Chapter 235 Chapter 235

Chapter 235 Chapter 235
Violet

I didn’t know why I said that. But the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. 

My brain just scrambled for anything to get Elijah to shut up.

And those words were effective in the most devastating way possible.

He simply looked at me with his mouth slightly open.

“You…what?”

His voice sounded strangled and choked like somebody was killing him by squeezing his insides.

I couldn’t look him in the eye anymore so I studied the floor. For a while, all I heard was his ragged breathing and saw him clench and unclench his fists like he was wondering if he could grab my shoulders to shake me hard or not.

“Violet, please look at me” Elijah said and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. 

I forced myself to look him in the eye and caught that faint red spark in them again.

I blinked forcefully and those disappeared. Was I close to having some episode again?

“Say you are lying” Elijah mumbled and took a step closer to me.

“Elijah, please. You are older than me and mature enough. There’s no need for such antics.”

I said and his face hardened. 

He let out a breath and I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.

“Is that so? Fine, then can you tell me what’s the name of Dane’s mom?”

That question took me by surprise.

“What?”

Elijah nodded. “It's a simple question. You said you are getting married to a guy so you would have met his family already right?”

“I have met his grandfather. I am not too sure about his parents.”

I said, realizing I didn’t truly know much about Dane. Not that it mattered anymore.

I had trusted Elijah and his family was nothing but a pit of vipers, Dane’s family, if any, would not be worse than that I hoped.

“Really? What about his likes and dislikes? Where did he spend his childhood? When did you first realize you wanted to marry him?”

Elijah started bombarding me with questions I didn’t have the answers of.

“I…he proposed to me. He is very kind, loving and made a big show of a simple dinner. When you got me almost fired from his company, he instead gave me a dinner treat. That’s how I know he is a good man.”

Elijah grit his teeth. “Is that enough for you to settle down? Just because he is nice? What about passion? What about him making your heart race and kissing you so hard that you forget to breathe?”

I stepped back. “As I said, you are nobody to ask those questions to me. Just stop pursuing me, stop treating me as anything except an employee working for you.”

"I fucking love you, Violet. Or did you not hear that?”

I gulped, a thrill rushing down my spine despite me forcing my body to not react to it.

“And I said I am marrying someone else. So if there is nothing work related to discuss, I would like to leave.”

I stepped back another few steps, glad that he was silent for a while. I gathered my courage and started walking towards the door.

Elijah didn’t say a word again to stop me so I reached for the doorknob.

I had placed my foot out when he mumbled.

“Will you invite me to the wedding then?”

I looked at him in shock. 

I didn’t have a date. Forget that, I had not even spoken to Dane about a wedding. 

“No”

“I thought you would love to see the crushed and miserable look on my face when you married him. Wouldn’t that give you the satisfaction of making me feel what you felt upon hearing that Nicole and I were engaged?”

When I didn’t answer, he continued. “Isn’t that why you are doing this? You want me to feel all the pain you felt, you want to punish me for all the crimes I did against you, right? So go ahead, I want to see you deny yourself what you want and if you will really get married to the man you don’t love just to spite me.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You think I am doing this to spite you?”

Elijah nodded. “A hundred percent. You can also just look me in the eye and tell me that you love him and I will never…” he took a deep breath “...what did you say I was doing?...” he scratched his temple. “...pursue you”

I yanked at the doorknob harder than necessary and slammed the door shut behind me. My heart was racing and not in a good way.

I let my back collide against the door, replaying the conversation. Elijah said he loved me, not once but several times already. 

And fuck, despite all my anger, all my hatred, my heart rejoiced in those words.

My heart still wanted him despite the fact that he kept me in the dark, despite the fact that he knew how Nate’s betrayal broke me and did exactly the same to me.

Or maybe even worse.

How was I just supposed to forgive him? Wouldn’t that mean I had no self respect?

So I forced my legs to move, to walk away from Elijah’s office and towards the car parking. Elijah didn’t come running after me, didn’t try to stop me from leaving the building.

My phone was stubbornly silent too, no missed calls or messages from him.

Good.

He would learn a lesson of how I was not a toy to play with, and I was going to be the one to teach him that.

And maybe it would be a lesson to myself and my heart to not fall for men who make you feel like a goddess because they were all the same.

I got in my car and reached for my phone to dial Dane’s number.

He received it immediately despite it being late at night.

“Dane, I have to talk to you. It's a bit urgent.”

Dane sounded a bit sleepy but mumbled, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Can we meet at Sale & Smoke cafe in thirty minutes?”

He seemed to sprang up from his bed. “Sure”