Page 127 of Aching for His Discretion

Half an hour had passed, and I grew bored of scrolling through my phone and occasionally gazing at the closed envelope. Thinking I should stretch my legs once more, I went to stand when I noticed something at the edge of his desk. My heart immediately raced as it coincidentallybuzzed.

Standing up, I went toward it and picked up the very thing that drove us apart in the beginning:Levi’s second phone. I could only wonder if he left this out on purpose for me to see as well.

Teegan…

I felt torn, as I subconsciously glanced over to the door to see if anyone was nearby before looking back down at the phone.

I wanted to put it down. I really did. I wanted to believe he’d changed. Ididbelieve he changed, but my curiosity got the best of me.

But curiosity killed the cat.

Grayson isn’t dead.

You thought he was a few years ago.

…Valid point.

Turning it on, I unlocked it without issue as it wasn’t password-protected. It felt intrusive, the way I was constantly looking over his shoulder and snooping through his personal life and belongings.

He also killed five people I knew, threatened Nico with a gun, and manipulated me into staying with him throughout the years. I’d say it’s even… tit for tat almost.

But… he’s changing.

And that makes what he did all the more reasonable, right?

My hand itched to put the phone down as my heart raced, my mind battling whether or not I should let this all go.

However, I inevitably found myself going through his messages as I ignored my thoughts. Thankfully, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary. I assumed it was probably an old personal cell, given that he had regular contacts and messages within it.

I went to put it down when I noticed a… familiar name—a name that sent chills down my spine as it was somehow buried deep within his messages.

Teegan.

Opening the message, I stared at the phone in utter confusion. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe there were other doctors namedDr. Lombardi.

It’s just a coincidence.

I clicked on the single message sent from Dr. Lombardi, and it sent me to a different app. Upon opening it, I stood frozen.

I stood frozen as I looked at the rolling security footage of the hospital where I worked. I stood frozen as I watched previous videos of me walking into the lobby.

I stood frozen as my head suddenly became light, the visual making me feel suddenly dizzy all of a sudden.

I stood frozen as I heard light shuffling and a possible groan behind one of the closed doors within his office.

Placing the phone on the table, I looked over to the door hesitantly. The noise from behind the door intensified, though it was still very muffled.

TEEGAN.

Approaching the door slowly, I opened it to see a set of steps going downstairs. As I numbly went down them, I was met with the same layout of the room I had been in before with Beverly—only this time did I have the unfortunate fate of encountering the person Levi had down here upon entering the basement.

Sitting with his head lowered as he was tied to the chair, the man looked up slowly, and his eyes widened slightly as he made eye contact with me. Covered in dry blood and fresh tears, he spoke through his dry throat.

“Teegan!” he cried, and I watched him numbly as I looked over his bruised face and red, tear-filled eyes. He looked distraught, starved, and sleep-deprived. It was hard to determine how long he’d been down here.

I began feeling numb, my senses both heightened in the moment and also fading, trying to make sense of what was before me.

“Jacob…”I whispered, tears clouding with my vision, and his own eyes began pleading with mine.

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