Page 56 of Awakening

“You’re going to want this information right away.”

“Fine. Come in and meet me in my office.” I see a man walk through the living room and down the hall toward Ethan’s office. “Olivia, I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll make this quick.”

Really? Now? “Fine.”

“I’m so sorry. I promise to hurry,” he says, giving me a quick kiss on my cheek as he rushes down the hallway, closing his office door behind him.

I shake my head as I sit in the kitchen alone, looking around at a house that should feel familiar and comfortable, but instead, I recognize nothing at all. How could I go from having so much hope this afternoon to feeling completely lost after just one dinner? I know how. Caroline. It’s beyond me how someone could be so cruel. Then when I’m in obvious need of reassurance, it doesn’t exactly bring me comfort that Ethan decides to take a meeting instead.

What was I thinking imagining I could make this work so soon? This was a terrible mistake. I just want to get away from here. Wiping tears from my eyes, I look toward the door leading to the garage, and I see a row of hooks on the wall. One of those hooks holds a key with the BMW emblem. I know it’s mine because Ethan’s keys are still laying on the kitchen counter.

I don’t even think before grabbing my handbag and rushing to grab the keys. I get in the car, open the overhead garage door, and start the engine, but I’m startled and I scream when Ben knocks on the passenger side window. I look him in the eyes, throw the car into reverse, and back out of the driveway as he chases after me. My heart pounds in my chest as I put the car in drive and take off, leaving Ben chasing behind me and yelling something into his cell phone.

Damn it. I’m sure he’s calling Ethan as we speak. Sure enough, my cell phone begins to ring. It’s him. I hit decline. It rings again. Decline. My heart pounds and tears moisten my neck as they trickle down from my cheeks. As I approach the guard house, another car is exiting the gates, and it dawns on me that if I don’t make it out while they’re open, I’m probably not going to make it out at all. I just need to get the hell out of here.

I lay on the horn and slam down hard on the gas, coming up fast behind the exiting car. The car in front of me swerves over to the side, I’m sure in a panic, when they see the lunatic driver coming up behind them, but I make it. I’m out. Releasing a deep sigh of relief, I drive away into the dark night, and I don’t look back.

Ethan

“What the fuck do you mean she was able to drive away? We have iron fucking gates, and you! How do both of those things possibly fail at once?” I say, reprimanding the men stationed at the guard house.

“We are so sorry, Alpha, but she came through here driving like a maniac. Poor Mrs. Robertson had to swerve to get out of the way, or Luna Newman would have barreled right into the back of her car. There’s no way we could have safely closed the gates.”

I pace back and forth, pulling my hands down my face as I think of who’s ass I want to rip apart first, but it really comes down to one person. Me. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have discounted how terribly the night went with my parents. I shouldn’t have left her alone. Even as important as the information is that I received this evening, I should have insisted that my meeting with Lance wait until tomorrow. Fuck. Everything was perfect before that fucking dinner.

“Tell Ben and Damon I’m heading to Denver,” I say to the guards. “I’m going to get Olivia, and I’m bringing her home.”

Fourteen

Olivia

Iknow Ethan won’t be far behind me. He must be seething right now, especially after everything that happened earlier today…after committing to being his again.

I breathe another sigh of relief when I look in the rearview mirror and see nothing but darkness. It’s when I turn my attention back to the road that my eyes widen in horror to see a man standing in the middle of the highway right in front of me. Screaming, I swerve and slam on the brakes, just narrowly missing him. My hands shake as I put my car, which is now sitting sideways on the highway, into park. I look all around me in every direction, but it’s too dark, and I can’t see anything. I know I didn’t hit him. So, where did he go?

He was here one second and gone the next. It’s like he never existed. I start to doubt my own mind, wondering if I imagined him. But no, he was here. I saw him. In fact, the look on his face…it was sinister, almost evil. I sit for what feels like minutes trying to calm my trembling breaths. As if I need something more to make this fucked up night any worse. There’s no way I’m getting out of the car to check it out myself, so with no sign of the man, I shift the car back into drive, and continue on.

There’s been no sight of Ethan the entire way back to Denver. Is it possible he decided to let me go? Highly unlikely. Pulling into the parking garage of Anthony’s building, I park in a spot close to the elevator that takes me up to the top floor. Stepping off of the elevator, I turn to go down to my apartment just as Anthony is coming out of his.

He frowns when he sees me and rushes over to me. “Olivia? I wasn’t expecting to see you. Marco told me you went with Sullivan for a home visit today.”

“I did. I just came from there.”

He raises my chin into the light. “You’ve been crying. What the fuck did he do?”

“Anthony—”

“Come with me,” he says, guiding me into his apartment. “Tell me what he did, Olivia.”

“You were on your way out. I don’t want to interrupt your night.”

“I was just meeting a few friends for drinks. They can wait. I want to know why you’re upset.”

Tears build in my eyes again as I think about my dinner with Ethan’s parents. “It was just everything. I went to dinner at his parents’ house, and it’s clear his mom hates me. She was so cruel, Anthony. It’s like she thinks I can’t remember the pregnancy on purpose. Then Ethan just announces at dinner that he talked to the hospital administrator, and he says we can have the baby released to us tomorrow.”

“He didn’t discuss it with you first?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head.

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