They don’t have much of anything anymore, signing that document in their haste without legal advice… well, they’ll learn soon enough how powerful words are.
Another knock at the door, and Joseph takes charge, not bothering to check with me before he opens the door.
My security guard’s eyes glide straight past Joseph dismissing him and the rest of Pack Lowly, says, “Ms. Holmes, Jane from Marketing asked if you were ready to leave.”
“Leave?” Joseph asks quickly. He’s irritated, you can see it in the way his shoulders are set, but you can also see he’s intimidated by my security guard. And he should be.
But I’m feeling generous, plus I need Joseph to carry on the appearance of being thrilled with our pack announcement for a little while longer, at least until the media have the proper pictures. After then I literally don’t care how he speaks to me.
I turn to him, smiling sweetly. “For Roda’s. I had marketing arrange a couple of people to meet us there, photographers, lighting, etc. is all. Are you all okay to meet there in say…” I check my watch unnecessarily. “Twenty minutes?”
“We’ll go together,” Graham says, his answer coming out like a demand.
“I have my car with me, and I’ll freshen up on the way, so I’d prefer we travel separately,” I reply firmer while filling my briefcase and locking my desk up. My security comes over and reinforces what I said to Graham by being overly obvious in the way he stands between me and them. “Besides, can you imagine the shareholder support if the world watches us packing slowly, sweetly, almost like we’re finally coming together… it’s the perfect fairy-tale ending to our story that began years ago.”
ChapterThirty
DARIUS
Ican’t fucking do this.I hit send, before I switch my phone off.
No shit, I reckon I’ve been pretty mellow up to now. I mean, for argument’s sake, you can’t include the hours after we arrived home because for one, I don’t want to, and secondly, it was a complete shit show.
Unsurprisingly after we searched the house in vain for her, my brothers and I fought. Not a shouting match or some bullshit argy-bargy pushing around. No, this was an all-in, bare fists fight with steel cap boots kicks, all over how fucking stupid we were to drug our mate.
After that, Kai went straight to her besties looking for a way in.
Ramses hasn’t left his room at the penthouse, choosing to do his stalking online.
Me, I’m tracking her in person. And I was doing o-fucking-kay watching from a distance until some fuckstick put his lips on little moon.
I watch her push the cocky-looking Alpha away. The smile on her face is fake and forced, as she pats his arm while she steps out of his reach. But judging by the laughing and the party in full swing it’s like they can’t or don’t notice how unlike herself she’s being. Or they don’t know her. Or they don’t care. All of it adds to the nagging, simmering guilt bubbling away inside me.
Cock up does not even begin to describe what happened, but that’s what being the leaders of a group of faceless vigilantes means. Sometimes, we get pulled in some pretty fucking whacked out situations that need to be addressed there and then.
I hope given half a chance she’ll listen to our explanation although I also thought the mickey we’d slipped her would keep her completely unaware of our departure. We were thirty minutes away from her never being the wiser, and if … no shit, it doesn’t matter what we were trying to do. It’s what we did that’s more of a concern… we fucking broke her.
And that’s not me being a conceited prick saying the bags under her eyes, the sallowness of her skin, and the brittleness in her movements are because we’re so fucking epic. Or we’re such great people for having such a huge impact on her in an insurmountably short space of time. It’s knowing if she’s feeling a drop of the anger and remorse I’m feeling, she’s suffering. Because while we broke her, I’m fucking destroyed.
Since I’m already fucked up completely, I’m not going to stop until she understands it wasn’t because we don’t want her that we left, it is because we don’t want anything but her.
The Alpha makes another sleazy move on her. Kind of looking like he thinks he’s got newly acquired privilege to touch what isn’t his. And Heidi makes another obvious attempt at putting him in his place. Clearly this dick ain’t hearing her.
There’s not too much to think about, I shift out of the shadows I was using to conceal my hiding spot and drop to the street level, giving me a better view of the crap going on in Roda’s.
There’s a break in the traffic and I take it as a sign that it’s time for me to lend my little moon a hand. Admittedly, it’s going to help me feel better too.
Tugging my cap lower and hiding in the shadow of my hoodie, I join a crowd of people walking past the window of the bistro she’s in, before doing a sneaky side-step at a small alleyway leading to Roda’s staff entrance. Keying in the passcode from a recent job we did here, the gate clicks open.
It’s full hustle and bustle in the kitchen. The wash-up crew are elbow deep in rubbish bags and wash troughs; the dishwashers add to the noise with their endless chatter.
Waving at familiar faces, I make my way to where the spare uniforms are and change without anyone raising an eyebrow. Nabbing an earpiece, I chuck a wave at Nolan, the guy who runs the staff. He gives me a nod but keeps belting out orders.
I’ve never used what we do for personal gain, but then again, I’ve never fucked up so spectacularly. I’m okay with the fact I’ll use anything and everything I have to get her back.
Dodging my way around the sous chefs and the waitstaff who are lined up at the pass, I lock my sights on the door leading through to the cleaning area. There’s a tug of relief when I spy the cleaning cart all stocked up and ready to go. I have no issue cleaning a thousand stalls if it means I get a chance to come face to face with the Alpha who keeps pushing little moon.
Using the disposable get up Roda’s uses, colour coordinated gloves and hat no less, I do my thing and act the part, scrubbing the already pristine clean toilets. Like you’d expect in the bathroom of any popular restaurant, it’s a turnstile of guests using the facilities.
