CHAPTER TWELVE
Saylor
W ith each step on the stairs, my anger fuels my body to climb higher and higher. How dare he say he’s here to bring me and Halo home when clearly, he’s got someone else. Why can’t he just leave me alone like he has for the past two years?
Marching down the hall, I see someone sitting down in a chair at the end of the hallway, checking his phone. They must hear my footsteps and rise the closer I get. Guess it must be break time for security. Good thing I didn’t have a gun, I’d already taken this slacker out before he saw me.
“Can I help you, miss?” Levi’s security asks.
“I need a word with your boss,” I snap, and cross my arms over my chest while tapping my sneakers on the wood flooring.
The door across from 209 opens, and Mitch walks out but stumbles when he sees me standing in front of him. At a closer look, I can see some light scaring that wasn’t there before.
“Mrs. Thorne,” he says surprised. Yeah, well that makes two of us buddy.
“Saylor,” I demand, correcting him. As soon as possible, I plan on legally getting my last name changed back to Gentry, now that I know I can come out of hiding.
“Saylor,” he smirks when he repeats my name. “Are you here to see him?” He looks over at the closed door that will lead me to Levi.
“That’s the plan. I think it’s time for some answers, don’t you?”
He sighs, as if in relief, and it confuses me.
“Of course. I’m so thankful we were able to find you. Besides Mr. Thorne, we’ve all been searching frantically for you. I hate that you were able to slip through my fingers. I take the blame for this long gap.”
I’m not sure I believe this, but I bite my tongue. Why would it be Mitch’s fault?
“How’s Tina?” I change the subject.
“Great. She can’t wait to see you and meet baby Halo,” he says with a mega smile on his face, then he turns serious.
“I know you have a lot of reservations but please hear him out. There’s a lot that you don’t know about, and some things are going to be a little hard for you to hear, but please be patient and give him a chance.
I can see the fire in your eyes and I know you want to cut him up, and it might cloud your judgement on what Mr. Thorne has to say. ”
“I think I already know what’s been going on but thank you anyway, Mitch.”
He nods, then retrieves a key card from his pocket and walks me over to the door of 209.
“Then I wish you luck, Saylor.” He swipes it above the handle and a green light signals that the door unlocks. He holds down the handle and opens it. Stepping aside, he motions for me to enter.
I stroll in and hear the door close, then relock. Around the corner, I can hear voices and it makes me falter and almost trip over the future Mrs. Thorne’s suitcase. All the anger I was feeling, as I was stomping up the stairs, has taken a back seat and my legs are now jelly.
“Yes, I understand.” I hear a woman’s voice before hearing a thud, then silence.
I’m not sure my heart could handle walking in on a sex scene with that woman and my husband.
Ex-husband . Shaking my head and steeling myself, I turn the corner.
Levi is pacing the room by the window, and my new replacement is on all fours in front of a wingback chair, a good distance away from each other.
They both haven’t noticed me, until Levi turns to re-pace in the opposite direction.
He freezes and looks as though there’s a ghost in the room.
The woman looks up at his stopped movement, then turns in my direction.
“S-Saylor,” Levi whispers like my name is a prayer.
“Levi,” I toss back, and I’m pleased at how firm my voice is.
“I…didn’t think you’d actually come here.”
“Is that why she’s here?” I snap and point to the woman still on the floor. “Really Levi, you should be more discrete unless you want the world to know where I’ve been stashed away.”
He looks to the woman, then back to me like he forgot she was there, then shakes his head.
“She’s not what you think. I needed her here with me to get through this.”
I raise my hand, not wanting to hear about his needs .
“I don’t really care what you do these days, but I came here to discuss Halo.” I cross my arms over my chest and wait, but then see the lady grab the phone that I didn’t notice before on the floor and put it to her ear.
“I’m gonna need to call you back, sir.” She ends the call. So, was she not referring to Levi as sir?
“Mrs. Thorne, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The girlfriend rises from the floor and stalks over to me, with her hand outstretched. “I’m Sarah Blake.”
I look between her hand and face a few times, then over to Levi, who is still standing in the same spot as earlier.
“Does she really need to be here, or can she come back after we finish discussing our situation. I’m sure she’s great and all, but I think this is between the two of us,” I say, ignoring the woman.
