Outcast Queen: Her Return from Hell novel Chapter 79

Dead silence.

A bizarre, suffocating silence fell over the entire store.

The man who had just been radiating murderous intent and screaming for blood had thrown his knees onto the floor!

Meredith, whose fists were already raised for a fight, froze in place, utterly bewildered.

Cade's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He screamed in disbelief, "Caspian?! Are you crazy? Why are you kneeling to her?!"

Smack!

His answer was a vicious backhand across his face from Caspian.

"Shut up! You bastard, do you have any idea who you just messed with?!"

Cade's head rang from the brutal force of the slap. Clutching his cheek, he asked in a daze, "W-Who is she?"

"My wife."

A deep, magnetic voice cut from the doorway, wrapped in a suffocating, freezing chill that instantly dropped the temperature in the room below freezing.

Pierce stepped inside. His aura was as sharp as a razor, radiating the absolute dominance of a man who ruled everything.

Cade convulsed violently, the last string of his sanity snapping. His voice trembled like a leaf in the wind. "N-Ninth?! You're saying... Phoenix is... your wife?!"

Pierce didn't even spare him a glance. He cast a sideways look at Lydia, who was shivering violently in the corner. His tone was apathetic. "What, did Ms. Langston not tell you?"

That single glance made Cade's pupils contract as reality viciously slapped him awake.

His immense terror morphed instantly into explosive rage. He spun around, using every ounce of his strength to deliver a brutal slap across Lydia's face.

"You bitch! You knew she belonged to Ninth and you hid it from me?! You used me as a weapon?!"

"Cade, I... I didn't mean to, listen to me..." Ignoring the massive swelling on her cheek, Lydia desperately reached for his sleeve in pure terror.

If they earned the hatred of the Thorne family, the Langstons were completely finished!

"Get out!!" Cade kicked her away, following up with another vicious slap, his face twisted with malice. "You whore! The Langston family... is dead!"

"No! Cade, I'm sorry!!" Lydia wailed in absolute despair.

However, the icy glare in Pierce's eyes didn't thaw in the slightest. The invisible, crushing pressure made Caspian's heart pound frantically from his knees.

He mentally cursed his catastrophic idiot of a brother a thousand times over. He didn't care about Cade's grievances right now; his only prayer was that they hadn't permanently provoked the Reaper of Cloudhaven.

Especially seeing how Pierce treated Phoenix—this was clearly far more than a simple contract marriage.

Phoenix's frown deepened.

What was wrong with Caspian? She had already said to drop it, yet he was practically hemorrhaging gifts to appease her?

"Get out. Go home and teach your brother how to behave," Pierce said coldly.

"Yes, yes, I'm leaving right now."

Watching Caspian flee as if he had just escaped death, Meredith's jaw practically hit the floor. She leaned into Phoenix's ear and whispered, "Phoenix, what is going on?! The Thorne family's heir is calling you Mrs. Sterling? And the Reaper of Cloudhaven is calling you his wife?! Am I in a fantasy novel?"

Even though it was absurd, knowing her best friend was the main character made every impossible thing suddenly make perfect sense.

"It's a long story. I'll explain later."

Phoenix sighed softly and walked over to Pierce. "Thanks, Ninth. Even though... it wouldn't have mattered if you didn't show up."

Pierce's eyes darkened. What did she mean it wouldn't have mattered? Was this woman complaining that he was getting involved in her business?

She was truly arrogant.

"I was just passing by to pick out wedding rings," Pierce lied smoothly, justifying his presence with a grand excuse. "Since we are legally married, we can skip the wedding, but... we can't skip the rings."