Chapter 47

47. His Domineering Presence “Breathe!” My brain orders me, and I force my nose to inhale some much-needed air. Only then do I realize the fire within me was coming straight from my lungs.

I sit there on the floor where I fell ass-first to, almost paralyzed as my eyes keep locked onto the face looming above me. The dark hair, the shape of the eyes, the shape of the nose...they are all familiar features that I did not think I would see again, not after the last time. My heart stammers in my chest as I struggle to make a connection. This is not Aiden; he is much too older and broader in his frame to be Aiden. But there is no denying the haunting similarity this man has with Coraline’s missing ex-

boyfriend.

“Jace!” I hear Coraline’s voice come from behind me as the crowd dissipates. A pair of shoes clatter on the ground as she makes her way towards me, and then abruptly stops as she registers the man in front of me.

I hear Coraline gasp, and that is enough to break me out of my stupor. I remember where I am, and who I am. I do not think Joseph Greyson’s son should be sitting on the floor in the middle of a banquet hall like I 1.

I scramble to my feet as Coraline comes to stand next to me. The man in front of us now stares at us, puzzled.

“I’m sorry,” finally, he drawls, and I flinch. Fuck, even the voice is the same, if not a bit deeper. His. wandering eyes settle on mine. “I did not see you coming my way.”

I order my mouth to speak, “No, it’s fine. The fault is mine anyway, I was the one who wasn’t looking. where I was going.”

The man smiles, but it does not reach his dark eyes, “I see. Well, then we are both to blame,” then he adds. in a more polite tone, “I believe we have yet to make our acquaintance. I have never seen you around here before.”

“This is my first time here,” I reply, “Our company’s first time, that is.”

“Oh?” he raises a brow, “and what will your company be?”

“Zelt Technologies.”

Recognition lights his eyes, “Oh, from Clandestine city, right? I have some stocks in your company.”

I feel my abdomen freeze. Distantly, I wonder, where the hell is Gerald?

The man’s expression changes minutely. Something almost predatory injects into his eyes. He takes a step towards me, a cocky smile on his face.

“Well,” he murmurs, “young enough to still be in college, with a lovely young lady always by your side...you must be the Jace Greyson who I’ve been hearing all these rumors about lately.”

I did not think it was possible for me to feel even more out of sorts.

“You’ve heard of me?” I ask.

The man grins, “practically everyone here has heard of you, Mr. Greyson. You appear to be the star of the evening. The one and only son of Joseph Greyson, whose existence no one was aware of until today. And believe it or not, you kind of look like your father’s son,” he extends his hand towards me in a shake, “My name is Carlton Collins. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

My suspicions are confirmed, I realize with a jolt. This man shares a face and the last name with Aiden.

He has to be related to him.

“Well,” I take his hand, willing my own to be steady, “I guess I don’t have to tell my name.”

“No, you don’t,” he smiles again, and it is nothing but genuine.

At least I think it is. It certainly looks so. But I just can’t help but feel apprehension thrum beneath my skin because of the man’s identity. He looks like he is respectful, and I want to believe so. But he is...I do not trust him.

And that is a strange decision to come to about a man who I had just met minutes ago, regardless of what my intuition warns me.

“Well, as I said before, it was a pleasure,” Carlton smiles again, “but I am afraid I must reconvene with my own party. I will see you around the conference, Mr Greyson. You too, Miss Granger.”

With that, he vanishes, leaving us bewildered in his wake.

I slowly turn to Coraline who is looking back at me. I’m pretty sure our expressions look the same.

“Coraline,” I say, “please tell me you recognized the man “I mean...I didn’t-” Coraline stammers, “Aiden never took me to visit his family. He said we were not ready, and he was not keen on showing me any photos of them or anything. But he knows my name, so maybe Aiden told him about me “I’m sorry, what? Weren’t you two living together? Why were you not ready?”

“He said we weren’t serious enough yet “Even when he was hitting you?”

The answer I get for that is silence. Coraline looks away in shame For a moment, I forget everything happening in the present so I can embrace her. She returns the embrace with a shuddering breath but refuses to cry.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I murmur to her.

“It was partly my fault. I should’ve left when he first started it.”

“It was a hard thing to do, Coraline. I may never have been in love, but I know how hard it is to let go of love.”

Coraline nods, and we part. Her face morphs from sorrowful regret to contemplation.

“That has to be Aiden’s father,” she mutters, “the face, the gait. Even the voice...it was all eerily similar.” “I suspect the same thing,” I reply, “but you have to admit, Carlton is so different from Aiden.”

The man had an unexpectedly domineering presence, even when he was smiling at me. It felt like all the air got sucked out of the room the moment he stepped in, and his confidence practically oozed off him. He was stockier than his alleged son, and taller as well. And had none of Aiden’s sleazy nature which I loathed.

Carlton Collins seemed bigger than life itself.

And his presence felt...like a challenge.