Chapter 9: The Hunger in His Eyes

I hadn’t taken a good look before, but now I realized—after all these years, he’d changed a lot. His jaw was sharper now, eyes harder. Whatever softness I remembered was gone, replaced by something hungry and dark. His features had fully matured, his face flawless as carved marble, but his whole vibe was dark and menacing.

Working all those years had really taken its toll. Back when I held power, I had to get up at the crack of dawn and go to bed late every night. Caleb must have been the same. Working such long hours every day, of course he’d build up a lot of resentment.

"Sis, zoning out again?"

At some point, Caleb was already standing right in front of me, his breath warm against my ear, snapping me back to reality.

To be honest, he was really pretty scary like this. The look in his eyes was that of a dangerous animal, like he could swallow me whole.

I forced myself to meet his gaze, kept up my persona, and said coldly, with a look of disdain, "What do you want?"

Caleb tugged the corner of his mouth into a stiff smile, moved closer, and grabbed my shoulder, nearly pressing himself against me.

"Sis, these three years, I’ve thought about you every single moment…"

With Caleb’s vengeful personality, he must’ve been thinking every single moment about how to drag me back and tear me apart…

But before he could finish, the door was suddenly flung open again. Rachel shouted, "Mayor!"

But her tone had a strange edge to it, which immediately reminded Caleb of something. His breathing grew heavier as he stared at me, eyes burning.

Only then did I realize—his stare pinned me in place, wild and desperate, like he was starving and I was the last meal on earth.

The silence stretched, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, shadows flickering along the walls. I suddenly realized this was it—the true reckoning, not just for me, but for all of us who’d played our roles in this city’s twisted story. If this was the end, I’d meet it head-on. No more running. Let them see the villain with her eyes wide open.