Chapter 54: You Have Someone That Belongs To Me.

~I’m here. Now get yourself out of wherever you are in that damn endless mansion.

Vincent typed the message and sent it to Bryce as he continued toward the gate.

He had barely reached it when he began to hear the guards murmuring among themselves.

"Who is that?"

"How would I know? I’m right here with you."

Vincent didn’t bother slowing down even after seeing them. He kept walking until he reached the gate, where four guards immediately stepped outside and positioned themselves in front of the entrance, effectively blocking his path.

"Who are you, and what do you wa... Vincent Walker?" one of them exclaimed, recognition dawning the instant the lights at the gate illuminated Vincent’s face.

The guards exchanged perplexed glances before looking back at him, clearly uncertain about how to proceed.

"Mr. Walker, are you here for business?" another guard asked cautiously. "Is Mr. Sinclair expecting you?"

"No. I’m here to pick up someone, so let me in," Vincent answered calmly, his hands remaining tucked inside his pockets, unbothered.

"We... we can’t just let you in unless they’re expecting you," another guard insisted.

Vincent was already thoroughly bored with the conversation, his patience wearing thinner with every pointless exchange.

He had no interest in creating a scene, and drama had never appealed to him in the first place.

So, rather than continuing the pointless exchange, Vincent simply released his pheromones.

It’s power spread invisibly through the air, slipping into the minds of the humans standing before him.

His pheromones could lull a human consciousness into submission and manipulate it, and unlike supernatural beings, humans possessed no natural resistance capable of preventing such powers from reaching them.

One moment, the guards were standing alert and questioning him.

The next, they stared at him blankly, their expressions emptied of recognition, as though whatever thoughts had occupied their minds moments earlier had simply been wiped away.

"Open the gate," Vincent murmured.

The four guards turned simultaneously and walked back toward the entrance in a straight line. Together, they opened the gate, despite the fact that a single person could easily have handled it.

Vincent walked through without another word.

He disliked using his abilities on humans.

More than anything, he had always wanted to keep the supernatural world concealed from humanity to avoid war.

To prevent humans from hunting werewolves, and werewolves retaliating against humans.

That was why he had always restrained himself.

This was only the second time he had ever used his powers on humans.

The first had been when he erased a human’s memory. Back then, he had not been entirely certain whether his abilities would still function after spending so long dormant and separated from his own world.

As Vincent continued deeper into the compound, he realized that the guards at the gate were only the beginning.

More men were stationed throughout the grounds, positioned around the expansive property.

And as he passed each group, he extended the same influence over their minds, lulling them into complete submission before they could even question his presence.

"Stay wherever you are. Don’t move until I say so," he murmured.

One after another, the guards became motionless.

Vincent continued along the polished pathway leading toward the mansion, his footsteps carrying him closer to the entrance.

The guards stationed outside the doors stood rigidly at attention, their bodies completely still, their eyes vacant as he passed them without resistance.

He reached the entrance, opened the door, and stepped inside.

The first thing he noticed was the sheer spaciousness of the interior. Couches were arranged throughout the large room, accompanied by several tables, creating an atmosphere that immediately suggested wealth and scale.

Vincent glanced in different directions, searching for any indication of where Bryce might be.

"Where the hell are you?" he muttered as he moved farther inside.

He continued forward until the sound of voices finally drew his attention. When he rounded the space ahead, he came to an abrupt stop.

A group of people were gathered around a large table, apparently in the middle of dinner.

"Vincent Walker?!"

The maid’s cry of disbelief shattered the room. The tray in her hands slipped from her grasp and crashed onto the floor, the sound drawing everyone’s attention toward the unexpected visitor.

That was when Vincent finally saw Bryce, sitting at the table too. He looked restless and helpless.

"Mr. Walker?"

An older man spoke from the table, disbelief colouring his voice almost as strongly as it had the maid’s.

"What a surprise. What do we owe this abrupt visit?"

Vincent walked farther into the room.

"Sorry to barge in like this without notice. Since we’re not exactly close, I didn’t know how else to tell you that I’d be passing by. You have someone who belongs to me, and I’ve come for him."

Silence descended over the room.

Every person at the table stared at Vincent as though they were trying to understand exactly what he had just said.

The older man, an older woman, a younger woman, and two identical younger men... all of them looked at Vincent with varying degrees of confusion.

They turned toward Bryce, then back to Vincent.

"Someone who belongs to you?" the older woman asked.

"Yes."

Vincent had barely finished the word when Bryce abruptly pushed himself to his feet and hurried toward him, coming to stand behind him as though the man were the only barrier between him and everyone else in the room.

Vincent glanced back and immediately noticed how shaken Bryce looked.

"Oh, there he is," Vincent added calmly. "Anyway, you can continue with your dinner. Sorry for the interruption."

He said it with such casual composure that his intrusion seemed almost insignificant, as though walking in uninvited and taking Bryce away were the most ordinary things in the world, especially when he simply expected everyone to calmly resume their dinner.

"Bryce, what are you doing?" the younger woman demanded. "What do you mean he belongs to you? He’s my brother’s boyfriend."

The two identical men said nothing. They simply watched the exchange, unmistakable amusement lingering in their expressions.

"You’re not going anywhere," the older man declared, his expression turning cold. "Not unless Dave says you can."

Vincent’s composure hardened.

"What do you mean he’s not going anywhere when it’s obvious he wants to leave?" he asked, his voice tightening with anger. "What is this? Do you own him or something? Doesn’t he have the freedom to decide what he wants to do?"

The older woman immediately snapped back.

"You just said he belongs to you. Doesn’t that imply that you own him? He is my son’s partner, and if you want to leave with him, you will have to wait until he comes back and says that he can leave."

Vincent merely scoffed, then turned toward Bryce.

"Ready to leave?"

"Yes," Bryce answered simply, there was no hesitation in his voice.

"I said..."

The older man’s voice thundered through the room as his hand slammed into the table, but he stopped before completing the sentence. His expression hardened as he turned toward the surrounding guards.

"Guards."

The response was immediate.

Men poured into the room from every corner of the house and raised their guns toward Vincent.

Vincent didn’t even flinch.

Instead, he released his influence into the air once more.

The effect swept through the guards before any of them could pull a trigger. Their bodies went rigid, leaving them standing exactly where they were, weapons still raised.

"Put your guns down," Vincent murmured.

Every gun lowered simultaneously.

Bryce stared at him in shock.

"Holy fucking shit! What did you just do?" For the first time, the twins spoke, the question coming from both of them at precisely the same moment, their voices overlapping in disbelief.

Vincent turned toward the family, who looked completely stunned and seemingly incapable of comprehending what they had just witnessed.

"All of you, sit down and continue with your dinner," Vincent ordered quietly. "I was not here. We were not here."

The command settled over them.

One by one, they returned to their seats and resumed eating as though nothing unusual had happened, their minds accepting the instruction without resistance.

Vincent turned back toward Bryce, reached for his hand, and led him outside.

As they crossed the polished pathway, Bryce kept glancing toward the guards- standing unnaturally still, like statues placed throughout the compound.

"I was not here. We were not here," Vincent continued murmuring as they walked, reinforcing the command until they had passed through the gate and reached the car.

Only once they were inside did Bryce finally turn toward him.

"What in God’s name was that?" he asked, his voice barely audible, disbelief and reluctant amusement mingling in equal measure.

"It’s goddess. What in goddess’s name..." Vincent said instead of answering the question.