Page 9

Mira

There were times I had to pinch myself as a reminder that I wasn’t dreaming and that I had really escaped the shackles of the fate life dealt me and was currently living a life I would never have thought possible in my wildest dreams.

Over the past five years, I had looked over my shoulders, holding my breath and waiting for a blast from the past to resurface and take it all away.

But it never happened. Instead, life got better.

The days got brighter, and the future looked promising for the first time in my life.

But as everyone knows, the moment before a bomb explodes is often the quietest.

I felt him before I saw him. The potent smell of sandalwood and musk wrapped around my throat and threatened to squeeze the life out of me. My wolf stirred. Her movement was a mix of caution from being hurt before and the excitement of seeing her mate after a very long time .

I wanted to run away. I wanted to turn around, walk out the door, and not look back until I traveled far to the other side of the world, where neither his scent nor his perfect body could haunt me. But then Kelvin turned to me with a bright smile, alerting his company of my arrival.

“Mrs. Diamond,” he beamed, holding out his arm for a shake. I offered mine in return, but I barely felt his fingers wrapping around mine.

It was the man to his right who held my attention. My body thrummed with awareness, and my pulse raced with so much speed I found myself hoping I wasn’t visibly shaking. I wasn’t even looking at him, yet somehow, he managed to tilt the center of my world in his direction.

“Mr. Kelvin, you have a beautiful home,” I said, giving myself a mental fist bump for how flat and unaffected my voice was.

“Mrs. Diamond.” Griffin’s velvety voice wrapped around me, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake and effectively cutting Kelvin out of the conversation.

It had been five years, and his voice still had the same knee-weakening effect on me.

I sent a polite smile his way, determined not to let the emotions raging in me show.

“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. Mr….?”

“Thorne. Griffin Thorne,” he finished off, a wry smile playing on his lips. “I’ve been meaning to get a hold of you.”

“Really? Did you go through my secretary?” I queried, plastering an equally fake smile on my face. Two can play this game.

“I did, but I was ignored and eventually added to a waiting list. Can you believe that? ”

“That’s quite unfortunate. We’ll make sure that doesn’t repeat itself in the future,” I replied, making a mental note to give my secretary a raise for that.

Griffin looked like he was thinking up his next reply, but thankfully, Kelvin interrupted.

“I see you two are getting along well. I’ll let you get acquainted while I take care of an urgent business.”

His statement caused me to look around, and I realized that during our little exchange, the circle of people who were present had wandered off to different areas of the house, leaving me with Griffin. I guess my gratitude was a bit too early.

“Mira.” His voice came out breathy, and he stared at me like I was the eighth wonder of the world.

“It was nice getting to know you, Mr. Thorne, but I have business associates to say hi to.” I made to leave, but his fingers wrapped around my wrist, and I was immediately transported to the first time we met and the feel of his touch when he saved me from damnation.

Those were days I wished to never relive.

I turned to him, speaking through gritted teeth to avoid people noticing what was going on.

“Let go of me, Mr. Thorne. This is hardly appropriate.”

He shrugged casually, and as if on cue, the soft strings of a violin wafted into the air. Before I could get a grip of the situation around me, Griffin spun me around, steering me to the dance floor in a swift motion.

“Are you out of your mind?” I seethed, maintaining a polite smile in front of the audience. I have spent years crafting the perfect image of a widow with no intention to mingle. His little antics were threatening to undo everything I’ve strived so hard for.

“On the contrary. Mira. I think it is you who is out of your mind.”

The chill in his tone spread through me, settling deep into my bones. What did he intend to get out of this?

As if he could read my mind, the next words that left his mouth answered my question.

“I picked you from the bottom of your pack, gave you a home and comfort, and you tried to ruin my life. As if that is not enough, you finally found yourself a wealthy benefactor to leech off, and the first thing you thought was to come after my business?”

I blinked in confusion, a low hum of anger slowly building beneath my skin. He thought this was about him?

