Raine
The silence in the lounge was so heavy I could hear the rushing of blood in my own ears.
My hands were hidden in the folds of my skirt, my fingers clenching so hard my nails bit into my palms.
Stay calm, I told myself, a wild, desperate mantra screaming in my head.
Do not look at the drawing.
Look at him.
Miguel turned his body fully toward me.
He didn’t look angry.
Instead, his handsome face carried a dangerous, highly calculated curiosity.
He stepped away from the wall, walking slowly toward me with his hands still in his pockets.
“I didn’t think you were the artistic type, Raine,” he said, his deep voice smooth, carrying a strange, quiet edge.
He gestured back toward the drawing of the massive grey wolf.
“And yet, I find a perfect silhouette of an Alpha wolf hidden away in the back lounge of your company.
Complete with a name written in blue crayon.”
My heart did a terrifying stutter.
I forced my posture to straighten, my face locking into a perfect, unbothered look.
“I don’t do the drawings, Mr.
Harrison,” I replied, my voice coming out crisp, flat, and completely steady.
I took two deliberate steps into the room, refusing to look like a thief caught in the act.
“Argent Solutions prides itself on being a modern, progressive workplace.
Many of my employees are working mothers and fathers who cannot always afford last-minute childcare.
I had this lounge converted into a temporary, supervised play area for staff kids during late-shift hours.”
Miguel stopped just a few feet away from me.
The heavy, intoxicating scent rolled off him, trying to wrap around my senses, but I pushed it away mentally.
He tilted his head, his dark eyes scanning my face, searching for a single lie.
“A staff play area,” he repeated softly, his lips curling into a faint, mocking smile.
He turned his eyes back to the easel.
“And this particular child?
The one who drew a flawless representation of a northern pack wolf and signed it ‘Leo’?
Whose child is that?”
Every maternal instinct I possessed wanted to scream, to push him away from this room, to tear the paper to shreds.
But I knew if I showed even a fraction of panic, he would pull that thread until my entire life unraveled.
“He belongs to Marcel, one of our senior logistics managers,” I lied flawlessly, inventing a name on the spot without a single stammer.
“The boy is four years old.
He likes dogs, Mr.
Harrison.
Children draw what they see in storybooks.
If you are quite finished analyzing our employee perks, I need to clear this room out so my tech team can prepare it for your audit servers.”
Miguel didn’t move.
He stood there for a long, agonizing moment, his gaze locked onto mine.
The tension in the room stretched so tight.
He was trying to read my heartbeat, trying to catch the scent of fear on my skin.
But I had spent years mastering the art of hiding my emotions.
I didn’t give him a single thing.
Slowly, Miguel let out a short, quiet breath that sounded almost like a low laugh.
He stepped closer, completely invading my personal space, his massive frame towering over me.
“For a second, I thought it was a message,” he murmured, his voice dropping into a low, intimate register that made the hairs on my arms stand up.
“I thought maybe, despite everything you said downstairs, you were still thinking about the world you left behind.
About me.”
A cold, bitter wave of relief washed over me.
He thinks it’s about him.
His massive Alpha ego had completely blinded him to the truth.
He thought I had kept a drawing of a wolf because I was secretly pining after him.
I seized the opportunity instantly, using his own arrogance against him.
“You flatter yourself, Mr.
Harrison,” I said, my voice dripping with cold disdain as I looked right into his eyes.
“My past is a closed chapter.
I don’t think about wolves, I don’t think about packs, and I certainly do not think about you.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a company to run.”
I walked past him, my shoulder brushing against his arm.
I reached the easel, smoothly unclipped Leo’s drawing, and folded it in half without looking at it, tucking it under my arm alongside my tablet.
He didn’t look offended by my harsh words.
If anything, the coldness of my rejection seemed to fascinate him even more.
“We’ll see how long that closed chapter stays shut, Raine,” he said quietly.
I didn’t answer.
I turned on my heel and walked out of the lounge, my pace steady and controlled until the glass door clicked shut behind me.
The moment I was around the corner, out of his line of sight, my legs nearly gave out.
I pressed my back against the hallway wall, gasping for air, clutching my son’s folded drawing to my chest like it was a lifeline.
That was entirely too close.
He was on the fourteenth floor, and his presence was a ticking time bomb.
I needed to get home, and I needed to talk to Joshua immediately.
The ride down the executive elevator felt like I was descending into hell.
My hands were still cold, and my heart was performing a heavy incontrovertible dance against my ribs, but the moment the doors dinged open into the bustling marble lobby, I forced my shoulders back.
I tucked Leo’s folded drawing deep inside my briefcase, snapping the silver locks shut.
Through the massive glass front doors of the building, I could see Joshua’s sleek, dark sedan idling at the curb.
He was already standing outside the car, his hands tucked into his coat pockets.
The cool evening wind ruffled his hair, but his eyes were completely focused on the revolving doors, waiting for me.
The second he saw me step onto the pavement, the hard line of his jaw relaxed into a warm, familiar smile.
He didn’t wait.
He walked straight toward me, his stride easy and confident, and naturally reached down to take my briefcase from my hand.
As he did, his fingers wrapped around mine, giving them a firm, reassuring squeeze.
It was a completely innocent gesture, the simple, grounding touch of a best friend who knew exactly how much pressure I was under.
“See you tomorrow, Ms.
Argent.” I turned my head.
Miguel had just walked out of the building’s main entrance, flanked by his two massive, dark-suited security guards.
He didn’t stop walking.
He didn’t even look in our direction, keeping his chin up and his eyes locked straight ahead as he headed toward a waiting black SUV.