Chapter 136

And then it happened.

It was subtle shift before a storm. And the silence that followed wasn’t quiet but rather it was suffocating. A pause in time where something ancient inside Keegan woke up.

Grace felt it before she saw it. The atmosphere thickened around him. The way he stood rigid and still wasn’t because of shock. It was fury restrained by will alone. And when he turned his head slightly, his voice was barely above a whisper.

“What did you say?”

Akim didn’t notice the change. Or maybe he did, and he thought he could get away with it. That was his second mistake.

“I said,” Akim drawled, “you’ve become soft. Look at you letting some woman sink her claws into everything you’ve built. You think your father would be proud of this?” He gestured toward Grace with dismissive disdain. “Of her?”

Grace didn’t move. She didn’t flinch. She’d heard worse.

But Keegan did.

And before Grace could blink to see, Keegan had already lunged forward s