Raine”You are completely sick,” I spat, the words cutting through the heavy air between us.
I glared at Miguel, refusing to let the sheer terror of his revelation show in my eyes.
He never filed them.
The words repeated in my head like a cruel chant.
What did he mean when he said that?
I forced my mind to reject the panic.
He was just trying to rile me up.
It wasn’t possible.
He’d wanted the divorce.
He hated my guts; there’s no way he wouldn’t take up the opportunity he got to cut ties with me.
I looked down at his hand clamping my wrist and then right back up into his cold, dark eyes.
“I don’t care about whatever twisted game you think you’re playing, Miguel,” I said, my voice vibrating with a fierce, quiet intensity.
“I don’t care about the papers, and I don’t care about you.
I have moved on with my life.
You have absolutely no place in it anymore.” He didn’t flinch.
His grip didn’t tighten, but it didn’t loosen either.
He simply studied my face, his piercing eyes tracking the fire in my expression as if he were looking at a completely different person.
The quiet submission he was used to from the girl he abandoned was nowhere to be found.
Slowly, his lips curled into a faint, dangerous smirk.
“We’ll see about that, darling,” he murmured softly.
With a sudden, deliberate movement, he released my wrist.
He stood up to his full height, his massive, imposing frame casting a long shadow over our table.
He didn’t say another word to me, nor did he spare a single glance at Joshua or the trembling Kordell.
He simply turned on his heel and walked toward the exit, his two dark-suited guards instantly moving into formation behind him.
The heavy glass doors of The Grande closed behind him, and the thick, suffocating weight of his presence finally lifted from the room.
I stood completely frozen, my breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.
My wrist still tingled where his fingers had clamped down.
I couldn’t understand what was going on.
It didn’t make any sense.
He hated me.
He had made it abundantly clear years ago.
He said I stain his Alpha lineage.
I was someone he never wanted to look at again.
So why was he here now, acting as if I belonged to him?
Why was he playing the possessive husband when he was the one who had destroyed my life and cast me out into the cold?
I was still spiraling down the dark rabbit hole of my thoughts when a warm, steady pair of hands settled gently on my shoulders.
“Raine,” Joshua’s voice was a soothing balm, pulling me right out of the panic.
He stepped into my line of vision, his eyes full of intense, protective concern. New chapters come out on g.com first.
“Hey.
Look at me.
Let’s get out of here right now.”
I blinked, swallowed the lump in my throat, and nodded dumbly.
“Okay.
Yes.
Let’s go.”
Without turning back, without giving a single thought or glance to Kordell, who was still sitting there looking completely paralyzed by the entire exchange, I snatched my purse and let Joshua guide me out of the restaurant.
I didn’t have a single second to waste on Kordell.
He was a ghost from a past that was currently threatening to swallow my present whole.
The bright, crisp air hit my face the moment we stepped onto the sidewalk, but it did little to cool the frantic racing of my heart.
Joshua led me straight to his sleek, dark sedan parked at the curb.
He didn’t say anything until he had opened the passenger door, waited for me to slide inside, and climbed into the driver’s seat next to me.
“I’m taking you home,” he said firmly, starting the engine.
His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, his jaw set in a hard line.
“You’re in no condition to go back to that office, Raine.
Not after this email and whatever the hell just happened in there.
Go home, be with the boys, and let me handle figuring out what his play is.”
”No,” I said instantly, my voice snapping back to its sharp, corporate authority.
I shook my head vigorously.
“No, Joshua.
Drive me to my office.
Please.”
Joshua paused, turning his head to look at me with a deep frown.
“Raine, you’re shaking.
You just faced the man who can ruin everything you’ve built.
Take the afternoon off.”
”I am not pausing my life for Miguel, or Kordell, or anyone from my past ever again,” I said, my grip tightening on my purse.
I looked squarely at him, my eyes blazing with determination.
“If I go home and hide, he wins.
If I stop running my company because he showed up, I’m letting him have power over me.
I spent years working myself to the bone to ensure nobody could ever tell me who to be or where to go.
I am going to work.”
Seeing the stubborn, unyielding look on my face, Joshua let out a long, defeated sigh.
He knew me too well to try to argue when I was like this.
“Fine,” he agreed softly, shifting the car into drive and pulling out into the bustling city traffic.
“But you’re not driving yourself anywhere for the rest of the day.
I’ll drop you off at your building.”
”What about my car in the restaurant lot?” I asked, leaning my head against the cool glass of the window.
“Don’t worry about it.
I’ll send one of my guys from the firm to pick it up and drive it back to your penthouse garage,” Joshua said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“And I’m picking you up the exact minute your clock strikes closing time.
“Deal.
Thank you, Josh.”
The drive to my company was short and filled with a heavy, contemplative silence.
When the car pulled up smoothly into the drop-off lane right outside the towering glass structure of Argent Solutions, Joshua quickly unbuckled his seat belt and stepped out.
He walked around the hood of the car and opened the passenger door for me, offering his hand to help me out.
As I stood up on the pavement, looking up at his kind, familiar face, I couldn’t help but feel how incredibly perfect he was.
He was always there.
He never pushed, he never demanded, and he treated my sons and me like we were precious.
He was the exact opposite of the chaotic, destructive men who had just invaded our lunch table.
I stepped into his space and wrapped my arms around his back, holding him tight for a long moment.
Joshua hugged me back, his large arms providing a safe haven against the rest of the world.
He pulled away slightly, cupped my face, and leaned down to press a gentle, reassuring peck against my forehead.
“Stay focused, but stay safe,” he murmured, his eyes locking onto mine.
“I’ll be right here at five.”
”I will,” I promised.
I turned and walked through the heavy revolving doors of my building, feeling the familiar, empowering energy of my corporate world wash over me.
I held my head high, my heels clicking confidently against the floor as I crossed the lobby and took the private executive elevator up to the top floor.
The moment the elevator doors dinged and slid open on my floor, I walked straight toward my private suite.
But the atmosphere in the hallway felt strange.
It was entirely too quiet.
When I reached the reception desk outside my office, I found my assistant, Sarah, standing behind her desk.
She looked completely pale, her eyes wide and frantic.
The moment she saw me, she jumped, her hands trembling as she clutched a stack of folders.
“Sarah?
What’s going on?” I asked, my instincts immediately putting me on high alert.
“Did the logistics report come in late?”
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but it was like her voice had completely deserted her.
She swallowed hard, trying to form words, but nothing came out.
Instead, her hand lifted slowly, her index finger pointing directly toward the closed double doors of my office.
My eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion.
I walked past her desk, my hand reaching out to grab the silver handle of my door.
I pushed it open, stepping into the room with a sharp demand already forming on my lips to find out what was disrupting my staff.
But the words died instantly in my throat.
I stopped dead in my tracks, the door clicking shut softly behind me.
Standing right by the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, with his back completely turned to me, was a man.
He had his hands casually tucked into his suit pockets, his broad shoulders squared as he stared out at the sprawling, chaotic view of the New York skyline below.
The heavy, unmistakable scent of cedar and winter rain filled every single corner of the room, completely suffocating the quiet air.
My heart dropped straight into my stomach.
What on earth was he doing here?