Novel Full Chapter 1739: A Bug
Chapter 1739: A Bug
Villain Ch 1739. A Bug
The ride home was smooth.
Too smooth.
Allen sat in the back of Shea’s sleek black car, one arm propped against the window, the other draped over his thigh like he didn’t just have seven women take turns using him like a luxury mattress. His face was neutral, almost unreadable—except for that one damn corner of his mouth that kept twitching upward.
A grin. A real one.
He kept fighting it down.
Failed.
Twice.
The driver, professional to the bone, didn’t say a word. Not when Allen climbed in wearing yesterday’s button-down shirt—still missing a button and definitely smelling like a cologne that wasn’t his. Not when he caught the unmistakable red print near Allen’s collarbone. Not even when Allen chuckled softly to himself, head tilted against the window like he’d just remembered something very illegal and very satisfying.
Honestly, the man deserved a raise for that level of composure.
By the time they pulled up to the Goldborne estate gates, Allen had his smirk tucked back into something calmer—something more manageable. But even he knew it wouldn’t last long.
Because the second he stepped into the marble foyer, all eyes were on him.
The servants didn’t say a thing, but he saw it—the glances. The brief, darting stares at his neck. The corners of their mouths twitching like they were trying very hard not to react to the giant lipstick kiss mark just barely hidden by his shirt collar.
Oh, and the hickeys.
Because yeah, there were multiple.
He didn’t even try to cover them.
Let them talk.
It wasn’t like they were going to confuse this for an act of innocence. He hadn’t come home like a man escaping an ex. No. He came back like a man who’d been worshipped.
Kai appeared like a summoned ghost the moment Allen crossed the threshold of the main hall.
“Morning, sir,” the butler said, his voice crisp as ever. But there was a twitch in his mouth. Just a little. “I see you look well. Which is… unexpected. I thought you’d come back looking troubled.”
Allen didn’t even slow his step. “I was in trouble.”
Kai followed beside him. “Yes. But it seems, judging by your… condition, that you spent your night very well.”
Allen finally stopped walking, sighing through his nose and tugging at the front of his shirt. “Is it that obvious?”
Kai gave him the world’s most subtle once-over. “Sir. There is a visible lipstick print on your neck. You are wearing yesterday’s clothes. And your shirt is still unbuttoned halfway.”
Allen raised an eyebrow. “Observant, as always.”
“Someone in this house has to be,” Kai muttered. “Do you need your breakfast, sir?”
Allen ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “No breakfast. Just need a bath.”
“Very well,” Kai nodded.
Allen turned to head toward the stairs but stopped. He paused mid-step and looked back. “Where’s Emma and Dad?”
Kai straightened. “Your father has already left for the morning. He’s in a meeting with the Development Department heads.”
“And Emma?”
“In her room. Home schooling resumed this morning. She’s reading something about 17th century economic warfare while blasting pop music at dangerous levels.”
Allen smirked. “Sounds like her.”
Kai’s expression shifted just slightly—less formal now. More honest.
“He didn’t say anything?” Allen asked, quiet. “My dad.”
Kai’s smile crooked. “That depends.”
Allen narrowed his eyes.
Kai folded his hands neatly. “Your father is this close—” he held up his thumb and index finger, barely apart “—to making Miss Sophia ’suddenly disappear’ without explanation. His words.”
Allen chuckled, low and dry. “Well. That… makes sense.”
Kai’s face sobered. “He said you were being too soft. That you should’ve ended her earlier.”
Allen didn’t respond right away.
He stared at the stairs.
He could still feel the warmth of Shea’s thighs under his cheek. The way Vivian had kissed his jaw and said, “Let us take care of you.” He could still hear Jane’s laughter, see Zoe’s smirk, taste the bite of orange juice in a mouth still ruined from sleep and love.
And now—now he was back here.
Where softness was weakness.
Where delay was vulnerability.
“I understand his point of view,” Allen said finally, voice flat. “Sophia’s just a bug. In his world, you don’t study a bug. You step on it.”
Kai didn’t blink. “Is he wrong?”
“No,” Allen admitted. “He is right.”
“Mm.”
“It should be over now,” Allen added. “Sophia’s arrest, even if it’s not connected to me, ruins her credibility. She’s not useful anymore. No one’s going to side with a clout-chasing stalker.”
“She might come back,” Kai warned.
“She won’t get far.”
They stood in silence for a few moments.
Allen’s fingers twitched by his side. The weight of everything—not just last night, not just Sophia, but the whole damn performance—felt like it was finally sliding off his back.
Maybe he’d been too soft.
He didn’t want to lose the part of him that still knew what patience looked like. What restraint felt like.
Because if the only way to win was to cut everyone down the moment they stumbled, then what the hell was he fighting for?
At the same time, he thought maybe… he was just too idealistic.
He exhaled and rolled his shoulders.
“I’ll talk to Dad tonight.”
Kai nodded. “Understood.”
“Have someone send up something light. Coffee. Maybe something from the bakery.”
“Already waiting in your room.”
Allen smiled. “Of course it is.”
Kai gave a short, proud bow. “Welcome home, sir.”
Allen walked up the stairs slowly.
This house—this entire empire—had been designed to break people. To harden them. To twist emotion into leverage and kindness into liability. But this morning, Allen didn’t feel twisted.
He felt… like himself.
A little ruined.
A little dangerous.
And very, very alive.
He turned the corner to his wing and caught a glimpse of himself in the hallway mirror.
Shirt crooked. Hickey front and center. That smudge of lipstick still not wiped off.
He didn’t bother fixing it.
He looked like hell.
But damn if it wasn’t the most honest he’d looked in years.