CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

Cynthia

"No need." I get to my feet and pull the resignation letter from my jacket pocket. "I’m resigning."

I place the letter on his desk, and Adam studies it. Then his lips curve. "Unfortunately, you cannot resign. When you accepted your promotion, you signed a new contract that extended your term of employment to five years. You should have read the contract properly. If you resign, you have to pay the company the remaining three years’ salary."

I freeze. "That can’t be legal."

"And yet, you signed it." Adam raises a brow.

"I have savings." I try to keep my cool. "How much will I have to pay?"

Adam smiles at me and names a figure that makes my legs turn to jelly. That’s three times my savings!

"I’m afraid you cannot just resign." He leans forward, plucks the resignation letter from the desk, and holds my gaze as he tears it to bits.

It’s hard to maintain my calm facade, but I force a smile on my lips. "You could always fire me."

"Now, why would I do that?" Adam’s smile is sly. "You’re right where I want you."

I study him for a few seconds before murmuring, "Have you seen the productivity reports from when I stepped on as director?"

"I’ve never doubted your skills."

"Well, prepare to do so." I raise my brows. "If you won’t fire me, I’ll make you."

His eyes narrow. "So, you’re going to make trouble for me?"

"If that’s what it takes to free myself from you, then yes." I give him a scathing look. "I believe we’re done here."

I begin walking towards the door, and then I hear him ask, "Do you really loathe me that much?"

My hand is on the doorknob when I pause. My voice is low as I answer, "Yes. I loathe anyone who wants to put a leash around my neck. I especially despise the man who would have kept the collar around my neck, keeping me at his feet like a dog, whilst claiming to care about me."

I don’t wait around for his answer, slamming the door behind me as I storm out.

Seeing him, hearing his voice, it’s bringing back more than just memories. It’s bringing back a wealth of pain.

Rounding the corner, I place my hand on the wall to steady myself, the other hand on my chest.

I didn’t mean to say that. I should have kept things professional and cold.

But I couldn’t help myself. I don’t understand it. This life I’ve built with Riya, with Tony and Maya, it’s not lacking in anything. I’m happy. I’m content. But the moment I laid eyes on Adam, all that happiness vanished. It was replaced by a misery I can’t shake. My wolf whines and wants to go back inside that room, but I refuse to.

Adam has created the life he wanted. He’s the alpha. He’s probably married to Tina now or even mated. Four years should eased the pain, but it all came tumbling down on top of me.

I return to my office, and Kofo is fixing the mess the police probably caused.

"What happened?" He jumps to his feet. "Are you fired? Please tell me you’re not fired!"

"No." I sink into my chair, feeling a headache brewing. "Gregory was fired. He’s probably going to be sued as well."

"Oh." Kofo sits heavily on the seat adjacent to my desk. "Well, that was expected, wasn’t it?"

"I guess," I mumble.

I want to go home.

"So, what now?"

"That’s the million-dollar question," I say softly.

After pondering for a minute, I look up at Kofo. "You studied corporate law, right?"

"I minored in it." Kofo nods.

"Alright, I’ll shoot you a hypothetical. If a company employee decides to resign but will have to pay the company three years’ worth of salary, isn’t that illegal?"

Kofo whistles through his teeth. "That’s kind of a gray area. If the employee signed the contract, they have to fulfill it."

"And what if the employee runs away?"

"They would be sued. I doubt they’d be able to find gainful employment anywhere in the future. I think they could also find a lawyer to see if this clause can be removed, but it also depends on what kind of benefits the employee was given to counteract the clause."

"I see."

Kofo looks at me, and his curiosity is written all over his face. However, I have no intention of satisfying his curiosity.

I could always look for a lawyer and get their opinion, but I don’t think this is something I’ll be able to get out of.

"I’m taking the rest of the day off." I get to my feet, but Kofo immediately jumps to his too.

"You can’t!" He looks at me frantically. "We have to send out the approved designs by today and we have more coming in. And then there’s the launch event at the end of this month. Everyone’s worked so hard for it."

His words have me hesitating.

He’s right. The entire department has been working their asses off for this launch. If I step back right now, all their hard work will be wasted. And it’s not like I can’t start taking days off once this launch is taken care of.

"Alright." I sigh. "Let’s get to work then."

