Unaware of what was happening in Davian’s study, Arthur was already out of the gate with Sophia.
The men at the gate just gave him curious stares, but no one asked any questions.
After all, the Butler was free to come and go as he pleased.
"Art? Do you have a car?" Sophia asked as they drove down the street.
Arthur didn’t. There had been no need to as there were more than enough cars at the mansion.
He could even take one and no one would be the wiser, but there was no reason to do that if he could easily afford a car.
Sophia smiled slow, the mansion receding behind them. "You’d get me one?"
Arthur kept his gaze on the road, composed as he responded. "I would."
Although Sophia wouldn’t need to drive it.
"Aunt? No," Davian corrected her, reaching under the table to push on a button out of sight. "A traitor however..."
"D-Davian, please don’t do this, to your only living relative..."
"From now on, you will only speak when spoken to," Davian cut her off, his voice cold and detached.
Saying that was to shut down her begging because in the span of a minute, the door was practically getting kicked down.
A group of heavily armed men with their weapons drawn ready to fire at the slightest gesture from Davian surrounded them.
Davian just waved a hand, and Matilda was swiftly carried out, the lady’s screams instantly muffled.
Lake watched wide-eyed, he hadn’t forgotten that Davian was a Mafia King, he had just gotten a little too comfortable.
Matilda had also done the same clearly.
"I-I..." Lake immediately tried to explain Matilda’s claims but he didn’t get far.
"Are you hungry?" Davian interrupted, letting him go when he made a move to get off the Alpha’s legs.
Lake had easily forgotten about the promised cake with all that just happened.
He was curious about what would happen to Matilda, and at the same time, he really didn’t want to know.
"Is the cake here yet?" He asked in turn, letting the conversation topic be changed.
Davian didn’t seem upset with him, so he would get the chance to explain properly to the Alpha later.
Davian had a poker face on at Lake’s question. Cake? As in, a singular confectionery?
"It should be. Let’s eat in the dining room."
Lake was still in his night clothes, but taking a shower right then wasn’t exactly pressing.
The cake was in the dining room alright... all fifteen of them.
Lake really wanted to scold Davian, but he was still jumpy from the confrontation in his study, so he found a much tamer way to phrase it.
"That’s... that’s a lot of cakes," He pointed out the obvious, standing at the entryway to the dining room.
"I didn’t know your favorite," Davian said sheepishly.
The usual thing to do would be to ask, Lake thought to himself, walking into the dining room.
"Me neither," He admitted honestly, even though he beelined for the chocolate cake as soon as he got to the table.
Davian knew ordering several cakes was a bad idea, but it had been too tempting not to give in.
And he hadn’t gotten a stern talking down to, so he would take it as a win.
"I also got some food," Davian walked forward to join Lake at the table, stealing glances at Lake who was putting away the small cake with remarkable speed.
He made mental notes about the cake’s flavor, laying out the food.
"It’s almost noon and you need to eat something other than cake."
Lake looked up at him with a mouthful of rich dense chocolate cake.
Cake was just fine for him. He didn’t often get to indulge his sweet tooth so this was rather nice.
After putting away the chocolate cake, Lake idly pushed around the food on the plate that Davian had served him.
He really wanted to straighten out everything between the two of them.
There was no reason to keep waiting for the right time to tell Davian what really transpired between him and Matilda.
Especially when it made him so nervous and jumpy, and also worried that it would taint Davian’s perception of him.
"I-I did know about being drugged," He started quietly, his appetite for actual food nonexistent.
That caught Davian’s attention, the Alpha’s face an impenetrable mask as he listened.
"But it wasn’t because Matilda told me," Lake went on, laser-focused on his plate now.
"I guessed that something like that happened from how suddenly I dropped asleep and she confirmed it..."
"Was that what you told Doctor Perez?" Davian interrupted for the first time.
Lake still couldn’t bring himself to look at Davian’s, the tone he had used just now sounded really dangerous.
It made Lake consider if he had made a mistake because of his nerves, and it would have just been better and ’safer’ to gloss over this matter, and act like it never happened.
"No," He went for honesty, "I was just worried that the drugs might affect the baby so I asked him some questions about the effects sleeping drugs might have..."
And the Doctor had gone ahead and drawn his own conclusions from the questions.
Davian went quiet, focused hard on something. To Lake, it felt like the Alpha cared more about his interaction with the doctor than the actual matter.
"And what did he say?"
Lake finally forced himself to take a spoonful of food, chewing carefully. "He said, he wouldn’t recommend me using it for a long time, but a one-time use should be fine."
Davian relaxed minutely at that, sitting back in his chair.
"Matilda offered me money the first time she came to the mansion for me to leave," Lake got it out in a rush.
That detail had been clawing at his chest needing to be let out, he desperately wanted Davian to know that he wasn’t money-hungry, things just never went right for him.