She was followed by a man when she saved my life.
Maybe she is running from someone?
After last night, how she acted, how she switched into somethingdifferent, maybe she’s not who she pretends to be because she is being hunted?
Maybe the bullet wasn’t even meant for me, but her?
I look at Doug. He’s waiting for me to react.
“Do we still have the tail?” I ask as quietly as possible, and he shakes his head. He has probably stopped it after our meeting last night.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks, and I glance around. Everyone is staring at me. They know something is up, and I can’t have that. The last thing I need right now is employees suspecting something is going on behind their backs after everything that has already happened.
But then, if Ella is in danger?—
Not your concern,I tell myself.You wanted to get her out of your mind anyway.
Only I can’t. The thought of her being in danger tightens my chest.
My breathing gets flatter.
I need to act.
So I do what I shouldn’t do at all.
I am not even sure I recognize my own voice when I say it. “Find her,” I tell Doug.
One nod and he is gone. This will be my greatest mistake. I know it.
Throughout the entire meeting, my mind is distracted. I catch myself staring into nothingness while someone asks me a question. I am not on top of my game, and I hate myself about it. All I can think about is what has happened. What if someone got to her? What if someone killed her?
It should be the best thing that happened to me, because she wouldn’t haunt me. But it isn’t. I am concerned and worried. Something I never am. I don’t care about anyone. Only I do now.
My fists clench so hard my nails dig into my palm, the knuckles standing out white.
“Lilian, sure you’re okay?” Ian asks.
I need to get a grip on myself; it’ll land with my father through Ian, how distracted I am,something I cannot have at all costs.
“Yes, excuse me,” I say. “Jared’s death caused some problems.”
I really, really need to focus.
When the meeting is finally over, I get into my office, pacing up and down.
A knock behind me, and my assistant enters, a worried look on his face.
“What happened?” I ask immediately.
“Something arrived for you via mail,” he says carefully, and I groan. “Not another threat?”
“Worse, from how Doug reacted,” he says and nods, telling me to follow him.
Worse.
My mind spins out of control the very moment with the wildest fantasies of what arrived by mail.
What the hell is wrong with me?I ask myself because I control my thoughts, not the other way around. I don’t assume or overthink, but since Ella?—
