“We’d help,” Millie pipes up.
“No pressure,” Bobby says, twisting around to look at Millie before turning back to me. “Miss Heidi, sometimes the smallest things give you the biggest joy. And perhaps since the house is so quiet with Allan in the other house, and Margot no longer with us. Perhaps those two are just what you need.”
I’m thrown. Completely and utterly thrown. Part of me is melting at how cute they are, the larger part is freaking the fuck out. I know nothing about caring for anything but me.
“All they want is to be with you,” Bobby says quietly. “If you could get them out of my hair for tonight, so I can get my kitchen cleaned up, I’ll take them off your hands in the morning if you decide they’re really not for you.”
I look at him. “You are trying to coerce me into caring for them!”
“I am. At least, I’m honest about doing it. One night, Miss Heidi, is all I ask. Look at them, they can hardly keep their eyes open.”
“I’m…”
“Millie can carry their basket up, then by the time she’s back, I’ll have warm milk and some fresh crumpets ready for you, as a treat. And I’m sure that will help your headache.”
“How do you know I have a headache?” I ask, suddenly nervous.
“Nothing sinister at all going on. Maxwell called ahead and said you were lying on the backseat. You only do that when you’re getting a bad one and haven’t rested properly. We’ve got you, Miss Heidi, we’ll look after you. Now off you go.”
Bobby railroads me out of his kitchen, and Millie races ahead of me as I trudge up the stairs with two itty-bitty kittens in my arms. Their eyes keep swaying shut before they pop open, like they’re making sure I’m not going to disappear.
And that hit me right in the solar plexus.
“I’m going to ring his fucking neck,” I mutter under a noisy exhale.
“Pardon?” Millie says when she reaches the door to my suite. She unlocks it and the both of us walk straight through the dark rooms into the office. Where everyone clearly knows I’ve been sleeping.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Millie says quietly when I walk in and am greeted with a bed on the actual floor of the office. “I didn’t tell anyone you were sleeping on the floor, Miss Heidi, I promise. But as soon as you left this morning, we had a large delivery from Birdie, so we assumed it was you because you were there the other day. Now looking at your face, I’m not so sure.”
“All this arrived today?”
All this: a square floor mattress that fits perfectly between the walls and the desk, along with pillows upon pillows upon pillows in all different shapes and sizes, colours, and textures following a golden, and vibrant blue hue. Strangely, very Egyptian inspired. Well, that’s what I think of. I also think it looks so fucking perfect I think I nearly start bawling, until I remember Millie is still looking at me.
“I’m okay. I trust you. And this is beautiful. Exactly what I need, really.” I say it to ease her anxiety because in some ways it’s true, the bed is beautiful and it is what I need, just who the present is from is difficult to swallow.
She lets out a huge sigh of relief before placing the kittens’ basket at the end of my new bed, just under the desk.
“I’ll go get Bobby’s snack, and you should change,” she mothers before she disappears from my suite.
I’m left holding the kittens, wondering if I should fight against wanting to climb into bed still dressed to snuggle the kittens some more.
Before Millie’s back, I’ve got them curled around each other under the blankets, and I’ve swapped corporate gear for my favourite PJ set and matching fluffy socks. I meet her at the door, taking the tray out of her hands and locking myself away.
The pain between my eyes gets worse and worse. My tired headache morphs into a tension headache. All phone calls are forgotten, I don’t even check my emails or go to the toilet, I snuggle under the softest, luxurious, silkiest Egyptian cotton sheets and hand knitted throws… my last coherent conscious thought is making a note on sitting down and figuring out why everything has to do with Ancient Egypt with these Alphas who I don’t want to think about but can’t seem to stop.
ChapterThirty-Five
KAI
Heidi eventually stops twisting around in her sleep. It’s been hard watching her struggle in her pain; her restlessness is because of us. And I’ll wear that.
Just like I’ll wear the mantle of being one of those creepy assholes who watch their mate while she sleeps. It’s kind of hard to argue we’re not. We watch her constantly—all the rooms she uses at her estate are fitted with the smallest cameras, same at her work.
We’re not leaving anything to chance, especially after she got caught up in more drama at Raney’s packing, but it’s coinciding with a real threat to her and Allan’s safety.
Darius comes into the control room we’ve set up in our penthouse. It’s probably good we’re here, the distance gives you that chance to rethink decisions. Not that any of us have changed our mind about visiting her at all hours of the night.
“Ramses is pretty cut up she hasn’t opened the drive yet,” Dare says, dropping down into the seat next to me.