This doesn’t mean I’m not going to talk to a lawyer.

I fully intended to go home early today, but the work kept piling on and on, and now I’m burning the midnight oil. My team is more driven than usual, and as a result, it doesn’t matter how quickly I go through the designs and proposals, more keep appearing on my desk. Finally, everyone has gone home, and I just have twenty-seven more proposals to go through and eighty designs to check.

I rest my head on my desk, drained. "Will this day never end?"

I didn’t even get to go home to Riya. Tony and Maya are having the time of their lives throwing my daughter a slumber party with pizza and movies.

"I want pizza, too," I moan into the desk. "This sucks."

"I thought you would be home by now," comes an amused voice from the doorway.

My head immediately lifts, and I glare at Adam. "What do you want?"

He’s leaning against the door jamb, watching me intently. "I was just curious as to why you’re working so late after that whole speech you gave me about making trouble for me."

"It wasn’t a speech." I glower at him. "It was a declaration of war."

"Was it?" Adam seems to be in a good mood for some reason. "And is working overtime going to somehow convince me to fire you? What’s your plan here? Put in so much overtime that the company has no choice but to let you go?"

He’s clearly taunting me.

"I wish I’d broken that stapler over your head," I mutter.

"A mere stapler won’t kill me." Adam pulls up the visitor’s chair, sprawling in it. Even as he lounges so casually, he looks dangerous. That’s something else I’ve noticed about him. He now possesses an aura of danger and ferocity. It doesn’t impact me the way Jonathon’s aura did, but I can definitely see it.

"I don’t know about that," I muse darkly. "A couple of hard whacks to the head might be the way to find out."

He studies me. "You really want me dead?"

I open my mouth to say yes, but the word doesn’t come out. Because the truth is I don’t want him to die.

"You’re disrupting my life." I give him an angry look. "I don’t want you here. This is my life, my job, my home. Why do you have to come here and ruin everything? Why can’t you just leave me alone?"

For a moment, I think I see a flash of hurt in Adam’s eyes, but it’s gone a heartbeat later, and I’m sure I just imagined the whole thing.

His jaw sets, however. "Was I supposed to ask for your permission before I acquired this company? Maybe if you had left me a note about your whereabouts, I would have stayed out of your way."

"Yeah, I believe that," I shoot out.

Adam gives me an amused look. "You’re right. I wouldn’t have. Either way, you’re here now."

"Not for long." I turn my attention back to the files in front of me. "As soon as this launch is over, I’m going to start taking days off. You’ll be without a marketing director."

"That’s your strategy?" Adam rests his cheek on his closed fist, watching me. "Take days off and drive me into a worried frenzy?"

"I doubt anything can drive you into a frenzy," I scoff.

"You did," he says quietly. "When you left."

My hand, holding the pen, stills, and I stare down at the contents of the proposal before me, my eyes unseeing.

"You ran away, Cynthia."

"What should I have done then?" I look up at him, my eyes flashing. "Stay with the man who whispered promises to me while he got engaged to the woman he told me I didn’t have to worry about? Should I have stayed with the man who would have used the blood debt his father bound me with to chain me to his side? I just wanted my freedom, and you wanted to be the alpha. I always thought that the man I needed protection from was Jonathon. It never hit me that you were his son and that I needed to be protected from you, too!"

Adam is pale, and my heart is beating painfully. I can’t stay here. I don’t want to look at him. My feelings are a tangled mess within me, and my head is throbbing.

"I’m going home." I grab my bag and phone and stride toward the door, unable to spend one more second with him. It’s hurting. My heart never healed from the scars Adam left. It throbs each time I see him, the memory of what he wanted to do to me making me feel wretched.

He grabs my wrist as I pass him, forcing me to stop. I try to pull away from him, but he doesn’t let go. He gets to his feet, whirling me around to face him. I slam into his hard chest and he holds me there, his eyes dark. "You’re still mine. Don’t you ever forget that. You can go hide in the farthest corners of this earth, and I will still find you."

His words make my heart skip a beat, but I harden my heart. "I’m not yours, Adam. Go to your fiancée or your wife. Or is Tina your mate now?" My smile is twisted, my heart bitter. "You got everything you wanted. You became the alpha. You have the perfect woman by your side. You have the support of her fortune and her status. Don’t go making eyes at a woman who was once a slave."

