Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“Stop it,” I warned Konni softly when his fingers brushed against mine in the elevator.
When I’d sweet-talked him into returning to work today, I’d specifically said no public displays of affection until after the welcome party. He’d agreed but was obviously struggling to keep his word.
Thankfully, we arrived early, so no one would notice his subtle attempts.
The elevator stopped. His fingers brushed mine again. I shot him a look just as the doors opened.
“Welcome back!”
The shout and sudden pop, followed by confetti-rain, startled me.
I gaped at the Snack Pack standing outside the doors. Bomir held the spent confetti cannon, Marius two coffees, and Edi a take-out bag from a nearby bakery.
“You guys are the best,” I said, laughing. “Thank you.”
Balak and Palmen, who’d stepped in to manage Steele Corp in Konni’s absence, had kept the Snack Pack apprised of the situation.
So, after their thoughtful welcome, we had an impromptu meeting to catch up on anything we’d missed.
Thanks to them and Konni’s family, no fires needed to be put out—other than the ones Konni had set himself while looking for me.
Settling in at my desk, I quickly caught up on emails and reviewed the current project lists. Nothing urgent stood out. Realizing I wouldn’t need to work through lunch, I messaged the girls.
Me: Who’s up for lunch?
Miranda: You sure your fire-breathing dragon will let you out of his sight?
Wrenly: It’s a bit soon…not that we don’t want to see you.
Me: I’ll check.
Konni looked up from his computer when I lightly knocked on the door.
“Do you have a minute?” I asked.
“For you? Always.” He turned his chair, fully focused on me.
Knowing my friends weren’t wrong, I decided to increase my chances for a little lunch freedom by closing the door.
Konni’s gaze intensified as I circled his desk and exploded with gold flecks when I cuddled in his lap and ran my fingers over his Adam’s apple.
“Does this mean the PDA ban has been lifted?” he asked, stroking my hip with one hand and my knee with the other.
“No. I’m breaking the rules. Should I stop?”
“Definitely not. You should break more rules. How do you feel about desk sex?”
I grinned. “Depends. On my back or on my stomach so I can watch the door?”
“You should have locked it,” he said before he kissed me hungrily.
It wasn’t a long kiss. He pulled back sooner than I would have liked, but I appreciated his restraint when I saw his pupils.
“I actually came in here because—”
The door burst open.
Konni’s hold tightened, trapping me as my gaze flew to Lianna, who stopped short. Her eyes went wide at the sight of me on Konni’s lap.
Behind her, Edi said, “I couldn’t stop her.”
“It’s fine, Edi,” Konni said.
The shock in Lianna’s gaze faded a little at his words, and she almost looked triumphant. Why? Because Konni said her interruption was fine?
Smiling at her, I played with the hair at the back of his neck.
“Did you need something, Lianna?” I asked.
“I need to speak with Drake. Alone.”
“Hmm.” I glanced at Konni. “And do you want to speak to Lianna alone?”
He shook his head and leaned in to start kissing my neck, correctly reading the situation.
Watching her face flush with anger, I said, “As you can see, he’s busy attending to important matters.”
I saw the second her control snapped. Her pupils dilated, and scales flickered in and out of existence over her skin.
“You’re nothing,” she seethed. “A poor human rat with no connections and a mother who can’t even hold a job. You’re not worthy of his attention, your job here, or a place in his life.”
The press of my fingers on the back of Konni’s head was the only thing keeping him where he was.
“I heard none of that matters, though, when a dragon scents his mate,” I said calmly.
Lianna’s breathing became harsh.
“You’re not. He’s mine. I’ve known him for years.”
“And what do you think, Mr. Steele. Are you Lianna’s?” I asked, releasing my hold.
He lifted his head to meet my gaze.
“I’m yours, Sophia. Everything I have, all my connections, wealth, family, they’re yours too.”
“I know that, but she doesn’t.”
A growl started deep in his chest as he slowly turned his head toward Lianna.
“You are nothing to me, Lianna. You never were, and you never will be.”
If she moved, I didn’t see it, but Konni saw something because I was sitting on his chair, alone, a second later, and he had her pinned to the wall by her throat.
“She’s brainwashed you,” Lianna said. “You just need time away from her. If that geriatric idiot had listened, you would already see that we—”
Konni slammed her into the wall and let out a dragon bellow that shook the window.
Oh shit.
I jumped to my feet, unsure if I should try to calm him down or get further away.
“What did you do, Lianna?” Konni demanded, slamming her again.
