Chapter 103 Chapter 103
Violet
I stood there long after Nate walked away, the paper’s weight still burning against my palm even though it was no longer there, as if the words had imprinted themselves directly into my skin.
The street felt too open suddenly, too exposed, my thoughts dancing all around my brain.
I was still lost in thought when a sharp honk sliced through the fog in my head. I was startled so badly my shoulders jerked.
I slowly looked up to see that Elijah’s car had pulled up beside the curb.
We hadn’t interacted much after that night and now he was suddenly in front of me again. His was the first name that popped in my head when I needed help and he had come all the way here at the drop of a hat.
I was using him again.
The window rolled down and he leaned across the seat, smiling at me in that familiar way that usually made my chest loosen without permission, except this time the smile landed wrong, like a hand reaching for a bruise.
“There you are,” he said easily. “I was beginning to think Nate had kidnapped you.”
I didn’t smile back. I couldn’t. My face felt stiff, unresponsive, like it belonged to someone else entirely.
The moment he stepped out of the car, his expression shifted.
His gaze moved over me with quiet precision, taking in my posture, the way my hands were clenched at my sides, the way my shoulders were drawn inward as if I were bracing for impact.
“Did he say something to you?” he asked, his voice low now, careful. “Did he do anything?”
I shook my head, the movement small but firm, even as my heart beat hard enough to rattle my ribs.
He didn’t look convinced.
His jaw tightened just slightly, a tell I had learned without realizing it, and his eyes flicked past me toward the boutique across the street. I followed his gaze despite myself.
Nate stood near the window, half-hidden behind a display of ivory dresses, watching us with an expression that made my stomach twist. When our eyes met, he didn’t smirk or wave or provoke. He simply turned and walked away.
Elijah saw it. I knew he did because his body went very still for half a second.
“Violet,” he said softly, bringing my attention back to him, “is everything alright?”
I nodded again because anything else would open a door I wasn’t ready to walk through, and after a moment’s hesitation, he opened the car door for me and guided me inside.
His hand hovered at my back but didn’t quite touch, as if he were giving me space on purpose, and the awareness of that small restraint hurt more than any argument would have.
“Is this about the other night when…” He began but I shut him off.
“It's not. I am just tired” I answered a bit too quickly.
“Okay then” He focussed his attention back on the road.
The drive was quiet.
I stared out the window, watching the city slide past in a blur of glass and steel while my thoughts spiraled inward, colliding with each other in ways I couldn’t untangle.
I knew Elijah was capable of being ruthless when necessary; I had seen it in his blunt dismissal of his warriors at times, in the way he spoke about balance and survival as if they were equations rather than lives.
But ordering bloodshed? Choosing inaction while a pack burned just for the sake of money?
I had also seen that soft side of him in the way he cared about Cassie, in the way he stood up for me long enough for his mother to take notice of it.
“We’re miles away from Ironcrest Manor and I believe the walls can be stifling at times,” he said eventually, his voice breaking gently into my thoughts. “Do you want to grab some coffee before we head back? You look like you could use it.”
The offer was simple.
I swallowed and shook my head, pressing my fingers to my temple as if that would make the lie more convincing. “I’ve got a headache. I just want to lie down.”
He studied me for a long moment, clearly sensing the evasion but not pushing, and then nodded. “Alright. I’ll have someone bring you something for it.”
When we reached Ironcrest Manor, and I stepped out of the car, movement in the far left wing caught my attention.
Behind one of the tall windows stood Lady Aurelia quietly assessing us.
Elijah parked his car and I pulled out the phone to give myself something to do. There were no further emails but I had to run back to my room and send the designs.
Yet with Lady Aurelia watching me, I lingered a bit. I could still feel the weight of her gaze on my back that was turned to her.
Elijah walked me inside, speaking briefly to a maid who was busy dusting a vase that didn’t have a speck of dirt on it.
“Thank you for the lift. But I am really sorry, I have to go now.”
“Get some rest,” he said, his thumb brushing my knuckles lightly. “We’ll talk later.”
I watched him walk away, his presence receding down the corridor, and only then did I allow myself to breathe properly.
Because the moment he was gone, the resolve I had been holding onto hardened into something sharper.
The designs could wait but the unrest gnawing at my bones couldn’t. I looked up once at the window and noticed his mother wasn’t watching us like a hawk anymore.
The letter Nate showed kept swimming in front of my eyes. I couldn’t focus on anything else knowing there might be proof hidden somewhere in this manor, proof that would either shatter my trust in him or expose Nate’s manipulation for what it was.
The paper had an official seal and signatures.
And if Elijah had signed anything under the name E. Lockwood, if Alpha Alaric had records of it, then they would be here. They surely must have a copy somewhere in this manor, probably in Alpha Alaric’s office.
The problem was, I had never been to Ironcrest before. I had no idea where anything was.
But I was determined to find it.
Hence, I moved carefully through the corridors, keeping to the edges, my steps light, and my ears tuned for voices.
The manor was alive even in the afternoon, servants moving in and out of rooms, maids whispering to one another as they carried linens and trays.
Every few steps I was forced to duck behind pillars and slip through side passages whenever footsteps grew too close.
More than once, I pressed myself into alcoves, my heart racing as people passed within arm’s reach, unaware of the intruder holding her breath in the shadows.
Where could the office be?