I shove him away from me with newfound strength. He doesn’t stop me.

"You knew I wasn’t worthy to stand by you back then, so you wanted to keep me a slave. Did you get off on thinking of how you will strip me of my will, my choice?" I step closer to him, my voice taunting, my heart bleeding. "Did you enjoy thinking of all the power you would have over the slave who dared to be your fated mate?"

Adam’s face is white as a sheet.

My voice is soft. "Did you know that I injected myself with wolfsbane when I realized what you were planning to do?"

He jerks at my words, a look of horror forming on his face.

"My heart didn’t beat for five minutes. I died for five minutes just to escape your family, including you. In my eyes, Adam, you’re no a less of monster than your father and brother. All of you wanted to keep me tied with a leash like a dog, doing only your bidding, my body at your disposal. I thought that you were different. I was sure that because you protected me, you would not do that to me. But your wounds left scars that have never left me."

I take a step back, feeling empty now. "I will never be yours, Adam. Not when I was willing to taste death just to get away from you."

I turn on my heels and walk away, unable to bear the expression on his face.

I don’t want to feel guilty for making him look like that.

I don’t want to see the glassy sheen in his eyes, the agony on his face.

He hurt me! He was… He broke my heart in the worst way possible.

I keep myself together until I get in my car, and that’s when I collapse. My tears are hot and heavy, and they don’t stop. Sitting in my office building’s parking lot, I lean my head against the steering wheel and let out four years of pent-up emotion.

By the time I manage to get myself together, it’s one in the morning.

Riya will be asleep, and there’s no point in waking her up to take her home.

Picking up my phone, I send a voice message to my assistant. "Kofo, I’m down with a cold. I still have leftover work, so drop the files off at my house tomorrow, please."

Once that is done, I head over to one of those twenty-four-seven fast-food chains and grab myself some food. There is a park across from my apartment, and it’s empty at this time of night. I sit on one of the swings, eating my food.

When I used to believe in Adam’s promises, I had imagined the two of us with our child living in a place like this. It would be our home, filled with love, dreams, and laughter. I had dreamed of Sunday breakfasts and laying in bed with my little family. It had all been fantasies. Perhaps those had been a way of distracting myself from reality. When he broke that dream, I picked myself up and moved on with our daughter. Riya looks like him. She’s never asked about her father, but she’s still young. Soon, she will be curious, and I don’t know what to tell her.

This hole that Adam left in my heart is one that has remained hollow. I’ve never sought to fulfill it, letting the wound grow dull and hollow. But I’ve been able to ignore it until now. Seeing him, though, hearing his voice and feeling his touch, it’s removing the scabs from that wound, making it fresh and painful once again.

"I won’t make the same mistake of trusting him again," I mumble, looking down at the sandwich in my hand. It tastes like cardboard. All these years, I have struggled to become a good mother to Riya, to learn how to stand on my feet, and to become a shield between my daughter and this cruel world. I put myself aside, living solely for the child who depends on me. Everything I never got, I gave to her, whether it was love, food, good clothes, or a happy home. Riya lacks nothing. That child was raised knowing only love.

I wipe my eyes, fiercely now.

And I’ll make sure it remains that way.

I will never expose her to the Moore family. I will never expose her to that darkness and hatred. She will be loved and protected for the rest of her life. And Adam, he can follow his ambitions. He can be with Tina. He can have everything he ever wanted. I’m happy with my daughter.

It’s when my phone rings, Tony’s name popping up on the screen, that I decide to go home.

As I head to my building, phone against my ear, I say, "I’ll pick her up in the morning. Let her sleep. Yeah, everything’s fine. No, I––"

I suddenly pause, the hair on the back of my neck rising.

I immediately turn around, my wolf at the forefront, but there’s no one there.

I stare at the trees surrounding the park, unable to shake off this uneasy feeling.

"Cynthia?"

Tony’s voice has me blinking.

"Yeah, I’m going home now. Don’t worry about me. Everything’s fine."

But my pace is a little faster as I cross the road.

I only let out a breath once I’m inside the lobby. My eyes once again go to the empty park.

There was definitely someone there.

Someone had been watching me.