Forbidden Temptation My Mafia Fiance's Alpha Father (Brooklyn and Aden) novel Chapter 49

Chapter 49
Aden

I storm into the dining room, where the table is set for four.

I sit down hard in my chair at the head of the table, waving at the place settings on either side of me.

“Remove these,” I tell the waitstaff, barely getting the words out due to my frustration. “Have Hudson’s and Brooklyn’s plates sent up to Brooklyn’s room. They’ll take their supper there.”

The staff don’t think I can see them giving each other worried looks as they silently do as they’re told.

No matter. They do not concern me right now.

The chef comes out next, looking around the room.

“Sir?” he asks, his French accent heavy in the word. “Will you be dining alone?”

“Apparently,” I say, angry that Jayde isn’t here, either.

What would it take to get some respect in this house? It’s times like this I wish I had actually become the Alpha I was born to be, to be able to compel people to do as I wished.

To compel Brooklyn to stop crying.

“Please bring out the meal,” I grit out.

The chef nods, impassive, and heads back into the kitchen.

A few moments later he appears again with the first course—salmon tartare with a small side salad and a freshly sliced French baguette.

I ignore the fish and reach for the warm bread, slathering it with butter as I sit back in my chair, trying to control my thoughts.

But I can’t stop them from going to her. Brooklyn.

I almost couldn’t take looking at her tonight, sitting there in her bed, crying as if her heart would break.

I tried—tried to break the mood, to cajole her out of it, to scare her out of it by pounding on the wall.

But she had just kept crying.

I grit my teeth between bites of bread, angry with myself for not being able to pull it together.

Angry at the way my feelings had so much control over me lately.

For wanting, even now, to dash up those stairs and so something—anything—to make her stop.

But she is Hudson’s problem now, a right that Hudson just asserted upstairs. Kicking me out and keeping Brooklyn all to himself.

My wolf…doesn’t like it. At all.

I really tried, these past few weeks. Tried to distract myself, to busy myself with work and plans. Tried to ignore her when she walked into a room, the light lily scent of her shampoo drifting through the air—

The wide-eyed expressions of her face when she feels surprised, or happy, sad, or angry.