Chapter 24 CHAPTER 24
Michael’s POV
The call ended again without her picking it up. I grunted and looked at the time as I fixed my cufflinks. It had been two days since that morning in my office, and she had been avoiding me. She hadn't bothered to come to work either, and now she wasn't taking my calls. I was a man of little patience and I had been very patient with Evelyn Moon.
Why was she sulking over a stupid addition to a contract if it didn't matter to her? I knew I had been a bit harsh on her but it had been two days already. She could at least pretend like it didn’t affect her.
Today was my annual outing at the City’s entrepreneurs hangout. She was supposed to be by my side today as my wife. We would walk arm in arm, smile for the cameras, and play the perfect couple. And the polls would go up in favour of my father. The city needed the face of a perfect, happy family and we were going to give them that.
I walked to her room and tapped on her door. “Evelyn! Pick up your goddamn phone.”
No answer.
I knocked again. “Open the door.”
Still no response. I felt irritation and anger rising in my chest. I turned the handle of the door. It was locked. “We are leaving in twenty minutes," I scowled.
Just as I turned to leave, I saw her maid rushing towards me. “I’m sorry I forgot to mention it. Miss Evelyn is ill.She hasn't slept in her room in two nights.”
I glared at her. “ill? Too ill to pick up her phone?”
She stuttered. I walked away and met Jasper outside. He was adjusting his tie. “I’m ready.”
“Clearly someone isn’t,” I mumbled. “She is pretending to be ill so she can frustrate me.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“She's upset because I yelled at her in the office.” I faced him. “Jasper, is this how Tamara treats you or is she a different case?’
He laughed. “You shouldn't yell at her, Michael. She’s throwing tantrums and seeking attention now. Just say a quick apology and she’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”
I looked at the time. We would be late. I sighed and turned back to the house.
She was in the guest’s room, lying on the bed with her leg elevated under a pillow. Her foot was wrapped in bandage and her face was almost pale. Was this all an act or was she really injured?
“What happened?” I asked, stepping in. The room smelt of antiseptic.
She groaned and averted her eyes. “I sprained my ankle.” Her voice was weak and she looked like she was in pain.
A deep feeling of guilt swept over me. “Why didn’t you say a word to me?”
She sniffed. “it’s just a sprain.”
“Just?” i repeated. “You are badly hurt and you kept it away from me. Why? So that I would look like the monster you want me to be so badly?”
She winced and I bit my lips. “How long has this been?’
“It started swelling up yesterday morning,” she responded.
“Has the doctor seen you?”
She shook her head. I heaved a deep sigh. “I’ll call the doctor to check up on you. Cooperate with him and.. “ I stopped myself and turned to leave.
I met Jasper in the car. “She is really hurt. Her ankle is sprained and swollen.”
He gave me the I-told-you look. "You should get her a gift, or else she would never forgive you.”
I stared at him blankly. “A gift for spraining her ankle?”
“For hurting her and for the sprained ankle,” he said.
“So what is the gift supposed to do exactly?”
He sighed. “We need to leave now, Alpha Michael,” he said. “We are already running behind time.”
When I returned home, she was no longer in the guest room. She was now back in her own room. I hesitated outside for a while before tapping gently on the door and pushing it open.
She raised her head to look at the intruder. She was sitting up in bed, her ankle dressing changed and elevated. Her hair was loose and her curls framed her face. A pair of glasses sat on the bridge of her nose and a book sat gently on her laps.
This was the first time I was in her room and she looked breathtakingly gorgeous. Her blue eyes watched me only briefly before returning to the book in front of her.
“Do you feel better?I came to see if you are better,"I said, almost incoherently as I moved closer to her.
She glanced at her feet. “I'm good. Thanks.”
I read the title of the book she was reading. It was a book on business trade, the same book I had just finished reading last week. “Francois Steven? You read that?”
She nodded. “Yes. He’s one of my favourites."
I blinked. “He's my favorite too.”
I could never imagine that we’d have the same taste in books. In fact, I never imagined that she read at all.
“I was a bit hard on you about the contract,” I said, sitting on the ottoman beside her bed. She glared at me.
“Okay. I was very harsh.”
“And?”
“I'm sorry about that,” I said and she nodded slowly, biting her lips to stop herself from smiling. Jasper was right.
“I was advised by my lawyer to add those to the contract, and I was definitely going to let you know about the changes."
“I understand,” she said.
“So are we good now?’
She shrugged. “Yeah. Thanks.”
I rose up reluctantly. “If there’s anything wrong with you, always let me know, okay? Finding out the way I did today is not cool at all.”
“Yeah, right,” she answered.
I turned to leave, then I remembered the conversation I had with my father. He was serious about the competition between Rosaleen and Evelyn to determine who would be my mate.
“You’ll need to work very hard at the company to remain by my side, Evelyn,”I said to her.
She stared at me. ”What?”
I told her about the competition even though I was not supposed to. It was supposed to be a silent assessment, but I knew that Rosaleen had probably heard about it already. It was only fair that Evelyn knew about it too.
Because I realized I wanted her to win.