Chapter 193

Cecilia hadn’t seemed just right since she’d returned from Asher’s apartment.

Grayson didn’t know what to do to comfort her anymore. He felt it himself—it was like the person he’d known for so long had simply disappeared. He had forgotten just what the old Asher was like. Having him back made Grayson furious—and furthermore when he saw how distant she was beginning to act, that resentment grew into a roaring fire inside of him.

He didn’t know why she was so attached to Asher. As much as Grayson knew he had loved her at one point, he didn’t treat her in such a way. But nonetheless, Cecilia seemed…heartbroken.

He did what he could to pep her up. They practiced for her next show, but her heart just wasn’t in it.

As much as he hated the thought of giving her up to someone who didn’t deserve her, Grayson wanted only to see her happy again. So that evening, he wandered into Asher’s room in search of evidence that there might still be hope for him yet. The only thing Grayson could find was a laptop—open, its light still glaring. It seemed to have been idle for hours now, probably left there when Asher vanished to work at some point and never returned.

Grayson gave the mouse a touch and the screen flashed awake. His email was open, and the most recent item in his inbox read, “Flight confirmation”.

He was leaving?

Where?

Grayson printed off a screen shot and rushed out to Cecilia’s room. She had just gotten out of a bath, and she still wore her hair in a wet bun as she sat there on the edge of her bed, looking lost in thought. When Grayson through her door open, she glanced up at him.

“What’s going on here?” he asked. He handed her the paper, but Cecilia didn’t seem surprised at the content on the page.

“Ah,” she said. “Right.”

“Right?” asked Grayson.

“Asher said he and Clover were getting hitched,” Cecilia explained with slight little shrug. “I guess they’re flying out to do it.”

Grayson should’ve been angry, but for some reason, a cool wave of relief shot through him. Maybe because he truly didn’t want to hand Cecilia over in the end. Maybe because he didn’t trust Asher in his current state to love her how she deserved.

He took a seat next to her on the bed and said, “Do you really love him that much?” Cecilia looked up at him but didn’t say anything, so Grayson continued, “You have the rest of us. I just don’t get why we aren’t enough for you.”

Cecilia’s expression turned difficult. She looked down at her hands in her lap and said, “It isn’t about who I love most or who is most important. It’s about losing none of you to begin with. And I…” She bit her lip like she wanted to say something. “Asher is…” But Cecilia trailed off. Obviously, she wasn’t ready to speak whatever was on her mind.

“Okay,” Grayson said. He felt a little dejected, admittedly, but this wasn’t his time. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “But what are you going to do about this?”

“I think…” Cecilia muttered to herself, “I need to talk to him one more time.”

-

Cecilia had never been so nervous as she was that night. She hoped and prayed that Asher would return to his apartment, rather than spend the night with Clover. The driver dropped her off at the front of the apartment tower, and she found herself feeling eerily watched as she took the elevator to his floor. She arrived to find he had still yet to change the locks, and gratefully wedged the door open.

“Asher?” she called out. It was dark inside, but there was no way in hell he’d be home this early, so her only option was to sit and wait.

She had started to wander into the living room when the floor creaked behind her. “Oh, you’re—” but when Cecilia whipped around, it was not Asher like she had assumed. Instead, Landon stepped out of the shadows. He hardly looked like himself—a hoodie covering his head and his glasses sheening in the dark. Cecilia felt her blood go to ice in her veins.

How was he here?

She glanced over his shoulder to the door, which remained open just a crack. Had he followed her in?

Cecilia didn’t know what to do but to let out a scream and hope someone would come to her air. She wailed and turned to run, but Landon caught her by the wrist and slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling any attempt at a sound. “No more inconveniences,” he spat. “I’m tired of waiting.”

Fear crawled into Cecilia’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe. Landon pulled her back against him, his arm wound unbearably tight around her.

“You keep wriggling out of my grasps,” he whispered in her ear. “No matter who I send in…no matter how much money I spend trying to reel you back. You just keep wiggling.”

-

They weren’t even married yet and Asher was growing tired of waking up next to Clover.

She wasn’t the stunning, irresistible dream girl he recalled her being. Or maybe it was just him who had changed. It was an unwelcome feeling, but one he couldn’t shake. He wanted to pretend this marriage was something to look forward to, but it was just an asset gain. It was just an attempt to become richer, more powerful. Why didn’t that appeal to him anymore?

It would disappoint her, probably. She had been overly affectionate all night—probably because of his spontaneous proposal. But Asher couldn’t stand to lie beside her any longer. He gently removed her arm from where it rested on his chest and eased out of bed without a sound.

He needed to be alone. Needed to clear his head.

But as he stood over Clover’s sleeping body, a flash of something came to mind. An image. A bed like this one, a body like hers, but not quite. The Omega. Cecilia.

What the hell was going on with him?

He pocketed his keys silently and left the apartment without a sound. Something was telling him that she was there again—waiting for him at his apartments in the suburbs. Waiting for him to open the door and come back to her so they could talk…figure things out. Maybe that was the right move. Maybe pretending the last year of his life hadn’t happened wasn’t exactly easing his damaged brain.

It was a long ride with too much time to think. The empty roads and passing lights washed over him rapidly as he tore through the freeway and found himself in that little gated community.

He had purchased these apartments at a time when he thought he needed distance from the rest of the world and he had used them as such—an escape for when times were hard. For when he wanted to be alone. Right now, for some reason, he didn’t want to be alone. He just didn’t want to be with Clover.

He pulled into the parking lot and strode through the icy air to the warmth of the lobby. The usual attendant was at the front desk, waving to him with her cheeky smile and manicured fingers. Asher acknowledged her with only a glance and loaded into the elevator. But as the machine took him up, something turned in his stomach.

A flash of something. Cecilia pressed against the elevator walls. Ryan against her, his mouth on her neck. The splinter of jealousy piercing through Asher’s bones. The arousal in his chest, the fire pulsing through his core.

He tore through the elevator doors the moment they opened, trying desperately to escape the memory. A memory he couldn’t recall—one that felt more like a foggy dream than anything. And as Asher approached his apartment door, he found it had been left cracked open.

So he was right. She had paid him another visit.

Something about it felt…satisfying.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the darkness. “One of these days you’re going to get slapped with a restraining order.”

But the room was empty. No one was around. Curiously, Asher ventured deeper, eventually peering into the kitchen where the faintest light bloomed through the moon-lit window. Cecilia was standing there, a gag over her mouth. She looked up at Asher with fear in her eyes. He felt himself reaching instinctively for his car keys as a means of defense. And when Asher felt a presence suddenly come up behind him, he turned and swung, throwing a punch.

His fist made contact with something, though it was far too dark to tell what. He heard the unf of someone in pain and whirled to see the stranger in the shadows. His eyes were still adjusting to the hall lights, though and all he could make out was splotchy darkness.

Then something struck him in the back of the head and suddenly, darkness was all he saw.