Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kaya and I talked for over an hour. About how I’d met Konni.
About the drama surrounding my family—only what was publicly known.
About working at Steele Corp—only the good parts.
When I touched on my love for fashion, I discovered she was an enthusiast like me.
She’d even saved the photo of me in my dress from the night before after cropping out Edward.
“What an awful man,” she said. “I’m surprised Konni didn’t end him there.”
“It looked like he wanted to,” I said.
“I imagine so.” Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and grinned. “Your mate is asking when I’m sending you back. Dragons don’t share well. It took me forever to convince Balak to travel without me. And he still hates leaving me now, but he knows I like my freedom.”
During our talk, I’d learned that Balak, Konni’s father, was a dragon like Konni. Kaya was more like me than I would have ever guessed—a regular human with a humble background.
“I guess that means my lunch hour is up. Thank you for the meal. And the welcome.” I slid the check back to her. “Would you mind holding onto this for me for a little while longer?”
She looked from the check to me. “Are you thinking of leaving him?”
Even though I wasn’t at the moment, I knew that could change if we couldn’t figure out who was targeting Mom and me.
“That’s a complicated question, and not something I can really talk about here.”
Although we had the entire section to ourselves, which I knew wasn’t an accident, there were still people who could be listening.
“All right. Then I’ll hold onto this for now.”
I started to stand.
“Would you like to do some shopping with me tomorrow?” she asked. “Balak won’t be home for a while yet, and I’m getting bored.”
I recalled Lianna’s comment about visiting her and agreed.
It wasn’t until I was in the car that I realized I’d never given her my number. Likely, it wouldn’t matter. She was probably already calling Konni to tell him about the check incident and shopping tomorrow.
He was waiting outside the Steele building when Harlow pulled up.
“You weren’t standing out here the whole time, were you?” I asked as he opened the door for me.
“No. Harlow messaged me when you were leaving. How was it?” He started to reach for my hand, then smoothly turned it into a gesture for me to walk with him toward the building.
“Good. She’s nice and asked if I wanted to go shopping tomorrow.”
The way people in the lobby greeted Konni, but simply glanced at me in passing, highlighted how insignificant I was next to him, and his mom’s words about walking into his world with nothing ran through my head.
Money wouldn’t lessen the gap between our worlds or make me feel less aware of it.
It’d probably do the opposite because of where it’d come from.
“How was your meeting with Lianna?” I asked when we were in the elevators alone.
“Brief,” he said.
I glanced at him, wondering what that was supposed to mean.
The elevator reached the executive floor, and I half expected to see Lianna there when the doors opened. Thankfully, no one was there.
Konni was stopped on the way to our area, which gave me time to get to my desk, put my purse away, and check with the other three to see what I’d missed.
“Nothing interesting,” Bomir said. “How was your lunch? Was she nice?”
I froze for a second.
How did they know?
“He’s trying to make you think he’s all-knowing when he’s not,” Marius said. “Mr. Steele was nervous and asked us questions.”
Marius quickly ducked back behind his monitor at the sound of Konni’s approach.
“Do you have a moment, Ms. Elmantas?”
Was there even a point in addressing me formally anymore? The Snack Pack knew I’d met his mom.
I nodded and followed him into his doorless office.
We’d only just reached his desk when his phone started to ring. He glanced at it, and I saw “Smother.”
“Answer it,” I said. “She probably wants to tell you I misunderstood her welcome gift. I thought she was trying to pay me to leave you.”
His brows rose even as he put her on speaker. I glanced back at the door, regretting its removal a tiny bit.
“Hi, Mom. How did it go?”
“She is absolutely perfect, Konni. I love her. But you need to give her a better sense of security. She thought my welcome gift was a payoff to leave you, the poor thing.”
I shrugged at him.
“And she didn’t take it. She said there was a reason, but didn’t say why. I want to come over for dinner tonight. You said she liked my lasagna. I’ll make chicken parmigiana this time. I’ll be there at six, okay? Love you. Bye.”
The call ended without him saying a word.
He shot me an apologetic look. “Mom’s coming over for dinner.”
“So I heard. Are her calls normally that one-sided?”
“Only when she’s determined to get her way. I can cancel, though. She’d understand.”
“No, dinner’s fine. Does she know where we’re staying?” I asked, aware the trio was probably listening.
“Yeah. I let her know after she told me to do better.”
I grinned.
