Davian had been instantly distracted by Lake showing up, barely processing Matilda’s words.
He had panicked the moment the Omega made a move to leave, his words leaving his lips without a filter.
He was rewarded though because Lake immediately started for him.
Davian let his greed win, pulling Lake down on him, as he refocused on Matilda.
The sooner he dealt with her, the sooner she would leave.
"Say that again?" He directed at her, feeling like he was sitting on clouds with Lake in his arms.
Matilda cleared her throat, her eyes darting nervously from side to side.
"This is a rather private matter, Davian," She tried to spare herself, seriously considering just darting out of the study.
It was already difficult enough to save herself while taking this risk, and those chances were drastically cut down with Lake present.
"You said it yourself that it had to do with Lake," Davian said coldly, "Don’t waste my time."
Matilda didn’t dare say another word after that, it would be better that Davian kicked her out in anger than the other outcome.
Lake however wasn’t going to let that happen, he had been waiting for the perfect time to tell Davian, and Matilda herself had created the opportunity for him.
"I heard something about being drugged," He quietly stoked the furnace.
Matilda paled, she hadn’t once thought that Lake would be the one to push her off the cliff.
Davian went cold, "That’s right," He said slowly, "You were saying that the rumors you heard entailed Arthur drugging Lake."
Lake’s eyes sparkled now that he had heard Matilda’s full sentence, so she intended to throw Arthur under the bus to save her skin.
Her conversation with Davian made more sense now.
Don’t get Lake wrong, he had no intention of saving Arthur, the butler was just as bad as Matilda, because clearly they both had a hand in the plot to drug their meal.
Matilda looked nervously at Lake. "W-Well, yes but you know how rumors can be-"
"When was this?" Davian cut her off, slate gray eyes cutting into her.
Matilda felt her chest seize, Davian had been so tolerant of her and her daughter that she quickly forgot there was a reason he was the most influential Mafia King.
"I-It... It wa-was..." Matilda stuttered badly, unable to get her words out.
"I will find out regardless," He told her plainly, an arm snaking around Lake’s middle unconsciously at the thought of the Omega being drugged.
"So it’ll benefit you to tell me all you know."
Matilda knew it was all over then, and it served her right for being too greedy.
There would have been other chances to get rid of Arthur that didn’t have her fingerprints all over the crime scene but she had been too impatient.
Lake didn’t know much about what happened either, so he was just as curious.
"Lake knows about it," Matilda tried one last attack, if she was going down, she would take everyone else with her.
"He accepted money to keep it a secret from you as well-"
Matilda was haughty as she spoke, all caution thrown to the wind. She knew she couldn’t survive this but she would make sure Lake didn’t get to stay by Davian’s side either.
"...The apple clearly doesn’t fall far from the tree..."
Lake saw red at Matilda’s words, but Davian was faster.
The Alpha held him close with a single hand and lunged across the table at Matilda, long dangerous fingers around her throat.
"That wasn’t what I asked you," He told her calmly even though he was currently cutting off her air supply.
Matilda clawed at his arm, struggling to pry his hand loose but Davian’s grip was iron-clad.
He let her go and calmly sat back again, helping Lake sit comfortably on him once more.
"Why don’t we try that again?" He suggested like they were having a business meeting.
Matilda gasped and spluttered, her eyes watering as she wrapped her hands around her neck, liquid fear spilling from her eyes in the form of tears.
Lake was stunned into silence, he couldn’t say if he was more surprised by Davian standing up for him, or the Alpha not batting an eyelid at Matilda’s accusations.
As she caught her breath, Davian reached into a nearby drawer and placed a custom pistol on the mahogany table top.
It was inlaid with intricate gold patterns and looked too beautiful to be a weapon.
"I-" Matilda started only to be interrupted by coughing, "I hatched the plan with Arthur, we just wanted someone more worthy to stand by your side, so we wanted Lake gone." The dam cracked.
Her voice was raspy, red-tipped nails around her neck but she didn’t stop talking.
"No one was supposed to be harmed," She lied glibly. "I just wanted him out of the mansion and back where he came from."
Davian leaned back in his seat as she spoke, giving nothing away.
"I-It was two nights ago," Matilda kept rambling, scared that if she stopped, her life would be in danger.
"That means I was also included in your plans." Davian finally spoke.
Matilda froze, she didn’t think it could possibly get worse, but it did.
It had gone so bad in such a short frame of time that she was still in shock.
"Right?" He cut her off, making her flinch violently.
Lake just sat back, getting a front seat to Matilda’s downfall. He probably still had to give an explanation but it could never be as bad as what Matilda was currently going through.
"I don’t need to tell you how that’s treason..."
As Davian spoke, he was deep in thought, as upset as he was about the entire situation, he was more disappointed that it took him this long to find out.
It explained why Lake refused to have Arthur handle their food ever since.
Matilda clamped her lips shut, looking like she was being flayed alive.
"I-I was just doing my duty as your Aunt-"