Chapter 13 — Kiera #2
I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face her. She was still wearing a blank expression, but her facial muscles had softened ever so slightly.
After a moment of hesitation, she said, “Never mind,” and looked away from me.
I squinted my eyes, wondering what she wanted to tell me. However, seeing that she’d made up her mind not to spill, I walked out of the study.
The second I closed the door behind me and lifted my head, I saw him across the hallway. He’d just rounded a corner and was heading straight toward me. Or was it the study I was standing in front of?
My heart sank, and my pulse began to race as he drew closer and closer. His black hair was tousled, his tie sagged around his neck, and only one part of his shirt was tucked into his pants. The other part was loose.
Would it kill him to comb his hair to perfection or simply pay attention to his dressing?
That was ironic, coming from someone like me who was basically the female version of him in this context. Nevertheless, the man was smoking hot.
When our eyes met across the hall, the tension was immediate and unspoken. It seemed as though time itself had paused, and he was walking in slow motion. I drank in the sight of this gorgeous man while recalling the things he’d done to me the last time we were intimate.
I felt a tingle between my legs, and my palms were suddenly sweaty. The rhythmic clicking of his shoes echoed through the hall as he approached me. I stood there in silence. Not by choice. But because I was frozen in place.
He was only a few feet away when his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He slowed down but didn’t stop. “Speak,” he answered, the device placed on his ear.
A wave of disappointment washed over my body as he moved past me without a word. He didn’t even bother looking in my direction, and that single gesture fractured my heart.
He clearly saw me, yet he walked past as if I didn’t exist. Usually, he would’ve made an offensive joke about me or said something he knew would rile me up. But he didn’t. He just ignored me like a worthless piece of shit.
What the hell?
My hands were shaking, my lips quivering.
I wasn’t sure who I was more disappointed in. Him or myself? I already knew who he was—what he was—so why expect something different? In my defense, he’d never ignored me like this before. Never. And that begged the question: Why now?
Why was he suddenly cold toward me after we fucked?
Darn it!
I messed up big time when I offered him my innocence. I mean, I wasn’t expecting him to be kind all of a sudden. But I didn’t think he was going to trash me like that.
It fuckin’ hurt more than I cared to admit.
My blood boiled with rage as I watched him turn another corner while still on the phone. Furious, I headed back to my room, cursing myself for being so stupid.
***
Later that evening, I heard a knock on my door, and my face twisted into a frown. I thought it was him. However, when I answered the door, I found out that it was his lieutenant, Boris, the one-eyed man.
His presence unsettled me because I found him pretty scary as a person. However, I didn’t let him see through my fear.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked, keeping my voice steady. “You lost or something?”
Silence.
He revealed a briefcase and handed it over to me.
“What’s this?” I accepted it.
“Cash,” he answered. “Lots of it.”
I squinted my eyes, unsure why he would give that to me. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
Without hesitation, he said, “Disappear.”
My brows arched in disbelief. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Everything you need to start a new life is in that case,” he said, his tone calm but flat. “Passports, a new identity, and enough money to get you settled for life.”
I couldn’t believe my ears, and for some reason, my head began to hurt. A nervous chuckle slipped out as I rubbed my sweaty forehead. “Hold on a minute. Is your boss paying me off?”
“He’s setting you free.”
My scowl deepened. “Where is he?”
Before he could respond, I pushed past him and began marching toward Nial’s study. He didn’t yell or call me back. Good.
The doors slammed open, and I barged into the room, boiling with rage. “Seriously, Nial—you couldn’t even face me like a man?”
He didn’t lift his head from the laptop screen, just kept rattling his fingers across the keyboard.
“What’s the meaning of this?” I banged the briefcase on his table.
“I’m pretty sure Boris explained it to you in detail.” His words were ice-cold.
I let out a quiet scoff, struggling to mask my anxiety. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why are you all riled up?” he asked, his gaze still fixed on that stupid laptop screen. “I thought this was what you wanted.”
“I’m not some whore you can sleep with and then pay off, Nial?!” I snapped, my eyes blazing with fury, hating his calmness while I was falling apart.
“Last time I checked, you came to me.”
Those words sliced through my heart like a sharp knife. I felt my tear glands charging up for the first time in a long time.
Crazy how I survived everything that’s happened to me since the kidnapping, only to be ruined by something so insignificant.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered, fighting back the tears that welled in my eyes.
He raised his head and finally met his gaze with that cold, nonchalant expression on his face. “I don’t understand what the fuss is about. You hate being my prisoner. And now I’m letting you go. You should be thanking me.”
My expression darkened, and I leaned in, fists on his table. “I curse the day you walked into my life.”
He rubbed his eyes, as if bored by my presence. “Just take the money and go.”
“Fuck you, Nial.” I looked him right in the eye. “Fuck you.”
And with that, I turned around and left, leaving the briefcase in his study. “Get out of my way!” I snapped, pushing through the two men walking toward his door.
I had no idea what to do or where to begin.
Confused, I marched down the hallway, wondering why I was pained by his decision to let me go. Was it his coldness toward me? Did I feel used and dumped in the trash?
Or did it just hurt so much because deep down, I wasn’t ready to leave yet?