Page 69 of His Little Secret in Discretion
I’m sorry, Blaine.
That was it? Nothing else. Not even a goddamn goodbye.
I was on my feet before the thought had fully formed. Phone in hand, I was already scrolling to my driver’s number after shooting Tommy a quick text to keep an eye out for her.
God, I was ready to tear the city apart if I had to find her. She wasn’t leaving me. She couldn’t leave me. Not like this. Not now.Not ever.
The phone buzzed in my hand before the call had connected.
Lucifer.
I sent him to voicemail, and he called back immediately.Fuck.
I answered, my jaw fucking tight. “What?”
Killian didn’t waste a breath.“Where the hell have you been? I need Masahiko’s contract finalized before the end of the week. Investors are already restless, and your little disappearing act isn’t helping.”
My hand flexed around the phone. Every nerve in me was screaming to walk out, to track her down, to not waste another second on corporate bullshit when she was God knows where.
“Hate to break it to you, Killian, but Masahiko’s acquisition is the last thing on my mind right now.”
There was a pause on the line, then his voice came back. Only adding more fire to the anger I was feeling.
“Of course it isn’t… Because you’ve never had your mind where it should be. Not in the company. Not on the people depending on you. Always on something irrelevant like some random woman you couldn’t keep out of your bed.”
I raked a hand through my hair, heat crawling up my neck. “You don’t get it. You don’t fucking get it—”
“I don’t want to get it,”Killian cut me off, his tone like a blade. “If this is another one of your spirals over one-night stands you don’t even know the names of, then I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care who spread their legs in your bed to make tomorrow’s headline. I care about the company you’re driving into the ground because you can’t keep your dick or your emotions under control.”
“Killian—”
“You’ve got lawsuits pending, contracts bleeding, and a scandal in the news every other goddamn day. You need to wake the fuck up.”His voice was low, dangerous. The kind of calm that only made the fury underneath sharper.
I didn’t say anything, my pulse pounding, the note still crushed in my fist.
“You want to keep Porter Industries intact?”he pressed, every word a hammer blow.“Then you show the fuck up. You sit your ass in that chair. And you act like you give a damn about something other than whatever mess you’ve crawled into this time. Because if you don’t, I’ll start handling things my way. And if I do, I promise you—you won’t like how fast I cut your little distractions out of the picture.”
Every nerve in me wanted to tear into him, but I forced myself to breathe. Losing it now meant losing her. And I couldn’t—fuck, I couldn’t risk that. I was already fucking losing her.
“For once in your life… act like a man running an empire. Not the spoiled bastard trying to burn it down.”
I dragged a hand down my face, jaw locked so tight it ached. “Fine,” I bit out. “You made your point. I’ll be there soon.”
“First meeting is at nine. Don’t be late.”
The line went dead, leaving nothing but silence and the note crumpled in my fist.
He drove me insane, but I knew he meant every word—every threat, every order, every low-blow insult. Because underneathall that corporate tyranny bullshit, Killian always thought he was protecting me. From failing. From getting hurt. From myself. Usually, he was right. Usually, I needed it. Not that I’d ever admit it to his face.
But not this time.
This time, he was wrong.
Because she wasn’t one of my mistakes.
She was everything.
I stared at the black card on the nightstand, my chest heaving.
