Chapter 41
1563words
I didn't respond to his question immediately but looked down at the document in front of me.
Every pain I've felt this past couple of years, I've only felt because of my love for Paris. I know within the heart of my heart, that love never had to be so hard, and I slowly nodded,
"Yes, Paris. It's exactly what I want."
~~~~
In a bid to move on with my life, I called William up to have dinner with him, under the guise of thanking him for how much of a good friend he'd been to me lately. It was at a nice and quiet restaurant, not so far from his new firm, and the spot we sat in offered some privacy,
"You look better than the last time I saw you."
"the last time you saw me was the day I visited Paris's grandfather. Did I really look that bad?" I asked, teasing him, and he shook his head,
"not bad. You could never look bad. But I suppose there's been a lot on your mind."
I thought about his words and nodded slowly, "There have been quite a couple of things on my mind. But I think I'm finally feeling better. For one thing, I've presented the divorce files to Paris. I stood on business, and now I'm waiting for him to finish mulling it over and give me the signed papers, so we can both get on with our lives."
"hmm." William said, and sipped from his drink, " the sooner, the better?" he asked,
"Exactly," I replied happily and reached for my drink.
"In any case, I'm not sure Paris has much moving on to do. He already has Kate." I added contemplatively, before rolling some spaghetti on my fork and putting it in my mouth.
"I don't think it's okay talking about people behind their backs." I scrunched my face and turned to look at the son of a gun who had spoken. my eyes wandered to the tag he wore that said, 'general manager' and my frown deepened,
"Can we help you with something?" it was William who spoke and he spoke with a whole more patience than I might have, had it been me who said anything at all.
"Oh, I was just passing by, and happened to hear my cousin's name."
"your cousin?" then it clicked, and I measured the man carefully, "Kate is your cousin?" I asked in surprise and the man smiled a sickening smile, that made me think of her,
"Whether or not she's your cousin, doesn’t give you the right to eavesdrop on conversations that don't concern you." this time around, when William spoke, he was righteously pissed,
"I won't call it eavesdropping if I happened to be passing by and heard my cousin's name."
"It's still none of your business as neither of us was talking to you," I said, and he looked at me with malice,
"I've heard of you. How much you run your mouth. You might want to be careful when you do that in this restaurant."
"With that attitude of yours, one would think you actually own this place," I said with a bite,
"I may not own it, but I am the manager."
"and I'm paying customers."
"I don't care."
"Hey, you better-" I reached over and put my hand over William's,
"In any case, you won't be a paying customer for long, as I'm going to have to ask you to leave this place." the so-called manager said, and I merely lifted a brow,
"under what grounds?" William asked,
"She's making everybody uncomfortable."
I looked around us, and there were only a handful of couples. If they were looking in our direction, it was only because of the direction the conversation had taken, but I truly doubt we were making anyone uncomfortable.
I looked at his tag and nodded,
"Well, Mr. Sebastian." I said, rising, "I wouldn't want to be the cause of anyone's discomfort."
"Em, sit down," William said, sounding torn between angry and tired.
"It's fine. He's the manager after all." I said and reached for his hand. He took it and stood up,
"This doesn't end here," he said, and put his hand behind my back, and led me outside,
"I'm really sorry about that. "William said, and ran a hand over his head, making everything messy.
I reached over and smoothened, before smiling, "Don't be. You're not the douchebag who just tried to humiliate me." I said and sighed, "But it's not over." I said, still looking at the building,
"What's your plan?"
"How did you know I had one?" I asked, smiling up at him,
"It's in your eyes. So tell me."
"It's too much. I want to report the Sebastian bloke for how he just treated us. I don’t know how much it'll do, but I want to try."
William nodded, "I know the guy and demand an audience with him, worse come to worse."
"That's exactly what I want."
"Give me a sec. "he said and strode toward the restaurant like a man with a purpose.
He was out several minutes later with Sebastian, and an older man, who I believe was the owner. Where he wore a sober expression, Sebastian looked like a schoolboy who had just been scolded,
"You must be Ember. He said, taking my hand, I can't tell you how sorry I am for the ill-treatment you just experienced at the hands of a former employee."
"former?" Sebastian exclaimed, and the man turned to him and nodded, "Did you really think that I'd keep you after treating a person this way?"
"she was talking ill about my cousin, Javier!"
"Customers were there, Sebastian. They saw how it happened. They saw you stop and linger uninvited. And perhaps you're right, and she was talking ill of your cousin. It wasn't right to take matters into your hands by using the restaurant as a means to inflict injury. I won't condone it." he said firmly and turned to me again, "My apologies again."
"It's okay, Javier. I just wanted justice, that's why William asked for an audience with you." Javier turned to William and shook his head,
"I'm truly sorry. Come back again, and your meal is in the house."
"I'll be sure to take you up on that."
"and bring Ember too," he said, smiling at me.
"Thank you," I said, smiling back.
I watched as Javier turned away, but Sebastian stayed,
"How dare you?"
"none of that." William clapped back, sounding really angry, "You will not talk to her like that!"
Sebastian's face contorted in anger, "you will pay for this!" he said, and to go after Javier.
And I heaved out a sigh.
"come here," William said and wrapped his arms around me. I let him hold me and willingly wrapped my arms around him.
"for some reason, I believe he's really going to try and get back to me," I said when we came apart.
"Well, he can try. He won't win. I'll make sure of that."
I nodded,
"Are you ready to leave?"
"I didn't tell you. My father is coming over to pick me up. Your firm is quite far from my house, this restaurant is even farther. "
"Then I'll wait."
"You should go. It's getting late."
"Okay," he said and just sat on his bumper. I chuckled and sat beside him, where we talked until my father showed up.
He hugged me goodnight, and I got in my father's car.
But what we didn't know was that we were being watched.
~~~~
"I'm going to kill him!" the Alpha king thundered, a few mornings later and I peeked into his office to know what or who got his knickers in a twist.
"Kill who, dad?" I asked quietly. I really disliked seeing him this way,
"the freeloader who took these pictures and sent them to me.” he said and stretched his phone toward me.
I took it and my mouth dropped open,
"is that… are those…”
"You and I? Yes. And the son of a gun had the audacity to text me about you. Had the audacity to ask me to tarnish your name, or he'll spread the pictures!"
"how did he even get your mail?" I asked stupefied,
"It's my secretary's mail. A lot of people have access to it… he must have gotten it when I visited the restaurant the next day after picking you up that night.”
“You went there?”
My father nodded, “I wanted to know the kind of places William was taking you.”
“He must have been lurking because Javier, the owner, put him off.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t tell you.” I said sadly. "He doesn't know you're my father." I added, taking a seat across from him, "he probably thinks you're an elderly man I'm seeing" I said and looked at the photos again.
My father and I had our heads turned to each other, but it was hard to tell my father's face, although mine was very clear.
I groaned internally. So this was it. This was the man's plan to pay me back.
I looked up at my father who looked at me, worry clearly in his eyes, "I know who did this, now we just need to figure out how to deal with him."
