Page 212 of The Heart of Winter

No one had ever looked at me with more shock than Blue did in that moment.

WINTER

Jacob returned from his business trip around noon, but he'd been busy for hours, and we hadn’t had a chance to meet. Around 4 pm, I was in my office, already preparing to call it a day. My head was leaning back against the chair, and I was battling wave after wave of pain coursing through my body when my assistant knocked on the door.

"Sir, I ran into our CEO in the elevator. He asked me to let you know he’d like to speak with you now," he said, his mousy little face full of apology, like he was sorry for existing at all.

A jolt of nerves shot through me.

Was this it? Was it finally happening? I stood up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror-like surface of a cabinet. My face looked normal, composed. No one would guess my whole body was aching. I was dying of longing.

I stepped into the hallway, walking like… a man heading to the guillotine. But I kept my back straight.

I took the elevator to the executive floor. So familiar. I’d been up here hundreds of times over the years, back when Jacob and I worked side by side, shaping the vision of DevApp, closing deals, plotting strategy. This company had been like a second home to me. Walking that hallway now, I was silently saying goodbye. But even that pain didn’t compare to the one gnawing inside me.

Jacob’s office was dim, he’d left the windows polarized, casting the space in a shadowy half-light.

Fitting. A moody setting for an execution.

The CEO of DevApp was standing near a shelf, looking at the long row of photos in sleek black frames.

One of them was of Sariel. How poetic.

You didn’t need to be a psychic to feel the tension in the air, but I kept my game face on. I squared my shoulders, loosened my arms, and walked toward him with an easy, casual step.

He turned to face me, and for the first time since I’d known him, I noticed faint traces of Sariel in his features. I’d always thought Sariel was a carbon copy of his dad, but now… there were subtle details that sent a chill through me.

Our eyes met. I inhaled—

And there it was. I suddenly understood everything. Just like with Finn, I smelled him, his pheromonalAllure, and realized our level of mateship. And it shocked me…

But I didn’t react. Mostly because I’d sprayed myself with pheromone-masking deodorant, so it wasn’t an issue for him, he couldn’t smell me back. And it shoulddefinitelystay that way.

With a forced smile, I said, trying to start things on a polite note, "I’m glad to be back, Jacob. And I appreciate you letting me return to my old position."

I gave him a slight nod, a respectful gesture, meant to show both gratitude and deference.

Something passed over Jacob’s face. Bitterness? Anger?

I realized how differently I perceived him from Sariel. Sariel was an open book, I could read every flicker of emotion in his body. Jacob, though… he was a mystery. His emotions lingered just on the surface, and that surface could lie.

"I’m glad you’re alive, Winter," he said, his tone formal, almost like a statement for the record. "I couldn’t forgive myself for sending you both to Japan. It was my direct order… and it was like you lost your lives because of me."

Then he turned and walked toward the window. He brushed his fingers across the frame, and instantly the window’s polarization lifted, flooding the office with bright daylight.

A great reveal. It was coming now.

And then he said it.

"There were times when I wondered if your return to this company was the right decision."

His voice was strange, flat, robot-like.

Here it was. The truth. Or at least the next installment of it. The first part had already been served to me, wrapped in psychobabble, mid-flight.

Jacob continued, "I asked myself that question while watching the drone footage."

As he said that, his voice deepened, becoming resonant, almost vibrating.

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