Page 16 of In Their Arms

Deciding to pick a distraction, ignoring the ache in my lower belly, I fish around for my glasses and then my phone, fingers trembling slightly as I unlock the screen. My notifications are stacked, unread messages piling up, emails waiting, the familiar chaos of my work staring back at me. For the first time in hours, my mind latches onto something solid.

This, I can control.

My fingers move over my phone screen, tapping out a message, deleting it, rewriting it, hesitating before finally hitting send. It has been days since I checked in but the one chat I pull up gives me a window into only a little bit of chaos rather than the entirety of my company.

Just a small group of employees. Secret. Hidden away from my Alphas, from Maceo, from anyone who might raise an eyebrow at what I was doing behind the scenes focused on a breakout game.

A new direction, something to shake the dust off the original Starlight Falls, something to make it fresh, something that could stand on its own without the weight of what came before. It had started as an experiment, a challenge, a quiet rebellion against what everyone expected. And then my entire life imploded.

Now, as I scroll through the chat, there is a flurry of messages waiting for me.

[Miri]:Holy shit, you’re alive.

[Jules]:Is everything okay? You kinda just disappeared.

[Miri]:Yeah, how’s the fam? Everything good?

[Eli]:Bro, we miss your snarky ass at work. It’s been too quiet. Jules is getting away with murder without you around to call him out.

I snort softly, rubbing at my temple. I should have known they would be all over me the second I came back online. They’re really the only group of people that doesn’t treat me like some kind of boss man and they aren’t terrified of Luther which means for a little space in time, this is my peace. I take a second, flexing my fingers, breathing in slow to calm the raging fire coursing through me before finally typing out a response.

[Blake]:I’m fine. Just dealing with some shit.

A ping comes in immediately.

[Miri]:You good-good or Blake good?

I roll my eyes, only mildly hating that they know me so well.

[Blake]:I said I’m fine, didn’t I? What’s the status on the game? You guys making progress or did you burn the whole project down without me?

There is a pause. A brief lull in the conversation before the chat explodes again.

[Eli]:We don’t burn things, we strategically pivot.

[Jules]:You can’t fucking say that to the boss, dumbass.

[Miri]:LMAO, Eli just forgets sometimes.

I smirk, shaking my head as I watch the messages roll in and then a new notification pops up.

[Miri]:BTW, weird thing happened yesterday. Some guy named Hudson came by the front desk asking questions.

My stomach drops and I sit up a little too fast, my head swimming, fingers gripping the phone too tight as I stare at the message. My vision blurs and then corrects before I madly type my response. Hudson shouldn’t be anywhere near that place after he got thrown out the last time.

[Blake]:What did he want?

Another pause.

[Miri]:Didn’t talk to him. Receptionist said he was asking about leadership changes. Something about understanding transitions and preparing for shifts in ownership.

[Jules]:Sounded sus as fuck. She didn’t give him shit tho.

I grit my teeth, shoving a hand through my hair. Hudson is sniffing around, testing the waters, seeing how much damage he can do before making a real move. I exhale sharply, forcing myself to focus. This isn’t something I can deal with right now. I need a real distraction, something to keep me from spiraling and thinking about Hudson or Luca or Luther is going to make everything worse.

[Blake]:Good. Keep everything locked down. Now tell me about the game.

The chat floods with updates, concept art, new worldbuilding details, mechanics they have been tweaking. I scan through it all, letting my mind pull away from everything else, letting myself sink into something I understand.

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