Page 110 of Toxic

I blinked again.

Director Nolan gestured toward the people sitting along the wall. "These are your designated team members. Four of themyou already know—they’ve been working on this project with you—but we’re also bringing in a new team member, our intern, Skye Nolan… with whom you may already be acquainted."

The director's tone dropped slightly, sounding oddly snarky. What was this all about?

The moment had arrived. I swallowed and slowly turned my head toward Skye. Our eyes met. For the first time, we looked at each other, fully aware of what we were doing.

I was trembling, like a taut string, like a birch tree in the wind, like a thin membrane stretched too tight. Every nerve in my body was shaking; I wanted to get up and throw myself at him, to hug him, to cling to him, to merge with him, with every hungry, obsessed cell in my body.

Skye.

Skye…

But instead, I forced myself to look back at Director Nolan and cleared my throat.

"Thank you for this opportunity and for your trust. I hope I will do well as a team leader, even though this comes as quite a surprise to me. But a pleasant one!" I quickly added, my voice uncharacteristically calm and formal. I was almost proud of myself.

Nolan slowly tilted his head.

"I believe in you, and I believe you’ll lead this team to success and bring the ByteBites project to a satisfying conclusion," he said in a slightly pompous tone.

Blinking, I nodded solemnly.

Director Nolan turned to the new team members. "Thank you, everyone. You can get back to work. I’ll have a few more words with your new team leader. Starting tomorrow, you’ll all be moved to your new room."

Skye and the others stood up and left. He gave me a brief, unreadable look but didn’t say anything.

So I sat there, feeling stunned, still blinking slowly. Then I raised my eyes to Director Nolan, who was watching me closely.

"I know about the situation, Soren."

Wow. Those words hung in the air. I immediately knew what he meant; he didn’t have to explain it to me. But I still had to ask, had to play dumb.

"What situation?"

"Yours and Skye’s."

There was no way around it. Clenching my fists, I asked, "Did Skye tell you?"

"Yes. But I don’t pry into your private lives. It’s none of my business. What I do expect is that your past won’t affect your professionalism in carrying out your duties. We need no drama here. Can you promise me that?"

I didn’t know why his question stung me so much. I felt deeply disturbed. By what right could he demand an answer from me about that? He was the one forcing this on me! He didn’t know how I felt, didn’t know what I’d been through, didn’t know if I could handle this situation. It was one big terra incognita, one huge tremor to my system, and I was supposed to make a promise to him?

Maybe I wanted to be a fucking mess!

He hired his own brother here, for fuck’s sake. Literally—my ex!

And he dared to ask me to behave?

"Can I be honest with you, Director?" My voice sounded strangled.

"Of course."

"I’m a bit surprised to see him here. For full clarity, let me explain that I was the one who initially pushed him away, but then I tried to contact him multiple times, and he rejected me. So, it’s unclear to me what he’s doing here…" I choked out, averting my eyes.

"It’s not up to me to explain his intentions," Nolan replied. "But it is up to me to ensure this project runs smoothly. I’m taking a big risk putting the two of you together on this, but I’m counting on the fact that since Skye is new and won’t be handling any crucial parts of the project, you’ll be able to see it through without any major issues, even if there are some tensions between you. Are my expectations too demanding?"

Feeling strangely irked, I hesitated, but slowly shook my head. And yet, I just had to point out, "I don’t entirely understand why, if you have concerns, you’re assigning him to my team."

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