Page 34

Ellie

When Alan and Ha-joon both came through the door to my office looking near panicked, I think I shocked all of us by reaching for Ha-joon. Somewhere in my mind maybe I wasn’t surprised because something had changed for us over the weekend, and even if I couldn’t say it, I knew it.

And with everything he’d been suffering with his own family, coming to terms with learning which of his siblings had tried to kill him as a child… He understood the pain family could bring. The altercation in the lobby was—he understood the pain.

“I’m so proud of you for facing him and being the goddess warrior for yourself like you are for others, my sweet kimchi,” he whispered as he sat next to me and half pulled me on his lap.

It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I moved to get the rest of the way onto his lap and cried against his shoulder as he comforted me.

I didn’t care who was there or what else was going on.

I cried to release my emotions of that level of crazy and I cried for the girl I’d been who had never been able to let it out and feel this safe.

Finally, I did, which was a miracle in itself.

“I don’t get it,” Alan muttered. “Kimchi isn’t sweet. It’s either spicy or vinegar.”

“You are so unromantic that you need classes, you dolt,” Renee grumbled.

“Okay, who are we burying?” Carla demanded as she came bursting into my office. “And are you okay? I heard it was your daughter who died but then not?”

“No, not mine. The girl did die?” Renee rasped.

“No, not dead,” another voice corrected. “Critical but alive. We actually need Dr. Clark since she’s a shifter and hoped he could help.”

Sean. It was Sean talking.

“Go, I’ll be fine,” I told him as I tried to move off of him.

“I fucking won’t be,” Ha-joon rasped. “Ellie, the fear coming off of you when I ran up and…”

“I know.” I gave him a soft kiss and tried to mop up my face. I saw in his eyes what part of it was. “I’ll wait for you. They need to read the contract. I won’t hide this part from you, I promise.”

“Please,” Renee added. “She’s my daughter’s best friend.”

“Yeah, of course I’d help any nipper,” Ha-joon whispered. He kissed my forehead and stood, focused on Carla. “Do not leave her side. Wolf to wolf, protect her and eat any who come for her.”

“You have my word, pup. I got her.” She shook her head when he was gone and smirked at me. “Oh boy, you’re in trouble girl. That man—”

“Not the fucking time, Carla,” Renee snapped. She apologized when we all looked at her. “Sorry. Again. I thought my daughter was dying and people play telephone like children around here with messages. Sorry.”

“You plan to press charges, right?” Gerald checked when he was done reading. He nodded when I snorted. “Yeah, glad to hear it because I heard you said you were the head of Amanda’s Hope and the foundation would take a hit if you didn’t as the head. This could get ugly, and I don’t know the family—”

I burst out laughing. I’d never asked. I hadn’t even asked who they were or bothered to—I’d been so lost in my head and the madness brought before me again that I’d just snapped.

It took me a bit to calm down and I was half hugging Carla and holding Alan’s hand when I could focus again.

“What’s the immediate concern?” Alan asked him as Ha-joon walked back in.

“The girl is critical but almost stable and I’ll check back,” Ha-joon told Renee. “She can’t shift yet, but I basically got her animal to stop trying to shift so they can try for surgery once her stats are calm for a bit longer. I’ll help her shift after surgery should she need it.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Normally, I’d be relieved, but I was too numb right then. I was just glad when he took Carla’s place and hugged me to him.

“First, it’s clear Kenneth Reed got to Ellie’s financial advisor or someone at the company who holds your portfolio,” Gerald said. “There’s no way he’d know your holdings otherwise, and the list in this contract is extensive and—”

“It might not be him but the attorney you replaced,” Alan muttered. “We had to submit a lot of our personal everything about five years back when there was a complaint of conflicts and—something ethics.”

“That’s true,” I mumbled, bobbing my head. “But yes, someone leaked something for Kenneth to know any of that. I have not been in contact with him in fifty years. The last time he tried to sell me…”

“I handled it,” Alan admitted. “I was the threat then. I got the family to want to call it off and made it clear that if they tried to push it they would live a life of regret. All while gathering the evidence of Kenneth’s harassment of Ellie to get the federal order of protection.

Her name was already long changed to Reed-Miller and it took a while to all put together. ”

“He didn’t leave right away after the mating talks were over,” I said, noting Ha-joon flinched at something Alan said but didn’t have it in me to figure out what. “But you figured out how to make him leave.”