The second slam seemed to knock some sense into her. The undiluted hate in her gaze faded into fear.
“She’s not your mate. She’s blinded you to—”
“If you won’t confess to me, you’ll confess to them. Edi!”
Edi stepped into the office, looking pale. It might have had something to do with the way Lianna was suddenly struggling to get out of Konni’s hold. She was begging, so I knew it wasn’t because he was suffocating her.
“Call the elders,” Konni said. “They have fifteen minutes before I resolve the problem myself.”
Edi disappeared from the doorway.
Lianna stopped fighting, a look of defeat on her face. “I didn’t hurt her, Drake. I only moved her.”
“Moved her? To Hestian’s estate? The place where she was hurt?”
“He wasn’t supposed to hurt her!”
“No, he was just supposed to wait for her mark to fade and then rape her, right?”
As he spoke, an unnatural flush crawled up her neck. This time, when she clawed at his hand and arm, I saw a different kind of panic. He was choking her.
“Babe, can you take some pity on me and step away from the ho? I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to witness a homicide right now.”
He immediately released Lianna. Her knees gave out, and she fell to the floor, wheezing as blood trickled from the puncture wounds his claws had made.
Although he backed several steps away from her, he didn’t take his eyes off her.
“You have a choice,” he said. “Confess everything to the elders or the human police.”
“The elders,” she rasped.
“Leave anything out, and I will override their ruling. Now, thank my mate, Lianna. If she hadn’t stopped me, you’d already be dead.”
She lifted her gaze to mine. Reality had killed whatever enmity she held for me and her hope for Konni.
“Thank you, Sophia,” she barely managed.
Instead of acknowledging it, I went to Konni, kissed his cheek, and went to check on Edi, who was doing crowd control at the entrance of the suite. If the entire office hadn’t known what Konni was before today, they probably did now, thanks to Lianna.
The “elder,” who showed up within ten minutes, took Lianna away after a brief, quiet conversation with Konni.
Konni’s mood didn’t improve with her removal. He stood in his office, facing the window and staring out at the city. I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I don’t think you’re sad about how you treated her. And now we know who was behind my kidnapping,” I said. “So what’s still bothering you?”
“She knew, better than anyone, how important a mate is to our kind, and she still went after you.”
“Ah. This is lingering rage, then. I have a way to help with that.” I blatantly slid my hand down the front of his pants and listened to his deep, cleansing breath with a grin. “Feeling less ragey?”
“Not yet. Keep going.”
I chuckled, and he turned around to capture me in his arms.
“I love you, Sophia. Forever. Under any circumstances. Always.”
“You’re growing on me, too. Now, I’d like to talk about a lunch date with my friends.”
It took very little for him to agree to a lunch gathering in his office. While he called his family to let them know what happened, I ordered in for the entire floor to make up for the scare.
Konni’s cell phone rang, interrupting our midafternoon cuddle session.
“Ignore it,” he said.
“Can’t. I promised five minutes and delivered.”
He groaned as I got off his lap and handed him his phone. The playful pout on his face disappeared when he saw the number. He answered on speaker.
“Did she confess?” he asked.
“She did,” a man said.
The elder confirmed what I’d already guessed—Lianna’s actions began when she overheard Konni wanted to hire me.
She’d started small with the file thefts.
When that didn’t work, she’d given me tasks she thought I’d fail so she could fire me.
And when that didn’t work, she’d gone a completely different route.
Konni pulled me back onto his lap as the man continued.
“After investigating Sophia’s background, she contacted the current Mrs. Elmantas.
Rather than negotiating an investment contract with the Stonestocks to remove Sophia from Steele Corp as Lianna had hoped, Mrs. Elmantas advised discretion and suggested testing Ms. Elmantas’s unknown relationship with Drokonnen first.”
“The data leak,” I said.
“Yes,” the man said. “According to Lianna, it was Mrs. Elmantas’s suggestion. She had assured Lianna that sending it to Sophia’s father would force a termination without causing actual harm to Steele Corp., no matter what your connection.
“Did she blame everything on Charlotte Elmantas, then?” Konni asked, his voice tight.
“No. Lianna was solely responsible for the reporter ambush, repeatedly paying for media defamation, instigating Edward Glibs, and the incident at the golf course. She has no idea about the car accident or the house fire. If they weren’t accidental, she wasn’t involved.
“As for the kidnapping, after overhearing Ms. Elmantas’s plans for a dress fitting, she reached out to Charlotte Elmantas again, who suggested sending her to Hestian.”