“Saylor, Sarah is—” Levi starts, but I interrupt.
“I don’t really care at this point. She can be the Queen of England, but I want it to be made clear that when we iron out some type of visitation that any of your flings are not to have any contact with my daughter.” I shoot a death glare to the woman, then back to Levi.
“Mrs. Thorne, I can assure you—”
“It’s Saylor, or hasn’t Levi told you that we’re divorced?
I’m sure that the title might be yours if you play your cards right.
” I can’t seem to stop myself at the pelting that keeps coming out of my mouth.
My filter has long since left the building, but years of hurt and anger have festered for too long, and I’m on a rampage.
“Saylor stop it!” Levi yells from across the room, and makes his way over to us. “Sarah is not anything like that, she’s been my shrink for the past year.”
He pauses, and lets that settle in.
His shrink? Shrink. What happened to Dr. Jordan? Although, if he’d listen to me from the start, then he’d have dumped Dr. Jordan right after we married.
They both must see the confusion on my face and help me out.
“Mr. Thorne came into my services as a referral from Dr. Jordan,” Sarah starts. Her demeanor is really professional and calm. Too calm for me.
Well, shit, color me surprised. Then my mind flashes back to everything I just said to her, and I’m ready to jump out the window at how I’ve been towards her.
“But the photos online?” My mind is reeling, trying to make sense of this information. Am I being made to look like a fool, or is this real?
“We both were at the same charity functions a few times and were talking when those were taken. They were very harmless and what they don’t show is my husband standing right next to me in all of them,” she confirms, and I take the moment to look down at her ring finger to see a wedding band set.
She then presses a few buttons on her phone and swipes over a ton of photos of her and her husband.
He’s older than her and balding. Don’t judge, Saylor! God, I feel one inch tall.
“I’m sorry for the things I said earlier, I thought—” I trail off.
“Apology accepted.” She looks over at Levi, then nods in my direction to get him to engage in our conversation. I’ve never known Levi to be so quiet before, and it’s a little weird. “Mr. Thorne, would you like for me to come back, or stay while you and Saylor have this discussion?”
“Alone. I’d like to have her alone,” he answers, never taking his eyes off of me. His intense stare causes me to squirm slightly, and I’m tempted to ask her to stay as a shield.
Sarah picks up her notepad from the side table and walks out the door.
We are both still standing in the same spot, not moving.
I’ve waited for this moment for a long time and now that it’s here, I can’t remember what I wanted to say, or yell at him for, that matter.
Everything has been thrown out the window and my mind is blank.
I was expecting one thing, and now that it wasn’t what I thought, the lack of wind has deflated my sails.
“What happened to Dr. Jordan?” I ask as the door closes behind Dr. Sarah Blake. The woman who I thought for the last eight months was my husband’s new shiny trophy.
“She wasn’t working for me anymore. The more I saw her, the more I knew that she wasn’t helping. Sarah, or Dr. Blake as she prefers, has really helped me deal with a lot of past issues.”
There is silence and only the hum of the room’s air conditioner fills the void.
“She specializes in abandonment and early childhood traumas,” he blurts out, and my eyes widen.
Levi never wanted to admit that he had issues of abandonment and trauma as a kid, and it shocks me that he was admitting it now.
“When I first met with her, she was able to breakdown a lot of my walls because I was so broken, with not being able to find you and Halo, that I spilled the beans to a complete stranger.”
Levi lets out a slight chuckle.
“Dr. Blake likes to keep things very professional, and decided to take me on as I conquered my past.”
Swallowing hard, I can’t help but feel my cold heart melt slightly after hearing that.
“Linc and I even moved our parent’s grave here and found some of my mother’s family. I haven’t contacted them, but I have their information if I wanted to. It was something that I wanted to do with you when we found each other.”
“That’s great Levi, really. I’m glad that someone was able to help you overcome that trauma. I know it couldn’t have been easy,” I softly say. He shrugs as if it’s no big deal, but for Levi who bottles everything up and hates to talk about himself, this is huge.
After my mom died from cancer, my dad and grandparents made sure to get me some help.
I was a preteen who didn’t understand how to we went to seeing her every day to never seeing the person you loved the most ever again.
Everly came along, shortly after her passing, and we latched onto each other and never let go.