Chapter 1066: If I Want to Destroy You, All I Need is to Breathe

Chapter 1066 – If I Want to Destroy You, All I Need is to Breathe

Victor closed his eyes briefly.

Adrian looked like he had aged another fiscal quarter.

Celeste whispered into her tea, "This family needs structural reform."

Naomi finally let out a small laugh.

The sound was soft, brief, but it cut through the tension in a way Elise hated.

Because Lux’s face changed when Naomi laughed. His hand on her thigh relaxed, thumb brushing her once more, almost as if rewarding the sound.

Elise saw it. Her envy tightened.

"Naomi," Elise said sweetly, "you don’t mind if I discuss a project with him, do you?"

Naomi looked at her. "I mind if you pretend that’s all you want."

Elise’s eyes flashed.

The room noticed.

Even Hugo, who had been happily self-destructing in Maribelle’s direction, looked toward him.

Lux lifted his hand from Naomi’s thigh, but not as surrender. He shifted forward slightly, cat still cradled securely against him. Somehow, even holding an unconscious orange cat, he looked more dangerous than every armed man Elise had ever met.

"I’m not interested in your project anymore," Lux said.

Elise blinked.

Victor’s gaze sharpened.

"Mr. Vaelthorn," Elise said quickly, smile returning, "there is no need to be offended. We’re simply talking."

"No," Lux said. "You’re circling."

Elise’s lips parted.

Lux’s eyes stayed on her. "And I dislike wasting time when the intention is obvious and the offer is weak."

Victor’s tone cooled. "Careful."

Lux did not look at him.

Elise leaned forward slightly. "You don’t even know what the project is."

"I know enough."

"How?"

Lux’s smile returned.

A smirk this time.

Dark and slow, full of the kind of confidence that did not come from wealth alone but from being able to make wealth kneel.

"Because if the proposal were genuinely strong, you would have led with value."

Elise froze.

Lux continued, "Instead, you led with reputation, proximity, and personal access. That means the project is either underdeveloped, dependent on my name, or an excuse to get close."

Hugo’s smile vanished.

Victor’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Maribelle looked pleased.

Lux leaned back again, the cat nestled against his chest like a tiny sleeping witness to murder. "I can’t tell you how much I don’t care."

Elise’s face flushed. "I was offering cooperation."

"No," Lux said. "You were offering bait and calling it cooperation."

Elise’s hand tightened around her cup. "You think highly of yourself."

"Yes."

No hesitation. No shame.

Lux’s eyes glowed faintly. "And still not high enough for my actual market position."

Adrian stared at him.

Even after everything, the arrogance was physically painful.

But now Adrian understood.

Lux did not inflate himself because he needed admiration.

He stated value like an accountant closing books.

Elise tried to recover. "Then perhaps you should hear the details first."

"No."

"Mr. Vaelthorn—"

"No."

That second refusal was softer. Final.

The room darkened by a fraction.

Lux’s aura did not flare fully, but something from beneath his human skin opened one eye. Greed. Elegant. Predatory. Ancient enough to make porcelain feel temporary.

He looked at Elise.

Then Victor.

Then Hugo.

"Here is one thing you need to know." Lux’s voice lowered. "If I want to destroy you..." His smile sharpened. "All I need is to breathe."

Silence crashed into the room.

Elise’s throat moved.

For the first time since she entered, her attraction tangled with fear so tightly she could not separate them.

That sentence should have made him ugly.

It did not.

That was the problem.

The danger made him brighter.

Darker.

She understood, suddenly and terribly, why Naomi had fallen.

Not because Lux was safe.

But because he was dangerous and still chose where to place his hand gently.

Hugo stared at Maribelle, then Lux, then Maribelle again, as if realizing the secretary belonged to a world where sentences like that were just office weather.

Maribelle looked completely calm.

In fact, she looked like she approved the wording.

Hugo swallowed.

Victor’s smile was gone now.

He looked at Lux properly.

Not as a playboy.

Not as Naomi’s scandal.

As a threat. A real one.

And Lux held his gaze without moving.

Naomi’s hand came down over Lux’s on the cat, her fingers brushing his knuckles.

Not stopping him.

Anchoring him.

Lux’s eyes flickered to her.

The glow softened.

But it did.

Elise saw that too.

Again, Naomi changed him without asking. That envy burned.

Victor finally spoke, voice controlled. "That sounded like a threat."

Lux smiled politely. "No." He stroked the cat once. "That was a courtesy disclosure."

Maribelle added, "Threats usually include negotiation windows."

Hugo looked at her helplessly. "Why does that make sense?"

"Because you have been listening."

He blinked.

Maribelle’s mouth curved faintly. "Minor progress."

Hugo’s heart did something financially irresponsible.

Elise set her cup down with careful control. "Then I apologize if I gave the wrong impression."

Naomi looked at her.

Lux’s expression remained unreadable.

Elise forced herself to look at Naomi too. "I didn’t mean to disrespect your relationship."

Lie.

Naomi smiled faintly. "Good."

One word.

A door closing.

Elise’s pride bled quietly behind her perfect face.

Victor stood before the silence could humiliate them further. "It seems today is not the right time for discussion."

Adrian rose as well. "No," he said. "It is not."

Victor looked at him. For once, Adrian did not look like the cornered one.

Lux had shifted the market conditions again.

Victor gestured to his children. "We’re leaving."

Elise stood, smoothing her dress.

Her gaze returned to Lux one last time.

He was looking at Naomi now, not her.

Naomi had one hand resting near his wrist, and Lux had lowered his voice to ask something about the cat. Private. Soft. As if the rest of them had already become background noise.

That stung.

Elise smiled anyway. "This was... enlightening, Mr. Vaelthorn."

Lux glanced at her. "Expensive word."

Her smile tightened. "For whom?"

"For whoever learns too late."

Elise held his gaze.

-Ba-thump!

Damn him.

Victor walked out first.

Hugo followed slower, turning back once toward Maribelle.

She did not look up.

He smiled anyway.

Elise followed last, envy coiled elegantly behind her ribs.

The door closed behind them.

Silence settled.

Then Naomi turned to Lux.

"You enjoyed that."