Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 293

Selene’s voice was raw, every word scraped from her throat. “Why would I set up Natalie? What would I possibly gain?”

Harrison’s eyes burned, dark as coals. “Maybe you never meant for her to die. She always gave you trouble. Maybe you just wanted to teach her a lesson.”

Selene rolled her eyes with practiced elegance.

His tone turned even colder, each word like ice. “I know you’ll never admit it! And I couldn’t have you locked up over one recording, no matter what.”

Forced to look up at him, Selene felt his gaze linger on her parted lips.

Those days when she’d been gentle and accommodating with him seemed so distant now. After the baby was born, she simply went through the motions, never truly caring anymore.

“Selene, what am I to you, exactly? I gave you a home, luxury cars, a lavish allowance every month—enough to spend a fortune.

And what did you give me? Prepackaged meals, cheap takeout stuffed into fancy containers for my office lunches. You’d brew me herbal tea for my stomach, slipping antacids into it, worried I’d get sick.

You really do whatever you want as Mrs. Vaughn, don’t you?”

Selene batted her eyes at him. The surprise on her face flickered and vanished almost instantly.

Harrison searched her expression for panic, for shame—anything—but found nothing. Instead, a thin, brittle smile played at the corners of her clear, dark eyes.

“After we lost our third child, I stopped seeing you as a person,” she murmured, her voice as soft as a feather settling on his nerves, yet sharp enough to send pain shooting through him. “I was the one caring for you, after all. I couldn’t exactly poison you bald. So I thought I’d just wait. Wait a few more years, until your father finally named Dames as his successor…”

Her words drifted down between them, barely audible, but they struck Harrison with the force of a storm.

His hand slid down, tightening around Selene’s throat.

He smiled, lips crimson and thin, the look of a madman—like some beautiful, deranged vampire in the dark.

A woman too clever was always dangerous: beautiful, intoxicating, but deadly to the touch.

He remembered the warning his father had given him before he married Selene, the old man’s face drawn with concern. Selene wasn’t the right choice for him.

“Better a wife who’s easy to manage and truly loves you, rather than a marriage of convenience for the family,” his father had said.

Harrison knew himself—emotionless, proud, incapable of humbling himself for a woman, or bothering to placate her. Those society girls, spoiled from birth, might be shrewd and observant, but their pride was too high. A marriage built on calculation was a headache. Far easier to marry a woman who adored him, who was pliant and easy to control.

He remembered Lucian on his deathbed, rambling on about Selene’s past.

How Lucian had bought her back from her first foster parents for a few hundred dollars. How he’d raised Selene and Luke Holloway, scraping by in the city, scavenging and collecting junk to survive.

How their stray dog was taken away by animal control, their bridge home fenced off and cleared. Lucian had taken the kids back to his village, working the fields alongside his wife to make ends meet.

Harrison knew the Thompson family were no saints either.

Touching her, Harrison realized he felt a strange sense of peace.

As he almost let out a sigh, his hand curled, fingers digging into her skin.

“Natalie’s been gone five years. One recording isn’t enough for the law to punish you. So I’ll do it myself—I’ll destroy you.”

His gaze dropped to her feet.

“Those new shoes suit you. Shame they’ll be ruined soon.”

He leaned in, breathing in her soft scent, lips curling with malicious intent.

“Starting now, you don’t get to eat or use the bathroom without my say-so. If you can’t take it… you can beg me.”

His head hovered over her shoulder, his voice a hot whisper in her ear.

Before he could finish, Selene burst out laughing.

Bang!

The heavy door flew open, a shaft of blinding light slicing into the room.