Chapter 98: #NINETY- EIGHT

NICHOLAS’S POV

My face became hot when Roman said it, and for a moment I didn’t know what to say.

He was still standing in front of me, waiting for my reaction, while the music continued playing in the background.

I looked at him, then glanced toward the others as though they might somehow tell me what I was supposed to do.

Nobody interrupted us. Roman stepped closer and gave me enough time to pull away if I wanted to, but I didn’t.

His lips pressed against mine, soft and pliant as it moved against my lips. His tongue slid into my mouth, tangling with mine as his hand snaked around my waist, gripping it tight.

When we finally pulled away, I could barely breathe. I could feel myself smiling despite how embarrassed I was, and Roman seemed equally amused by my reaction before he finally stepped back and started laughing.

"Don’t look at me like that," I said, covering part of my face with my hand because I could already feel my cheeks getting hotter. "You were the one who said it, so you can’t suddenly start laughing because I’m embarrassed."

Roman shook his head as he picked up the microphone again. "I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because you’ve gone completely red. Besides, I meant what I said, so there’s no reason for you to look so surprised."

I lowered my hand and gave him a look. "Fuck off."

"As you please," he replied, grinning before turning back toward the music. "You should have seen your face."

"Just sing."

"Gladly." He grinned.

Elijah immediately started another song, and Roman returned to dancing beside me as though the conversation hadn’t happened. I eventually stopped worrying about my face and joined him again, and the others continued making comments from the couches whenever either of us did something ridiculous.

Elijah kept changing the music whenever Roman complained about a song, which led to another argument as always.

By the time we finally stopped, all of us were tired.

I dropped onto the couch while Roman sat beside me, breathing heavily and wiping his forehead. Cassian disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with several glasses of water, handing them around before keeping one for himself.

"You two are lucky I didn’t record that," Cassian said, handing me a glass. "I don’t think either of you realizes how ridiculous you looked. Still, I’ll admit that you weren’t completely terrible."

Roman took his glass and laughed. "That’s your way of complimenting us?"

"Somehow."

I drank some water and looked at Cassian. "You kept criticizing us the whole time, but you didn’t get up once."

He laughed. "Because I know my strengths."

Roman looked at him suspiciously. "What strengths? You sat there judging everybody."

Cassian leaned against the couch and smiled. "I can’t dance, and I can’t sing. I’ve accepted that. But nobody in this house can beat me at chess, so I’ll stick to something I’m actually good at."

I immediately looked at him. "You’re that confident?"

Cassian turned toward me. "I’m confident enough to prove it."

I placed my glass on the table. "Then play me."

The room immediately became interested again.

Roman sat up. "Oh, this should be good."

Elijah laughed as he started gathering the equipment from the floor. "Finally, something that doesn’t involve me being attacked for my singing."

Cassian looked at me with a small smile. "Are you sure you want to challenge me? Because I don’t want you complaining when you lose."

"I won’t complain." I huffed.

"Good. Then let’s play."

Cassian went to get the chessboard while I moved one of the tables closer. Within a few minutes, the board was set between us and the others gathered around to watch.

I looked at the pieces before making my first move.

Cassian responded almost immediately. "You’ve played before," he said, watching the board carefully.

"A little." I admitted.

"A little isn’t enough if you’re planning to beat me." He boasted.

I smiled. "You’ll find out."

We continued playing, and the room became quieter as the game became more serious. Roman and Elijah sat nearby watching the board while Adrian stayed on the opposite couch, occasionally looking over whenever one of us made a move.

Elijah eventually became bored. "This is going to take forever," he complained, leaning back. "You’re both sitting there staring at tiny pieces like you’re trying to defuse a bomb."

Cassian didn’t look away from the board. "Nobody asked you to watch."

"That’s exactly why I’m suggesting we make it interesting. Put something on the game so there’s actually a reason for everyone to care."

I looked at him. "What do you suggest?"

