Page 197 of Chandelier Enthralled
“Take care of Willa,” I said, my voice low but firm. “Tell her, tell her…” I met Cameron’s gaze. “Tell her I love her.”
“She needs you, Greyson. Don’t do anything that might hurt her more than she can stand.”
Love wasn’t just words.
It was in the quiet spaces between the breaths we took. It was in the way time slowed down when I was close to her, to Willa. It was in the silence, the space between our vows, our unspoken promises.
The ones made with our hearts to prove how much we cared.
“What are you thinking?” asked Cameron.
But I was already heading for the door.
The next day, I forced myself to leave my bedroom, having hardly slept.
I’d hardly eaten either, being too obsessed with figuring out a resolution that would keep anyone else from getting hurt.
Within hours, I rallied enough courage to do what had to be done, driving downtown.
I didn’t tell Cameron I was leaving because I knew he would stop me. And besides, Mia was home, and they deserved to spend some precious time alone together.
An hour later I was walking through the main foyer of Pulse360, amazed my ID still worked—or perhaps that was part of Jewel’s plan.
I wasn’t sure what I would say to her when I saw her—or if this course of action was as reckless as it felt. But I couldn’t let her get away with what she had done to Chad, and to Dean, even if I couldn’t come out and blatantly accuse her.
Jewel didn’t intimidate me.
Throughout my life, I’d had the privilege of meeting presidents, prime ministers, renowned scientists, and visionary business leaders. Perhaps it was my privilege that gave me the confidence to feel worthy in their presence, but it was more about searching out their knowledge, devouring the wisdom they offered, and admiring their desire to make the world a better place.
Jewel, however, preferred to wreak havoc. Not only at Pendulum, but internationally, too.
It was hard to comprehend how someone who already had everything—wealth, power, all the luxuries one could dream of—could still be driven to inflict such pain on others for the sake of having more. Jewel seemed to be bound by some dark hunger I couldn’t begin to understand.
Like any good journalist, I was going to ask her for a quote on her own story.
Asking her for an interview was the bravest thing I had ever done. Of course, she would probably refuse, until I showed her some of the evidence I had gathered—not all of it—not the stuff that would get me killed.
I returned to my desk to gather the few things I had left there, my heart racing at the thought of being back inside her hive.
Chloe sat in her cubicle, typing away, distracted by whatever she was working on.
“Hey,” I said. “Anything interesting going on?”
She paused her typing and then spun around in her chair to look at me. “You chose to come in, then?”
“Did you tell Jewel anything?”
She blushed and then looked annoyed. “Gonna tell me what else you found?”
That irritated me. “Have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The truth was scorchingly painful. What Chad had found had gotten him killed—and I had nearly died, too.
Chloe had abandoned us or double crossed us. It was hard to know for sure.
A lump caught in my throat. I couldn’t share what had happened to Chad…or me.
Saying goodbye to the place where you thought you’d be working for years felt surreal. I’d miss the familiar hum of this floor, the sound of talented journalists working to uncover stories, but now that excitement was tainted.
