Page 20
Mira
My ears were the first of my senses to wake up. The muffled voice from a distance grew clearer and closer until it sounded like it was next to me. I cracked my eyes open and was assaulted by the brightness of the day.
My hands instinctively rose to shield my eyes, the movement alerting the owner of the voice to my conscious state.
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
My vision eventually came to a focus, and the blurry silhouette of dark brown hair took the shape of Victor Thorne. For some reason, disappointment tinged my gratitude. I was hoping for a different brother. The events of my accident trickled into my consciousness in slow but vivid flashes.
I tried to answer his question, but my voice came out as a painful croak. Victor reached for the jug on the nightstand, pouring me a glass of water. I heaved a sigh of relief when the cool liquid flowed down my throat, soothing the coarse feeling.
“Where am I? How long was I out?” I asked when my throat felt better.
“You’re in my house, and you were out for roughly five hours.”
I raised a brow at him. Five hours was an incredibly long time. Noah, what about my baby?
I tried to get off the bed, but the world tipped on its axis, sending me back to the bed. Black dots clouded my vision, and Victor was by my side in a flash.
“You need to take it easy. The hit on your head resulted in internal bleeding, and you weren’t healing fast enough. The doctor had to administer heavy painkillers and sedatives to help with the pain.”
I could only muster one word. “Noah.”
“I had his nanny get him from school. He’s home, and he’s safe. I brought you here because I didn’t want him to see you like this.”
I nodded, the dots at the back of my head slowly clearing away. “Thank you.”
He gave me a small smile. “I’d do anything for you.”
He was being really sweet, but all I could think of was Griffin and how I thought he was the one who saved me.
I battled against the urge to ask Victor if Griffin was at the scene of the accident.
Maybe he wasn’t there at all. Why would he be?
Maybe it was my brain conjuring him up because he was the person I wanted to see.
Why would I want to see the person who put me through so much pain after recovering from an attack? The sweetest man was in front of me and doing everything to guarantee my comfort, and all I could think of was the one who threw me in a dungeon. That kiss really messed with a few screws in my head.
Wait…. My thoughts came to a screeching halt. The kiss.
Flashes of Griffin gripping my cheeks, his tongue tangled with mine, assaulted my head, and I physically winced at the emotions they elicited.
“Are you alright?” Victor asked, his face wrinkled with lines of worry.
I was fucked, royally fucked.
I forced a painful smile on my face. “It’s just a headache, but I’m fine now.”
He gave me one of those soft smiles of his. “You’re hungry. I’ll fix you something to eat.”
I felt guilt stabbing me through like a knife as I watched his retreating figure disappear from the room, but my wolf didn’t care. She was replaying the kiss and celebrating her little success.
******
“The flight should be scheduled for Monday morning, and the staff in London should be made aware of my return. I’ll be returning for good,” I spoke into the phone, making sure my personal assistant was getting the details of my instructions.
I had scheduled a meeting with the board a week after my attack to let them know of my intention to leave New York for good.
The deals and money were great, but they were not worth endangering my life or that of my son.
Luckily, they saw reason with my plea, especially after the attack, and they agreed to it on the condition that I pick a capable person from the board to oversee my duties while I was away.
I handed the duties to my COO and started making plans to leave.
I had not seen or heard from Griffin since our kiss and part of me was hurt by that.
I knew an official statement had not been made about my relocation, but I was certain all my business partners were aware.
News traveled fast in the business world, and the official statement was just for formalities.
Still, there was nothing from Griffin. Not even a “Hello. I heard you were attacked. Are you okay?” Nothing.
Just cold silence. Maybe it was for the best. His presence around me only spelled danger.
My mind traveled back to the time one of my attackers used the term ‘princess.’ I was convinced it was my mind playing tricks on me, but as the days passed and I healed better, my memory took a more consistent shape, and I realized it wasn’t in my head.
It happened. I was still a member of Griffin’s pack, and there was only one princess.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
It had to be her. She was the only person who went as far as framing me and threatening me at a public cafe.