I knew he could be an ass. I just didn’t know he was an arrogant one. I’ve spent the past years avoiding him and anything that seemed to be mildly affiliated with him. I didn’t need him barging into my life and messing things up. Noah didn’t need that either.

“Whatever you might have going on in your head is purely of your making. I have no interest in you and anything that has to do with you. Now unhand me. I have business partners to attend to.”

The son of bitch spun me around, pulling flush against him.

I sucked in a deep breath, hating how well my body molded into his.

I could feel my nipples hardening and straining beneath the soft fabric of my dress, and every time he exhaled, the movement of his chest sent jolts of electricity through the peaking buds.

“You wanted my attention, Mira. It’s what you’ve always wanted. Now you have it, but unfortunately for you, I don’t take lightly to people messing with my business.”

“I wasn’t messing with your business. If I knew you were going after any of those deals, I would’ve stayed as far away from them as possible.

” My composure was slowly falling apart, and my voice was becoming increasingly breathy.

I needed to get away from him before the situation took a different turn .

“It’s a little hard to believe when this is the third time you’ll be stealing from me.”

I scoffed.

“You lost the deal, Griffin. Obviously, you were lacking something that they found in me. How about you take a look inward and fix yourself instead of blaming me for your misfortunes?” My words came out harsher than I intended, but there was no taking them back.

If the expression on Griffin’s face was what it would take to keep him as far as possible from Noah and me, it was a route I was ready to take.

A slow smirk spread across his face, and dark intent settled in his eyes.

His arm around me dropped from my back to the curve of my hips, the heat from him burning through the thin fabric and shooting straight to my veins.

He bent his head to my ears and whispered.

“I intend to take a long look inside, just like I intend to take a trip down memory lane. Fugitives interest me.”

His words were an obvious threat and should have set off the alarms in my head, but he said it like it was a sinful promise, and I couldn’t contain the shudder that spread through me.

As if the music could sense the change in atmosphere, the strings slowly came to a halt, and I gave Griffin a polite courtesy before making my way out of the ballroom.

My business deals would have to wait till another day. I was too rattled to throw myself into anything serious.

The drive home mostly consisted of me calling my COO and checking in with some of my board members to see if some of the work could be done abroad, but they insisted my presence was pivotal to the turn of events .

I sighed in frustration, tossing my phone to the side of the car. Trust Griffin Thorne to waltz into my life and automatically assume everything was about him.

When the car pulled up to my house, I was immediately tackled by a giggling mop of curly dark brown hair and icy blue eyes.

“Hello, big guy,” I laughed, scooping him into my arms and peppering kisses all over him.

“Ew, mama, saliva,” he groaned, scrubbing furiously at his face. My laughter only intensified.

I finally put him down, ruffling my head a bit. He was a bit too difficult to look at after the events of tonight, and the fact that he was a spitting image of his father didn’t help.

“Come on, mama. Uncle Tom and I built a massive Lego house for you. He announced cheerily, and my steps faltered at the mention of Tom’s name. Could the night get any worse?

Tom was the nephew of my late husband, Adrian. He had somehow managed to convince himself that I was responsible for his uncle’s death, and I equally messed with the will to give me a chunk of his properties.

He was clearly lying, but he wasted so many of his years hoping his unwed uncle would leave him with his wealth after he died, only to end up with a chateau in France and a Rolls Royce. The unexpected turn of events left him furious.

I tried to make peace with him. I explained so many times that my relationship with his uncle was born out of pure friendship and that his decision to hand the company over to me was based on his trust in me and not because I manipulated him on his deathbed.

When my explanations went over his ears, I tried to compensate him by offering him high-paying positions in the company.

But it was not enough for him. He was consumed by greed and wanted everything for himself.

Unfortunately for him, Adrian foresaw his actions and put in measures to protect me and prevent him from going after the company.

That only infuriated him more, forcing him to resort to petty harassments and empty threats over the years.

“Go play with your cars, sweetie.” The moment I entered the house, I sent Noah off with his nanny and proceeded to the living room to face Tom.