While My Husband Cheated, I Married His Powerful Brother

Chapter 166: Chapter 166 The Power That Isn’t Hers

​The private room had finally gone completely quiet.

​The heavy ceramic plates sat empty on the table, and the water glasses were only half-full, left behind like small clues of the whole mess that had just gone down.

​Leon was standing a few feet away near the corner of the room. His face looked calm like it usually did, but if anyone looked close enough, they could see the dark worry lingering in his eyes.

​"Mrs. Thorne," he began, his voice dropping low. "Did I cause you trouble back there?"

​Veyra looked up at him. His broad shoulders were locked tight, and his jaw was set like iron.

​She shook her head right away. "No. Not at all."

​"Xander Hale is dangerous," Leon said, his tone tight with regret. "I provoked him. I called him a clown right to his face."

​A small smile tugged at the corner of Veyra’s mouth. "He is a clown."

​"Mrs. Thorne—"

​Veyra held up her hand to stop him before he could start blaming himself any further. "Listen to me, Leon."

​He stopped talking immediately, his lips pressing into a thin line.

​Veyra leaned forward against the edge of the table, making sure her voice was firm so he knew she meant every word.

​"Xander Hale is a total loose cannon. He is unpredictable, wild, and completely out of his mind. He would have turned on me eventually no matter what you said. I rejected him. I made it clear as day that I wasn’t interested in being with him. That alone would have been enough to set him off."

​Leon’s eyebrows rose slightly as he listened.

​"Even without you saying a word, he would have been furious," Veyra kept going, keeping her voice steady. "He would have made the exact same threats. He would have tried to push me into a corner and intimidate me." She paused for a second, letting the words settle in the quiet room. "You didn’t cause this."

​Leon stood there without moving for a long moment. Then, slowly, the tension in his face started to break, and he gave her a simple nod.

​"I understand," he said quietly.

​"Good."

​Even though he agreed, Leon didn’t move an inch.

​His hands stayed pinned straight down at his sides, his fingers tightly clenched. The knot in his jaw hadn’t loosened up completely yet either.

​"Even so," he said, looking right at her. "If he tries anything stupid down the line, if he ever dares to try and harm you, I won’t let him get away with it."

​Veyra stared at him, taking in the look on his face. His eyes were dead serious, and his voice didn’t wobble for a single second.

​A sudden warmth spread right through her chest, cutting through the leftover stress of the meeting.

​"You would really do that?" she asked softly. "For me?"

​"Of course," Leon answered without missing a beat. "You’re my employer. I’m sworn to protect you."

​Veyra smiled at him, and this time, it was a completely genuine one.

​"Leon," she said, tilting her head a little. "Even if you weren’t my bodyguard anymore, even if you stepped away from this job entirely, would you still protect me?"

​Leon blinked, caught a little off guard by the random thought.

​He stayed silent for a brief second before he gave a single, firm nod. "Yes. I would."

​"Why?"

​"Because you’re a good person," he said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Because you actually deserve to be protected."

​Veyra’s throat suddenly felt tight, and a sting of heat hit the back of her eyes. She had to blink fast a couple of times to clear her vision before she lost her composure.

​"Thank you, Leon," she said, making sure he heard how much she meant it.

​She really did mean it.

​Leon shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his gaze drifting away from her and sliding over to the big glass window facing the street.

​"There’s still something I don’t really understand, though," he said, turning back around to face her.

​Veyra tilted her head, pulling her arms back onto the table. "What is it?"

​"You could have just asked Mr. Thorne for help," Leon said, pointing out the obvious. "He has all the resources in the world. He has the connections. He could have found you a perfect storefront location in under five minutes without breaking a sweat."

​Veyra went quiet, looking down at the cool surface of the wooden table.

​Leon kept going. "Instead, you went out of your way to deal with Xander Hale. You put yourself right in harm’s way. You stood in a room and negotiated with a dangerous man."

​He paused, letting out a short breath before he finally asked the main thing bothering him.

​"Why didn’t you just ask Mr. Thorne for help?"

​The room fell dead silent for a long stretch of time.

​Veyra’s mind immediately drifted back to Dorian. She thought about the cold look in his eyes, the way he had thrown that cup of milk tea away like it was trash, and the heavy distance he put between them every single day. He had made it painfully clear that he didn’t want her kindness, and he definitely didn’t want her gratitude.

​She thought about the paper contract they signed, the strict arrangement they had, and the baby growing inside her.

​"You’re right," Veyra said, breaking the silence with a soft sigh. "I could have asked him."

​Leon stood perfectly still, waiting for her to finish the thought.

​"But I didn’t want to."

​"Why not?"

​Veyra leaned back into her chair and loosely folded her hands together over the table.

​"I’m married to Dorian Thorne," she said, laying it all out clearly. "But his power doesn’t belong to me."

​Leon didn’t react on the outside, but a faint flicker of understanding passed behind his eyes.

​Veyra’s voice stayed completely steady as she explained it. "His money. His connections. His massive influence. None of that is actually mine. If I rely on it to get what I want, I become entirely dependent on him. I’m just borrowing things that can be snatched back the moment he changes his mind."

​She stopped to take a breath, letting the reality of it sink in.

​"I need my own ground to stand on. My own control over my life. My own resources that I worked for."

​Leon stayed silent, just listening to every word.

​"If I build something with my own two hands, nobody can take it away from me," Veyra said, looking him in the eye. "I can use it whenever I want, however I want. I won’t have to spend every second worrying about someone coming along and pulling the rug right out from under my feet."

​Leon watched her for a moment before he slowly nodded his head.

​"I understand," he said softly.

​Veyra gave him a small smile. "I thought you might."

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