Chapter Fourteen
EMERY
Glancing at Shadow sitting next to the couch watching me, I flip the phone Sebastian gave me over in my hands.Would I have answered if he’d called last night?I honestly don’t know.
Even though Sebastian wasn’t gone all day today, it felt like he was. Now he’s in his office doingmore work.Maybe it’s selfish of me to want to spend every second I can with him. Work is important to him. I know that. But from what I’ve seen, it also drains him when he spends so much time at the office only to continue working when he’s home.
Last night was hard on both of us, although whereas I got to sit around today, he had to work. Not only that but being here has to be hard on him. As much as Sebastian says he’s fine, I know he’s avoiding dealing with everything—at the very least, returning to his childhood home for the first time since his parents were killed.
Sick of being on the couch all day, I stand and wince as my ankle gets used to the change in position. It feels a little better than it did this morning but still sore. Shadow stands as I do, but he doesn’t hang around long before wandering towards the kitchen. After a moment, I follow after him and find him by the back doors.
“Do you want to go outside?” I ask him.
The glass doors leading outside look like they open entirely, folding into each other, opening up this whole space. Pulling open the main door, I let Shadow outside, and curiosity has me following him out onto the covered deck. Shadow takes off, but I don’t bother going after him. I only managed a quick glance outside earlier before Mason ushered me into the lounge, but by the looks of it, the yard extends quite far. I’d go exploring if my ankle was better.
The large deck has an outdoor kitchen, another large dining table, and a seating area with couches and what looks like a firepit.
Even though it’s covered out here, I feel like I can breathe. I never truly felt like I could at the penthouse. Sebastian and I danced around each other constantly. Not only that, knowing I was so close to the man I was running from had me feeling claustrophobic in the city with tall buildings and people everywhere.
Shadow appears a couple of minutes later, and reluctantly I head back inside. With the sun getting closer to the horizon, the temperature is dropping. As much as I want to stay in this space, I’m not rugged enough to be out here.
Mason had taken care of Shadow, letting him out whenever he needed and ensuring I didn’t get off the couch. The frustration of being immobile all day sits heavily on me. I need todosomething. Mason already set up the large flat screen with the same program he had in the penthouse, but the last thing I want to do is watch television day in and day out again.
“What should we do, hmm?” I ask Shadow, but he merely tilts his head at me. Maybe Sebastian would want some dinner. When I press the button, the phone lights up, confirming it’s just now five in the evening. Giving me something to do, I decide to go in search of the office Sebastian said he would be in. I haven’t been there before, but surely it can’t be that hard to find, although the house is quite big so maybe it will be.
Since my ankle is still tender, I decide to avoid the stairs and start down here. I know one end of the main corridor leads to the front door, so I head in the other direction, where the hall appears to veer left at the end. I slam straight into someone seemingly moving quite fast as I round the corner. The impact knocks me into a little alcove at the end of the hall I’d just turned down, and I wince as my back hits the corner of the arch. When I look up to see that the someone I ran into isn’t Sebastian, I freeze.
The man scowls at me, but he tilts his head to the side after a moment, a crease forming between his brows. He looks older than Mason and wears an expensive suit.Maybe he works with Sebastian? His hair is thinning, and his dull brown eyes move over me like he’s trying to figure something out.
Something isn’t right.
His eyes widen just as it hits me.I’ve seen him before.Outside of my uncle’s office. And from the laugh that escapes him, it seems like I’m not the only one who’s figured it out.
“Emery Deveigne.How long has Sebastian had you hidden away here?” he asks, his eyes gleaming as they rake over me. “You’re the reason they know anything at all, aren’t you? Does he even know who you are?”
I swallow hard at the threat in his eyes, and my heart starts pounding in my chest, but I don’t let myself fall apart.
“He doesn’t, does he?” He laughs again, and the sound feels like nails scratching over my skin. “Maybe I should go back and have a little chat with him. I’d love to see the look on his smug face, especially after how he treated me today,” the man says with a vicious smirk.
Shadow stands beside me in the arch, but my back is still against the small wall of the alcove. I’m trapped with the man now only a step away from me.
Sebastian’s office must be nearby if this man was here to see him, so I glance in the direction he came from. The thought of yelling out for Sebastian crosses my mind, but the risk that this man would tell him who I am stops me.
“You wouldn’t,” I say, somehow keeping my voice from shaking.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Because I know it was you. I know what you did.”
His face drops any trace of smug humour, and he sneers at me.
“You know nothing, girl,” he says, leaning closer to me, and Shadow growls a low menacing sound. He glances at Shadow before bringing his stare back to me.
He’s wrong. The day I overheard the conversation about Sebastian’s parents was the same day I saw him leave my uncle’s office. I hadn’t heard the whole conversation, but I heard enough to know what they’d planned and to hear the name, Ian Ross. My mind had been reeling so hard from the information and how I could possibly warn Sebastian that I hadn’t heard the sound of the office door, leaving me no time to get out of sight. Both men had frowned at seeing me outside the office, but my uncle believed me when I told him I was only looking for him. As much as the words had burned my throat, it was better than whatever he would have done if he thought I was listening to his conversations.
“You might not have pulled the trigger, but you’re half the reason they’re dead,Vincent.” My uncle had called him Vincent, and from the way his face twists with anger, I have it right.
He lifts his arm, but before I can even prepare for the blow, Shadow’s snarling bark reverberates around us, causing Vincent to stumble back a step. Fear seeps into his eyes as Shadow bares his teeth, though he still glares between the large German Shepherd and me.