I didn’t have any enemy that was so passionate about me.
The conclusion strengthened my resolve to pack up what was left of my life and return to the peaceful life I had in London.
I missed the solitary life the city offered, and I’ll always be grateful to Adrian for asking me to join him when he was leaving. He knew how badly I wanted to leave the States. It was the move that saved my life.
My alarm beeped, and I was reminded of my meeting with Henry. I was supposed to officially inform him that my COO would be taking over the deal for me. At the same time, an email came in from his secretary, informing me of Henry’s busy schedule and his inability to make it to our meeting.
Not in the mood to deal with further delays in my plan, I made a last-minute decision to visit Griffin’s office and inform him of my departure.
An email would’ve been fine, but I didn’t think it was appropriate.
It wasn’t as if I wanted to see him or anything.
We were partners in the business, and it was his right to be informed of the change of plans in person and not by email.
I dismissed my driver, hopping into my car and entering Griffin’s office address in GPS.
This was an impromptu decision, and I figured a drive would help me come up with the right words.
But after almost thirty-five minutes of driving, my head was just as blank as it was when I started.
I decided to just stick to work-related conversations.
“Do you have an appointment?”
A snobby blonde with an equally snobby nose asked the moment I stepped into the lobby of Griffin’s office.
“No, I don’t, but I’m certain your boss will want to see me,” I replied in the most polite tone I could muster.
I hated girls like her who thought they ran the place because they checked the people entering an establishment.
I took extra measures to make sure none of my branches hired her kind, no matter how well they pretended.
She looked me up and down, taking in my loose style jeans and silk shirt and decided I wasn’t worth a drop of her boss’s time. “He won’t see you without an appointment.”
I was done playing nice with her, so I left the desk, trusting my wolf to lead me to her mate’s office.
“Excuse me, you can’t go in there,” the receptionist called out, running after me, but she was no match in her pointy stilettos. I was in Griffin’s office before she caught up.
“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.” she breathed out, sending me a glare. I didn’t bother to return her warmth.
“It’s fine, Sylvia,” Griffin said, his eyes not leaving me. “Leave us.”
She blinked and looked between Griffin and me before tucking her tail between her legs and making her way out of the office.
Griffin’s lips tipped at both sides .
“Does this mean we’re even, and I can threaten to call the cops on you, too?”
“I’m leaving.”
His lips straightened as soon as the words left my lips.
“I came to inform you my COO will be taking over my position, and you’ll be needing to continue the project. I thought it would be polite for you to hear it from me.”
He got up from his seat and was in front of me faster than I could blink. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”
“This city is not safe for me and the sooner I leave, the better for my son and me.”
“I know, but how will I keep you safe if you’re seas away from me? I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you without being able to get there on time again.”
My brows tipped. “What do you mean again?”
He blinked at me. “That’s not important right now. The point is, I want you to stay. I’ll keep you safe, I swear it.”
I’d be a huge liar if I said his words didn’t sway me a bit, but this wasn’t the time to listen to my racing heart or my ecstatic wolf.
I needed to think with my head. I also wanted to question him on his statement about not being on time again, but I was afraid of what the answer would do to me and my decision to leave.
So, I tucked it into the back of my head.
“I won’t be needing protection outside the States. All the demons are here.”
It stung a bit when he didn’t bother to ask what I meant or who I was talking about. The Griffin I knew would want every detail, but he chose to be quiet like he couldn’t care at all about my situation. Whatever the case, maybe, it hurt a little, and I felt stupid for thinking he’d care .
“Goodbye, Griffin.”
He tried to hold my hand, but I pulled away, walking out of the office and not turning until I was safely in my car and hidden behind the tinted windows. Then, I let out a frustrated scream, letting all the emotions I’ve been bottling in for a week spill through my vocal cords.
Once I felt lighter, I picked up my phone. I had one last call to make before I disappeared for good.
The phone rang about five times before someone answered. “Thank goodness, Mary. I was almost scared you lost your phone for a minute.”