“She really is nice. I like her a lot. I'd better give Mom a heads up so I don’t get a one-sided call in the future, too.”
I turned to leave, and he caught me around the waist to give me a quick hug.
“I’m glad it went well.”
“Pfft. You’re just glad I didn’t take the check and run.”
“That too.”
Kaya showed up with three people who helped carry in the food she’d spent the afternoon preparing. Mom stood back and watched her efficiently delegate the table setup, then kick everyone out.
Konni’s mom turned to my mom, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
“I’m Kaya, Konni’s mom.”
“I’m Abbye, Sophia’s mom.”
“Thank you for raising such a beautiful girl. She’s absolutely perfect. I’d hug you, but I’m afraid of hurting your arm. What happened?”
The question opened the conversation I’d been too afraid to start earlier. It stretched through the meal and continued while Konni and I started the cleanup. We chimed in occasionally from the kitchen as Mom filled Kaya in.
My mom, the queen of keeping everyone out and never asking for help, spilled it all. Dad’s continued attempts to push me to marry Hestian, the trouble at Steele Corp, the pattern to her job losses, and our suspicion that Hestian was behind it even though we had no proof yet.
“I’m so sorry for everything you’ve gone through. You don’t have to deal with it alone anymore.” She looked at Konni. “Why haven’t you announced that Sophia is your mate? It would give them more protection.”
“I asked him not to,” I said. “I wasn’t ready.”
“Are you now?” his mom asked. “We could throw a welcome banquet for my future daughter-in-law.”
Konni’s mom was the complete opposite of what I’d expected. She was so ready to welcome me that I hated not giving her the answer she wanted.
Konni saw my hesitation and set a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“Mom, Sophia just started at Steele and wants her accomplishments to stand on their own. She wants to prove she earned her position, not that it was handed to her.”
Kaya’s gaze filled with understanding even as she deflated a little. “And not just your place at Steele Corp, right?”
I nodded because she wasn’t wrong.
“I hate that you have to struggle so much just to prove the haters wrong…as if their opinions actually matter.” She huffed angrily.
“They don’t,” I promised her. “I just need a little more time to get used to being someone’s mate and to figure out what it means for me.”
Konni wrapped his arms around me in silent support. He understood I was struggling to meet him halfway. And I wanted to, as scary as it was. Being with him felt more right with each day.
“I just agreed we could unofficially date this week,” I added.
Mom shook her head at me. “Look at what’s already happened, though. Someone used your account to send emails. Reporters surrounded you outside of Steele. News articles with pictures of you from what was clearly another setup. I think the targeting is only going to get worse, Sophia.”
His Mom’s phone chimed, and I watched her grab it in a panic. Her gaze skimmed the screen as her expression darkened.
Her phone started to ring, and she shot Konni an angry look. “This is how a mate reacts. Immediately.”
She answered her call, and I glanced back at Konni.
He gave me a quick peck on the lips. “I might need you to protect me.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
His phone started to ring, and he let go of me to answer.
Mom and I exchanged curious glances as we listened to two one-sided conversations at once.
Konni’s mom was saying a lot of “I know,” “I don’t understand him either,” and “I already said that.”
Konni was mostly listening to whoever called him. Finally, he said, “Use whatever means you need to, Felix. Get the article down now.”
I had my phone out a second later while dancing out of Konni’s reach. He didn’t stop me from joining my mom to read the newest article.
Gold-Digger Scores Big: CEO’s Mom Pays Her to Vanish for Good!
The title summed up the content. An eyewitness reported seeing Mrs. Steele giving me a check to get out of her son’s life. They even had a picture of her pushing the check across the table toward me, catching the moment just right, where she wasn’t smiling and didn’t look happy.
It wasn’t a flattering image. She looked mid-blink.
“See?” Mom said softly as Kaya hung up. “It’s just going to keep going.”
“I wouldn’t admit to being his mate either,” Konni’s mom said, scowling at him. “Is this how you protect your mate? Your father is livid.”
“I have Steele’s lawyer working on taking it down.”
“It shouldn’t have been published in the first place. Didn’t you contact all the outlets and let them know sponsorship was at stake if they kept publishing misinformation?”
“Yes. The news outlet says the information has been verified. Felix knows it's not. We’re suing for defamation and dropping sponsorship immediately.”
“But that won’t stop this from spreading,” Mom said.
“No, it won’t,” Kaya agreed. “So we’ll stop it ourselves.”