Chapter Twelve
Aliannah woke with a start. She looked around the room. She was alone. “Where the hell am I?” she muttered to herself. She did not recognise this place at all. Her head throbbed. She couldn’t understand why since she didn’t have that much to drink. She reached to hold her head and felt a gash. Aliannah grabbed her phone off the nightstand and flicked on the camera. “What the fuck?!” she winced as she touched it again. She checked the time, and it was 4:03 a.m. There was a message from Michelle that had come in an hour ago.
OMG cannot wait to hear this one! Call me tomorrow!
She noticed she was not wearing the dress she had left the house in but a men’s size white t-shirt and boxers. The memory of last night came flooding back. Cooper, the car chase, the bathroom, the tea, the sex, she had fucked Jasper. She remembered the way it felt to be with him. The first man since Ivan. She gasped, remembering the car chase; Cooper had said it was two black SUVs that had tried to run them off the road. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Ivan’s cars are black SUVs. She wished she had heard if Cooper had more details about the SUVs. Aliannah knew in her gut that Ivan was most likely behind it, but why would he want her hurt? Maybe that was an oversight on his part, she thought. Seatbelts, the car should have had damn seatbelts. She made a mental note to never get in a car with Jasper again unless it had seatbelts. She had to get out of there; what if Ivan went after Jasper because of her? She wouldn’t allow Ivan’s obsession with her to cause harm to anyone else.
Aliannah jumped out of bed; she had to leave quickly while it was still dark out. She had to leave before Jasper came back. Where was he? That didn’t matter. She had to go, and now with her shoes in her hand, she carefully opened the bedroom door and peeked out. The hallway was dimly lit. No sign of Jasper. She crept out. “Shit!” she whispered to herself as she noticed the exit was an elevator door. The ding of the doors would for sure summon Jasper from wherever he was or whatever staff he may have.
She saw a door beside the elevator. She opened it and found the stairs. It was a long way down. Aliannah looked over the railing, and she couldn’t even guess how many floors up they were. She hoped that if she got down a few levels, she might find a door to another floor and access the elevator from there without summoning Jasper.
“If you want to leave that’s fine, but for the love of god, put some pants on, dear”, Aliannah shrieked and spun around to face Jasper. “And given that we are 80 floors up, I would advise the elevator over the stairs,” She could not tell if he was pissed or hurt or what. His face gave nothing away. Aliannah clung to the railing. Jasper held out his hand to her. “You are safe with me. I had to take a business call from Estonia, and I took it in my office so I would not wake you, dear.”
Aliannah took his hand and went back into the penthouse with him. She was shaking from the fright Jasper had given her. “I didn’t want to wake the house with the elevator dinging…” she said nervously. “…I need to get home before work tomorrow” she tried to mask her nerves as best she could. There was not a hope she wanted to tell him about Ivan. She needed to leave.
“I’ll call Cooper and have him meet you in the garage, and there are some sweatpants on the chair in your room you can put on” Jasper pointed towards the guest room as he pulled out his phone to call Cooper.
“DON’T!” Aliannah shouted. Jasper looked at her strangely. She took a breath. “Don’t call Cooper, he's probably sleeping. I would prefer to call a cab,” she insisted. She did not want to get in the limousine again. It was too soon after last night.
Jasper could tell there would be no swaying Aliannah on this. He dropped his shoulders and held his hand to his head. “Fine if you are sure, but please put the pants on, dear. Every man in New York will jump on you if you go out wearing just my t-shirt” Aliannah realised just how short that t-shirt was on her. It barely covered her ass. Jasper was right. Every man would try it on with her purely on ease of access.
Aliannah put on the sweatpants. They were too big, but the drawstring tightened them enough that they would not fall down. Heels and sweatpants—Michelle would die laughing if she could see her now.
Jasper was waiting at the elevator. “It’s not even sunrise yet, dear. Are you sure you have to leave?” After everything that happened last night, Aliannah just wanted to shut herself away in her apartment. She nodded and pushed the button.
Ivan was becoming too intense. She did not like it. Aliannah was going to have to break her silence. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She hated the idea of giving him the satisfaction of a response. She had not spoken to him since she left Serenity. He had hurt her too much for any kind of redemption. No explanation could excuse what he did that night in his office.
Jasper looked hurt. There was nothing Aliannah could do right now to fix it. “Sorry, by the way, I have a crazy global stalker ex who tried to kill us last night” That just didn’t seem right; no man would accept such crazy talk so early on. She just had to get out of there. The sooner she was gone, the better things would be for Jasper's sake.
*DING* A wave of relief ran through her as she stepped into the elevator. “What are you doing?” Aliannah was shocked that Jasper had gotten in, too. He did not speak. She looked at the floor in silence the entire ride down. She felt guilty for running out like this, but she saw no other way to protect Jasper.
When the elevator doors opened, Jasper stepped out first, flagging the cab waiting nearby. “I needed to be sure those cars from last night were not waiting down here for you, dear,” Jasper kissed her on the cheek as she climbed into the back of the cab. She thanked him for his concern for her safety and assured him she would let him know when she got home. She gave her address to the driver, and off she went.
When she arrived outside her building, the sky was just beginning to lighten. Aliannah tried to pay the driver, but he refused. “No need, Miss; Mr Conrad took care of payment.” She thanked the driver and got out.
A guy in motorbike leathers and a helmet held the door of the building open for Aliannah as she went inside. “Morning, Miss Aliannah!” Harry said, a little too perky for this hour. Does that man ever sleep, she wondered? “You just passed the courier on your way in; he left this for you.” Aliannah whipped back to the door, but the courier was gone. Harry handed her a single peony with a bow tied to its stem and an envelope.
Aliannah took them from him and smiled. “Thanks, Harry. I don’t know how you do all these hours. You must live at your desk!” Harry chuckled as she stepped into the elevator.
She sat at the kitchen table while her coffee brewed and opened the envelope. Anger ran through her.
Darling, forget me so soon? – I
This confirmed her suspicions. The SUVs last night were Ivan, or at least his men, according to his orders. She was furious. His stupid games almost killed her last night. This had to stop. She threw the peony and the note in the bin. Aliannah took a moment to gather her emotions and opened the text Ivan had sent the day he door-dashed her. She began to reply.
Stay the fuck out of my life Ivan. We have been finished since that night I caught you in your office. You almost killed me last night. NO MORE GAMES! GOODBYE!
Aliannah read and read and reread her reply before finally hitting send. She let out a breath. She was done being a pawn in his game. He had gone too far.