Page 59 of Of Mercury and Mist

The ways in which I kept fucking up were innumerable and my resentment toward Josiah was growing extensively. Sure, he was handling some details of the business, but the majority of it was falling on me while he was off vacationing with his wife and leaving me in a lurch.

It wasn’t fun and games, doing most of the work yourself, when it came to a high multi-million-dollar company.

I’d started delegating more assignments to those below me. After some trial and error, I’d discovered a few who could handle the work. After some mental debate, I decided not to notify my best friend as I didn’t want to see any more of the fucking question mark emojis. It went without saying Della was having some effect on him. He never would’ve resorted to cartoons before her.

After seeing Ashley laid bare before another man, I was wrecked. And feeling spiteful. There was no way I could stay away from the woman anymore. I wasn’t going to stand back and let some other monster take her from me.

Josiah had said we couldn’t look at her anymore, couldn’t acknowledge her. Thankfully, there were ways around that. If he caught me, so be it. He endangered all of us when he pursued his woman, and I’d put my life on the line for him more than once.

It didn’t matter what he was doing up in Canada with Alastair’s clan, what type of negotiations they were doing. Fuck them all.

Despite Ashley’s untrustworthy ways, I was going to have her. I’d make her pay for as long as it took, until I got this anger out, but the end result would be the same.

I’d never let her go.

The first thing I had to do was go home.

* * *

As expected,my penthouse was pristine. The wraiths I’d hired kept the place immaculate. The creatures could be tricky, get into mischief, or just not show up. These particular ones were specially selected due to their continued loyalty after helping Josiah out in the past. Several had followed him home and set about guarding the property he owned further upstate. Conveniently, I’d received the same bonus of the lowest level of demonic beings providing security and assistance.

“You may leave for now if you wish,” I spoke to a wraith melting into the shadows in the corner of the living room. For some reason, this particular one, named Nilam, was overly shy. The creature disappeared and I crossed the room to enter my private office.

Thanks to Kiam’s past encouragement, I had slowly amassed a sizable library of esoteric and magical books. For my plan to work, I’d need to do some research, and the tomes were necessary for what I had in mind.

After settling in my armchair with a drink and a pile of books, I began to search for what I needed. There were some things I could do without the assistance of my natural magic, but what I had in mind would need a heavier hand if it was going to work.

Josiah had said we weren’t to even look at Ashley, she was dead to us. So, what if I weren’t me? What if I looked and sounded completely different because I borrowed another form?

Everything would have to be different—even my scent.

Obviously, deep down inside it would be me, but no one would know. More importantly, others of my kind would remain ignorant. They would sense the spell work, but they would not be able to determine its master.

Somehow, I would have to operate under these conditions until I could manage to get Josiah seeing things my way. The thought of Ashley entertaining other men was too painful to bear so I was taking matters into my own hands.

She may have forgotten all about me but there was no way I’d ever forget about her. She’d quickly learn from her mistake. She may have gone on like nothing ever happened, like she hadn’t stolen from me and ruined everything. As if I no longer mattered; as if she could ever escape.

She would soon remember.

* * *

Matthew tappedthe edge of the tablet he held in his hand with his nail. He was rereading the email I’d sent him or at least attempting to appear he was. I could see him thinking. He was considering my very generous terms and trying to pretend to be a better man at heart. The amount of money I was offering him was too much for him to turn down.

He set the device down and tapped the edge of a pile of papers. “Under normal circumstances we have allowed our employees the pleasure of meeting with a potential patron and the two of them come to a mutually beneficial agreement. You are asking me to forego the regular process.”

“That is correct.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk and clasping his hands together. “I’m afraid I’m going to need some more information. Ashley is a relatively new employee, and we want her to have the best experience possible.”

“What is it you would like to know?”

“Here’s the problem,” Matthew cleared his throat. “I understand you have your reasons for surrounding yourself with magic but the fact you are is not instilling confidence in your motivations. You’re hiding something.”

“I am a private man, Matthew. I do feel that I’ve demonstrated I am serious, as evidenced by the amount I am offering. I would not offer this much for something I did not care about.”

He waved his hand at me. “I’m not suggesting you don’t care.” He picked up the tablet again. “Why don’t we do this—I’ll accept half now, for a term of one month. If the partnership with Ashley is beneficial to the both of you, we can look at permanency.”

If I wanted to do this without attracting unnecessary attention or a deeper look, I’d have to accept his proposal. “I’ll accept your terms.”

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