no. Why are you willingly locking yourself in a cage for a lifetime?”

“It’s complicated.”

“What isn’t in our lives?”

Nathan’s life may appear perfect from the outside. However, it is anything but. While I’m stuck in a hate-fueled engagement, his future is toppled after his older brother, Kian, decided to join the army. Instead of taking over the family business. The weight of the responsibilities is now on Nathan’s shoulders. One he wasn’t interested in.

Daughters in our society may think their future is dictated by their parents while the sons live as they please. They couldn’t be more wrong. We’re just as doomed as them by our fathers’ expectations.

“Why the fuck is she taking so long?” I grumble, sipping from the water bottle left by one of the maids.

“After your disinterest, Lily may be giving her pointers. Or dressing her up in a kurta or sari to impress you.”

“This isn’t the eighties.”

“She’s probably going to come out holding a tray of tea to serve us.”

“Then proceed to throw it in my face.”

Nathan stands and sits opposite me. At my scowl, he shrugs. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Prick.”

Right then, the she-devil rounds the corner with Jasmine—her older sister—trailing along her side. The latter has a friendly smile while the bane of my existence is throwing daggers at me with her eyes.

Thankfully, no tray.

Chapter Four

Nova

Nathan stood when the girls approached, while I didn’t bother.

I’m realizing my little Rose brings out my asshole tendencies. I give everyone a wide berth, minding my own business. Yet she evokes the need to create chaos just by her mere presence. Her existence.

I don’t know whether it’s trouble for her or me that she’s now on my radar.

Schooling my features, I lean back in my chair, purposely ignoring Rosalie and paying attention to Jasmine. However, it is a mistake because I can feel her heated stare—burning from hatred—lingering on my body, incinerating me with its intensity.

When I flick my gaze to her, she looks away and it’s my turn to admire her lithe and toned figure. I have to remind myself she’s sixteen and to not leer at her like a pervert, even though I’m only three years older than her.

The sunlight casts a beautiful glint in her dark red hair, making it appear lighter than it is. The length almost grazing the top of her ass. While the rest of her is dressed in yet another black ensemble—this time leggings that look painted on and a crop top, showing a glimpse of her naked midriff.

And is that a… navel piercing? Fuck.

It’s the sight of her siren red lips, though, that has a foreign sensation unfurling inside me. And the fact we’re coincidently matching. I didn’t think much when I wore black faded denim pants paired with a black shirt, leaving the sleeves rolled.

I assumed by now she would have grown out of her obsession with black.

When she squirms under my perusal, it pleases me.

The urge to peer inside her head and read her thoughts is so visceral that it makes me uncomfortable. Every emotion and every urge with her rise tenfold. I almost stand to bolt the hell out of here when Nathan’s voice cuts through my thoughts.

“Hey, Jasmine, long time no see,” says Nathan jovially.

“You’re the one who disappeared into thin air,” she jokes. “Working to take over the world?”

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