Alan cleared his throat. “I would prefer not to admit to my crimes. The statute is up by now.”

I figured it was something like that.

“Not everyone here needs to hear it, but I do if I’m to help you legally, and that family is connected,” Gerald said gently. “Does Alexis know?”

I sighed. “She knows enough, but not the dirty details.”

“Trust your gut on this, Ellie. I know you said you threw gas on it all, but I think just the opposite and you freed yourself,” Renee said gently. “You know the difference between now and fifty years ago.”

She was right and that helped. I gave her a grateful look because subconsciously I knew she was right.

Pompous families that still bought women like mares for their sons would care about me being a bastard, but the rest of the civilized world had long since moved past that. That was the part my subconscious knew and I was missing because of the crazy.

“Strap on your daytime soaps hat,” I grumbled.

There was a knock at the door and one of my admins stuck her head in. “I apologize Ms. Reed, but there is a Mrs. Clark here and she is saying she’s here as the Alpha Mate because Dr. Clark’s life was threatened?”

“Oh shite,” Ha-joon said as he went to stand.

“Let her in,” I said at the same time. “I don’t actually know what happened when I went into shock. Let’s start there.”

Mrs. Clark breezed in with determination like she was ready to go into battle but also worry thick around her. Relief filled her eyes when she saw both of us. “Good, good, you are both fine. I apologize but when—”

“It’s fine, I’m not caught up either,” I forgave, gesturing for her to sit.

She gave a quick kiss to Ha-joon’s cheek first and then sat, still ready to battle from the determination in her eyes.

Even through my numbness, my heart hurt when Ha-joon looked at the door and back to his mother. “No Da?”

Surprise flashed in her eyes. “He said I was silly for coming and it was probably blown-up drama. If it wasn’t, you were more than capable to handle it, had good people at your back here, and were always smart enough to ask for help.”

He accepted that, knowing she wasn’t lying, and I squeezed his hand because I saw what was in her aura. I knew his father had said too much, but the man truly did love Ha-joon and I believed had faith in him.

We just weren’t perfect as people. I’d seen lots of parents be jealous of their children and vice versa. We were just people sometimes before our roles and relationships.

“It is a blowup,” Ha-joon accepted.

Alan snickered. “But like out of a damn comic or fucking clown car. I’m stealing your hidden liquor, Ellie.”

“Which you put there and I rarely touch,” I drawled.

“You’re welcome I get you the good stuff,” he teased bringing a bit of lightness to the conversation… For others. I wasn’t there yet.

Ha-joon said how the guy tried to punch him and he’d handled it but then vampires who knew that family were there visiting their sick patriarch and jumped in to help the guy. And that was the clown car jab because it was practically the whole fucking bloodline with extended family and more.

“He could have taken them all on,” Alan bitched , gesturing to Ha-joon as he handed out drinks. “Here I’m huffing and puffing —he really just makes me feel old and lazy. He’s an amazing doctor and I love that he’s kicking everyone up a few levels, but I didn’t need him to make me feel so lacking.”

“The new structure with the department heads as the board is doing wonders for all of us,” Carla cut in. “And I’ve seen you in actual battle , Alan. You’re hot as fuck. I doubt the pup would know how not to cut himself with a sword and you’re badass.”

“Yeah, fair,” Ha-joon accepted, holding his hands up in surrender. “And I was huffing and puffing as well.” He nodded when his mother raised an eyebrow. “It was ridiculous , Mum. Like Monty Python ridiculous.”

Gerald snorted. “And apparently, they’re all bitching that it wasn’t battery and they don’t understand why they’re being arrested when they were ‘rescuing’ a friend.

They’re not hearing that he threw the punch.

Seriously, fucking entitled—and I say that as someone from a family with money. They’re in every species but—idiots.”

Yes, there were idiots in every species, race, and sex. That was for damn sure.

“Security was helping but mostly trying to block Ellie,” Alan explained.

“Because it was clear you went into shock and that woman tried to grab back the information. Luckily, Gerald was there, and when he started to help Clark, I realized what she was doing and told him to get you out of there with the evidence before you both disappeared in the madness.”

“He explained you told him to,” I muttered. “Is the hospital like leveled?”

Ha-joon snorted. “We have more customers, and please bill some of them out the arse for taking cheap shots. Gits.”

“I’ll make it a priority,” I drawled before tossing back my drink. I focused on Mrs. Clark. “You weren’t there to hear what I revealed or—”