Chapter 202 Joining Forces

Chapter 202 Joining Forces

Zane's POV

They let me out forty-eight hours after I was taken into custody. My lawyer filed for bail on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The investigation was still ongoing, but I was free for now.

When I walked out of the detention center, the sunlight made me squint. My assistant was waiting by the car and opened the door for me. "Mr. Sawyer," he said, "home first, or the office?"

"The villa," I told him.

On the way there, I texted Ember to let her know I was out. Then I sent another message right after: "Aren't you going to come see me?"

I waited a while, then sent another: "Ember, can we talk?"

She said she'd drive over.

The private villa was exactly as I'd left it. I went up to the third floor alone and stood in the middle of the room, my eyes moving from painting to painting until they landed on the unfinished piece on the easel. I sat down on the stool and looked at the figure in the painting. My hand drifted down without thinking.

The buckle of my belt made a sharp click. I closed my eyes, and her image from that wedding day rose in my mind. She was standing at the far end of the church aisle in her wedding dress, sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows and falling over her, scattering color across white lace. She looked like an angel who had stepped out of an old oil painting. She was so beautiful.

It only took a few moments before my breathing grew heavy, a muffled sound escaping from my throat.

"Ember... Ember..." I whispered her name.

Then a dull thud came from outside.

I yanked my pants up and rushed to the door. Ember was standing with her back to me, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"Ember..." My voice came out rough.

She turned around. The look on her face made my throat tighten. It wasn't disgust or revulsion. It was something harder to name — complicated, full of shock and confusion.

"Ember, don't go..." I said.

She opened her mouth, and finally managed: "I... I have somewhere to be, you can keep — no, I mean, I should go."

She turned and headed for the stairs, her steps quick and urgent, like she was running away.

I moved after her and caught her at the top of the staircase. "Do you think I'm disgusting?"

My voice was quiet. The vulnerability in my eyes was completely exposed.

Ember looked at me, something shifting in her gaze. "No," she said, pausing. "I just... I just think this is wrong, Zane. What you're doing is wrong."

"Wrong." I repeated the word, then let out a short, bitter laugh. "I've liked someone since I was a kid. Liked her for years and never got anywhere. Don't I get to find some kind of outlet? Then I finally got a chance — when she 'turned down' Asher, I could stand by her side openly, I could mark her — and it still came to nothing."

I looked at her, my eyes heavy with exhaustion.

"I'm going out of my mind liking you, Ember. You think it's wrong — then can you tell me what would actually be right?"

Ember's throat worked, but no sound came out. Then she said, "Zane, I never knew. I had no idea you... you actually liked me."

"Did you really not notice?" I laughed, and it came out hollow. "I made it so obvious, and you still couldn't tell. That just proves it — I was never in your eyes. Never in your heart."

Ember bit her lip. "I only ever thought of you as a brother."

"But I'm not your brother," I said, gripping her shoulders. "And I don't want to be. Ember, do you understand?"

"I know that now," she said, looking down.

Neither of us spoke for a long time.

Then I looked at her and said, "Ember, the wedding never finished. Are you still willing to be my mate?"

I asked carefully, like I was treading on thin ice. Ember looked away, her lashes casting a small shadow beneath her eyes. "Let me... let me think about it," she said.

Those words put out the last bit of light in my eyes. I wanted to say fine. I wanted to say I'd wait however many years it took. But what came out of my mouth was something else entirely.

"Go."

Ember looked up, caught off guard.

"I'm letting you go." I released her wrist and stepped back, my voice cold. "Right now. Leave."

Ember bit her lip once more, then turned and walked downstairs.

Her footsteps grew fainter and fainter, until they disappeared beyond the front door of the villa. I leaned against the wall, drained, tilting my head back until the base of my skull rested against the cold surface. My phone started buzzing hard in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked — it was Chloe. I'd never deleted her contact after that time at the club.

I picked up. Her voice came through the line: "Mr. Sawyer, I heard you got out?"

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

"About what we discussed last time," Chloe continued, "have you given it any more thought? You've done so much for her, Mr. Sawyer. Some people won't come to you no matter how long you wait. You have to go and take them."

After a long silence, I finally spoke. "What's your plan?"

Chloe laughed on the other end. "Mr. Sawyer's finally coming around? I thought you were going to spend your whole life pining."

"Get to the point," I said flatly.

"Fine," she said. "Hart Group is bidding on a new energy chip project right now. They've put in nearly everything they have. If you could get your hands on their bid proposal and tweak the numbers a little, Hart Group would have no chance of winning."

I narrowed my eyes. "You want me to steal her proposal."

"Not steal. Take," Chloe said lightly. "You're her future mate. Who's going to say a word about you walking in and out of her office? And you know her better than anyone. Getting that document shouldn't be hard for you."

I was quiet for a few seconds.

Chloe's laugh drifted through the line: "Once it's done, Hart Group's cash flow collapses. Then you show up like a savior. When she has nowhere left to turn, what choice does she have but to lean on you? At that point, whatever you want from her, she'll have to give. You get the girl, and I get to be Mrs. Blackwood."

I cut her off. "Whatever's going on between you and Asher, you handle it yourself. I'm not getting involved in that."

Chloe gave a cold laugh. "Don't worry. I don't need your help with my own business."

I hung up.

I stood alone in the third-floor hallway, looking at the half-open door, looking at the walls inside covered in paintings of her face.