Temporary bride for the demon overlord-Chapter 22: Shameless

Karma stared at the little pieces of paper that costed her a million dollars and wondered how well to utilize it.

This evidence against Seraphina. She tapped her chin gently.

A soft knock sounded on the door.

"Come in,"

The door opened and Grace stepped in. Her neck stiff and nose in the air.

"You have a visitor ma'am."

"Visitor?" Karma was confused. Who could it be?

"Who is this visitor?" She asked.

Grace sniffed disdainfully and muttered, "Mr Ethan."

Karma threw her head back and laughed. Oh this should be interesting.

"Let him in." Grace turn to leave. "Oh and Grace?"

She stopped in her track and turned her head back.

"Be very careful with your attitude, you never know what might happen." She smiled.

Grace stiffened and flashed a bitter smile. She caught herself just in time.

"Very well ma'am." She went out.

Karma cleared her table, removed the evidences and waited with bated breath.

The door opened and Ethan entered. His tie was rumpled, his eyes bloodshot.

"Ethan! You look like hell." She said cheerfully.

Ethan sat down grimly and answered. "I feel like it."

"How have you been Karma?" He spoke softly.

Karma raised her brow. Here comes the subtle hand of Ethan's manipulation.

"I'm fine as you can see." She narrowed her eyes, "on second thought, you probably can't see."

Ethan bristled at the insult. He opened his mouth, no doubt to give a scathing reply. He close it back without a word.

The perfect imitation of a Koi fish.

"I need your help Karma. And it's pretty urgent." He said earnestly.

Karma wanted to laugh. She wanted to howl and scream into the sky at Ethan's display of shamelessness. True to his form, he wasn't above playing this little game to suit his purpose.

Most of all, Karma wanted to ask where he purchased his audacity. Perhaps it was generational?!

"I'm sorry Karma. I never meant any of the foul things I said to you. I was simply blinded. I was a fool_"

"Yes. Yes you were." She nodded sagely.

Ethan flushed beet red and cleared his throat a few times.

"_what I meant was that, I was stupid not to see the value of what was in front of me."

Karma's head flashed with the dreadful notion that she knew what he was about to say. She held her breath, waiting impatiently for the words.

For Ethan to admit his wrongdoings.

"The shares you promised me! I need them desperately." He breathed. He adjusted his tie and averted his gaze. "I made some bad investment. You have to understand," he added desperately.

Disappointment and amusement warred inside her. And amusement won out. She smiled a little.

"Would you like some coffee?" She offered.

"Oh yes. Caramel macchiato and two pumps of dark chocolate." He ranted off.

Karma couldn't hold back her laughter. The audacity of this man.

"Sure." She grabbed the intercom and told dear Gracie to get Ethan's order.

Five minutes later, Grace entered with the coffee and stepped out with her head respectfully bowed.

"Drink up. I'm afraid you'll need it."

"You don't know how much." He tapped his knee furiously.

"Now that you're done. That coffee is ten dollars three cents." She showed him the receipt on her phone.

Ethan looked at the screen with confusion. What was she trying to get at? Really, he had snuck out of his father's nose to come and here she was being a bitch.

He smiled winsomely at her. Better to keep up the civil act, at least until the shares were his.

"That, and my sympathy for your plight, is the only thing I can spare."

The silence that descended was as thick as the first frost. Perhaps even the horrid asparagus soup that he loathed so much.

Karma allowed the silence to stretch taut, the tension reverberated around the whole room.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Ethan stared incredulously at Karma, his mouth opened with disbelief. He burst into laughter, deep and rueful.

He rubbed the crinkle of his eyes to remove the tears of mirth.

"Oh Karma please. You and your lame jokes."

Karma winced in sympathy. The pathetic man had no idea this was the least of his problem.

He had no idea of how much more Karma had in store for him.

Karma stared intently at him. Ethan stood up indignantly.

"You're...not serious, are you?"

Karma patted her hair and frowned. She grabbed her phone and opened the camera app.

"What?" Ethan howled.

"I was trying to check if I still had my clown costume on." Karma smiled, a dazzling gleam in her eyes.

"I got rid of it a long time ago."

"But you can't be serious! You simply can't. You promised me!" He roared, a vein throbbing madly on his forehead.

"Yes_"

"Exactly. You promise to give me that thirty percent of the shares." He was angry now.

His eyes bulged like a toad's.

"_when I thought you were going to marry me." She finished.

"You can't hold me to that. How does that even make sense_"

"If you'll take a minute to think _"

"Of course not. It's not like I cheated on you. Your stepsister!"

"You'll see that_"

"_never. I'll never agree to that." Ethan continued doggedly.

"You'll never agree to what?" Karma rounded the table and stood toe to toe in front of him.

Ethan seem to realize his mistake. He gulped and sighed.

"I'm very sorry Karma. I'm just really high strung." He sighed and sat down tentatively.

"Stand up," she commanded, her voice hard and cold as steel.

Ethan scrambled up, eyes wide.

"There's 26 steps from here to the door. I'll give you 26 seconds to get the hell out of my sight. You might not like what'll happen if you linger." Her voice was deceptively soft.

"Karma," he reached out.

"One,"

He took a step backwards.

"Think this through Karma. It's really for the good of your stepsister."

"Twenty one."

"Thank you for stopping by, next time, bring your

shame with you."

"Miss, you have a call." Grace entered with the phone clutched in her hand.

Ethan exited the room, his eyes hard and cruel. His cheeks burned from the humiliation.

He exchanged a look with Grace who nodded covertly.