She didn't immediately look up. The glacial temperature in the room seemed to suddenly stagnate, the heavy, suffocating silence stretching out for a long, tense moment.
Slowly, Cassandra raised her head. Her piercing grey eyes locked onto Killian, the dismissive annoyance from a moment ago entirely replaced by a sharp, dangerous focus.
"...What?" she asked, her voice dropping to a dangerously quiet whisper.
Killian's confident smirk twisted into a dark, ugly scowl.
He leaned forward, planting his hands on the very edge of her desk.
"My father told me that he came to our estate over the break. Saying he wanted to meet me... but, you know what your pathetic brother did. That fool took my favorite maid."
Killian's dark eyes flared with genuine, possessive anger.
"She was mine, Cassandra. So, I want you to take responsibility and discipline that bastard for—"
CRACK!
Before the final word could even leave his mouth, the ambient moisture in the air violently condensed.