Elijah grinned. "If Nicholas loses, he cooks for everyone for the entire week. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. He doesn’t get to escape by ordering food."

I immediately protested. "Why am I the one cooking?"

"Because you’re the one playing." He rolled his eyes like it was obvious.

Cassian finally looked up from the board. "That seems unfair."

Elijah shrugged. "Then if Cassian loses, he cooks instead."

Roman laughed. "Now I’m interested."

Cassian looked at me before returning his attention to the chessboard. "Fine. I’ll accept."

I moved another piece.. "You’re going to regret agreeing to that."

Cassian smiled. "We’ll see."

The game continued. At first, I thought Cassian was going to win. He was good, and he clearly knew exactly what he was doing. Every time I thought I had found an opening, he closed it. He also kept watching my face whenever I took too long to make a move, apparently trying to figure out what I was thinking.

"You’ve been staring at that piece for almost a minute," Cassian said, resting his elbow on the table. "If you’re waiting for it to tell you what to do, I don’t think it’s going to help."

I laughed. "I’m thinking."

"Think faster. I’m getting bored." He groaned.

"I’m not going to rush because you’re impatient."

Roman laughed from behind me. "Don’t let him distract you. He’s probably trying to make you nervous because he knows you’re about to beat him."

Cassian looked toward Roman. "You’re supposed to be impartial."

"I’m supporting Nicholas because I don’t want to spend the next week eating your cooking."

Elijah nodded seriously. "That’s actually a very good reason."

Cassian shook his head and returned his attention to the board.

A few more moves passed before I finally saw the opening I’d been waiting for.

I moved my piece and Cassian stared at the board.

Then he leaned closer. "No."

I smiled. "Checkmate."

For several seconds, nobody spoke, then Roman jumped up from the couch. "Wait, he actually won?"

Elijah rushed over to look at the board.

Cassian remained seated, staring at the pieces as though he was trying to find a way to undo the last few moves.

I laughed. "You said nobody could beat you."

"I said I was good," Cassian replied, finally looking up at me. "I didn’t say you couldn’t get lucky."

"That wasn’t luck. I’m just better." I flexed my arms.

Roman started laughing. "He’s never going to recover from this."

I leaned over and kissed Cassian before pulling back with a grin. "You owe me a week of cooking."

Cassian shook his head while everyone else laughed. "I can’t believe I agreed to this."

We continued teasing him about it until Adrian’s phone started ringing.

Adrian looked at the screen before answering. "It’s one of the security officers who worked on Nicholas’s case," he said, getting up from the couch. "Give me a second."

He answered the call and put it on speaker because everyone was already looking at him.

"Hello," Adrian said, walking toward the window. "What’s going on?"

The officer spoke from the other end, asking whether Adrian had seen Jayden recently or whether the family was still trying to locate him.

He explained that they were following up because there had been no clear confirmation about Jayden’s whereabouts and they wanted to know whether the family had received any information.

Adrian glanced toward us before answering. "We haven’t found him," he said calmly. "We’ve been away for the past couple of days. We needed to get Nicholas away from everything for a while because of what happened to him, so we’re taking some time before returning."

The officer asked where we were staying and Adrian didn’t hesitate. "We’re travelling around for now. I don’t know exactly when we’ll return, but I’ll contact you if we get any information about Jayden."

The officer continued asking questions, but Adrian maintained the same story, explaining that we had gone away specifically to give me some time to recover and that nobody had heard from Jayden.

When the call finally ended, Adrian switched off his phone and placed it on the table.

Nobody spoke immediately and Roman was the first to break the silence. "How long are we going to keep telling them that?"

Adrian looked at him. "Apparently as long as it takes."

Cassian nodded slowly. "They will keep calling though."

"Then we give them the same answer," Adrian said, picking up his phone again. "Nobody changes the story, nobody says anything different and nobody contacts anyone connected to Dad without telling the rest of us first."

I looked around at them.

The mood in the room had completely changed.

Because we all knew we couldn’t keep this up for long.