“Go away, Darius.” She sounds so tired. So defeated. “Let me make something out of this shitty existence. Whatever game you’re playing with me, you win. Now, please. Please just leave me alone.”
She takes hold of my arm and turns me toward the door. I let her. Let myself be shown out.
Because I can’t process what she just said. Can’t reconcile her words with the bright, hopeful girl I remember. The one who used to smile at me like I was the most important person in her world.
She shoves me out into the hallway. The realtor is standing there. He’s been waiting patiently, giving us space. When our eyes meet, he looks almost apologetic. Pitying.
Violet’s voice comes from behind me, inside the apartment, clearly addressing him. “You can comeback in now.”
The agent glances at me, and I see him hesitate. He’s weighing whether he should leave a clearly distraught woman alone with an aggressive stranger or stay and get caught in the middle.
“It’s okay,” Violet says, louder now. “He’s leaving.”
The dismissal in her tone makes the decision for him. He moves past me, and I watch as he slips through the doorway.
She closes the door with a soft click, and I stand there, staring at it.
“I don’t care much about living, either.”
Her words replay in my head. They’re not a death wish. Not quite. But maybe something worse: indifference. Complete and utter indifference to her own existence.
The pain in my chest intensifies. I press my fist against my sternum, trying to diffuse the pressure, but it doesn’t help. The mate bond screams at me, demanding I go back in there, demanding I fix this, demanding I make Violet see that her life matters.
For once, my human side and my wolf are in complete agreement. She needs a reason to live. We have to give her one.
I want to break down that door. Make her see that she matters. That her life has value. That she is everything.
But I can’t. Not when she has made it clear she doesn’t want me anywhere near her.
I have to find another way. I’ll protect her. Provide for her. Show her she’s worth something even if she can’t see it.
I force myself to turn around, walk down the hallway, and go down the stairs and out to my car. But I don’t drive away.
I sit behind the wheel, staring at the building. I find the third-floor window that must be apartment 304. The mate bond pulses with every heartbeat, a physical ache that won’t fade.
Eventually, I pull out my phone.
Ethan answers on the second ring. “Darius? What’s—”
“I need you to find a penthouse. Human district. Close to my place.” The words come out clipped. Controlled. “Buy the building if you have to.”
Silence on the other end.
“Tonight,” I add. “I need it tonight.”
“Okay…” Ethan’s voice is wary. “Any particular reason for the urgency?”
“Find out who Violet’s realtor is. Get his contact information. Convince him to show her the penthouse instead of the mediocre apartment she’s looking at right now.”
“Darius—”
“Make the offer attractive. Ridiculously low rent. So low, she’d be stupid to refuse it.” I can hear my voice getting rougher. “Everything she could possibly need. Secure. Modern.”
There’s a pause before Ethan speaks again. “Why are we doing this?”
“She’s my mate.” The words come out raw. Final. “She deserves only the best of the best.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
