23 Chapter 23


    Seraphina’s POV 1


    The blessing of an impossibly busy Friday was that it left no room for my mind to wander into dangerous territory. Every time my thoughts tried to drift toward Damien-toward the way his hand had felt wrapped around my wrist, toward the questions in his eyes that I couldn’t quite decipher-another crisis would demand my immediate attention.


    By lunch, I’d fielded seventeen phone calls, rescheduled eight meetings, and consumed enough coffee to power a small city.


    It was exactly what I needed.


    Damien, on the other hand, had been in what could only be described as a spectacrly foul mood all day. I’d watched him through the


    ss partition of his office as he prowled back and forth like a caged predator, his shoulders tense beneath his perfectly tailored suit


    jacket. His phone conversations had been terse to the point of rudeness, and I’d seen him m his palm against his desk hard enough to


    make his coffee cup rattle.


    “Professional boundaries,” I’d muttered under my breath, forcing myself to focus on the quarterly budget reports spread across my desk.


    “He’s your boss, not your responsibility.”


    But even as I said it, part of me wanted to march into his office and demand to know what was wrong. The mate bond between us


    hummed with awareness every time he moved, every time his scent shifted with emotion, every time he looked in my direction with


    those devastating blue eyes.


    By five o’clock, most of the office had emptied out for the weekend. Damien had been the first to leave, grabbing his jacket and striding


    past my desk without so much as a “good night.” I stayed until well past eight, organizing files and preparing for Monday’s packed


    schedule.


    My phone buzzed with a text from Ophelia: *Picked up Adrian from school. We’re making pizza and watching cartoons. Take your time-


    we’re having a st!*


    Guilt twisted in my stomach as I typed back a quick thank you. Ophelia had been covering for me constantly since I’d started this job,


    picking up Adrian when I workedte, babysitting when I had emergency meetings, never onceining about the inconvenience.


    She was better to me than my own family had ever been, and I wasn’t sure I could ever repay that kind of loyalty.


    “Note to self,” I said aloud to the empty office, “give Ophelia the biggest bonus imaginable as soon as I get my first real paycheck.”


    By eight-thirty, I’d finally organized thest of the contract revisions and locked away the sensitive documents in the security cab.


    The executive floor was eerily quiet, the only sounds the distant hum of the building’s venttion system and the soft click of my heels


    against the marble floors.


    The elevator ride down to the lobby felt shorter than usual, probably because I was the only person in the building still working at this


    hour. When the doors opened on the ground floor, I expected to find the usual nighttime security guard reading behind his desk and


    maybe a fewte-departing employees heading home.


    Instead, I heard voices.


    23 Chapter 23


    “…arrange somethingfortable, preferably close to downtown,” a familiar voice was saying, the deep timbre sending an automatic shiver down my spine. “Cost isn’t an issue. Just make sure it’s avable tonight.”


    I stepped out of the elevator, my heels clicking softly against the polished marble of the lobby, and frozepletely.


    Damien stood near the reception desk, his phone pressed to his ear and his free hand running through his dark hair in a gesture of frustration I’de to recognize. He’d loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves, giving him a slightly disheveled appearance that only


    made him more attractive.


    But it wasn’t Damien who made my blood turn to ice.


    Standing beside him, close enough to be considered intimate, was a woman. She was blonde and stunning in an obvious, calcted way.


    Her red dress hugged every curve of her generous figure.


    There was something familiar about her posture, about the way she tilted her head when she spoke, that made my wolf pace uneasily in my mind. I took a step closer, staying in the shadows near the elevator bank, trying to get a better look at her face.


    “Yes, the Grandview Suites will be perfect,” Damien was saying into his phone, his voice carrying the authoritative tone he used for business calls. “Book the penthouse suite for… how long will you be staying?” He directed thisst question to the woman beside him.


    She turned slightly to answer him, and the overhead lights of the lobby illuminated her features clearly for the first time.


    There was something familiar about her profile-the sharp angle of her cheekbone, the way she tilted her head when she spoke. A nagging sense of recognition tugged at the edges of my memory, like trying to recall a half-forgotten dream.


    I stepped closer, staying in the shadows near the elevator bank, my eyes studying her face with growing unease. My heart began to beat


    faster as fragments of memory started clicking into ce.


    She turned fully toward the reception desk, giving me a clear view of her face in the bright lobby lights. The blood drained from my


    cheeks as recognition hit me like a physical blow.


    Those calcting eyes. That perfectly sculpted nose. The bee-stung lips that had whispered poison into my ear during the worst


    moments of my teenage years.


    Anna ckwood.