Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 84: Jarek’s twisted plans.

Leilani.

After several hours of prying and failing, I finally was able to find out that Gavin and Maya were fated mates, and I had to literally force that info out of her mouth as she’d been very reluctant to say it.

She said she immediately felt the mate bond as soon as she saw him, and guess that was why she’d acted so strangely around him.

However, she told me immediately that she would reject him. Especially since she knows about everything he’s ever done to me in the past, and while that should’ve made me feel better, it didn’t. I felt worse.

Absolutely worse.

Because I didn’t want her to lose that one thing a lot of us craved for because of me. I didn’t want to be the selfish friend that would watch her regret her actions and then feel this overwhelming void I feel half of the time.

She stayed over for a while and left later because she had another blind date to attend to, and after promising me that this one would be better than the last ones, she kissed me goodbye, leaving me all to myself and to the tons of conflicting thoughts in my head.

The next day, I decided that I couldn’t continue to stay at home without doing nothing, especially since my emotions were all over the place, so I dressed up and went to work.

However, the first thing I noticed when I stepped out of my house was the fact that the bouquet of roses was no longer there. And that thought alone bothered me for a while; But brushing it off, I got into my car and drove off.

Jarek was shocked to see me getting out of my car when I arrived at Frostclaw. Inc. His eyes instantly widened when he saw me as he whisper-yelled; "What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"Good morning to you too, Frostclaw." I greeted with a smile, coming to stand beside him.

From here, I felt his usual warmth. The usual way it envelopes me like a cloak. And usually, I would lean into it, But today, I didn’t. I smiled politely instead, my voice cool and steady as I drawled;

"You should close your mouth and stop staring."

"You’re not fully healed, Leilani." He argued defiantly. "You were just discharged yesterday, why are you at work today?"

"Because I’ll not heal at home." I answered as we walked into the elevator amidst the prying eyes of people passing by. "I already feel good by the way, so you should worry less."

"And how am I not supposed to wor—"

"If you’re very worried then you should take care of me!" I snapped, interrupting him. "Give me something to do. Let me work. It’s the only way I wouldn’t think about self-sabotaging thoughts."

At that, his mouth snapped closed. He turned to me almost immediately whilst grabbing both of my shoulders as he leaned down until we were around the same eye level. And then, he drawled;

"What self-sabotaging thoughts are you thinking about?"

"I don’t know..." I answered, shrugging. And that was the truth. "A lot of things have just been happening recently. Moreover, I also need someone from the company to set up more security around my house... I need to see who brings those flowers. My camera has not been able to catch anything useful."

"Did something happen?" He asked softly— too softly and for a moment, I almost imagined how easy life would’ve been if he was mine. How different things would’ve been if I wasn’t affiliated with my family and my mates... but him instead.

But that wasn’t the case. He even has a mate.

I shook my head at the thought and sighed. "Yes, something did happen but I’ll tell you about it later."

He nodded. "Okay."

However, I was just about to shimmy out of his hold when the elevator doors opened and small gasps drifted into my ears. I looked up at him, then at the people crowded by the door, and after realizing that we were standing too close, and that his hands were still resting on my shoulders, I coughed.

He blinked. "What?"

But I didn’t speak, I only gestured to the people outside.

Jarek turned to them, his face coloring a bright shade of pink as he pulled away from me and then began to fix his tie. I smiled as the people joined us in the elevator, and then deciding to shift the topic to something less uncomfortable, I dropped my voice and whispered to him.

"What is our schedule for today?"

"You really plan to work?" He asked, turning to me. And I didn’t miss the look in his eyes. The pleading look that was begging me to think this through.

I smiled back at him and nodded. "Yes."

He sighed, dropped his head and whispered; "We have a meeting with the board today to discuss CUSP’s funding and implementation. But before that, I have an appointment with the CEOs of De’Storm group."

As soon as I heard that name, my heart stopped. I froze and slowly turned to face him. "The triplets?"

"Exactly." He smiled.

"Really? What are they here for?"

Jarek’s smile didn’t falter even once as we spoke. He drawled; "Apparently, they’re interested in getting their hands on CUSP. And one of them particularly has their sights set on its central processing module, despite knowing that the brain behind it is you."

"They probably think that’s just a lie. That I am nothing but a sack of silver hair."

Jarek smiled at that. He stopped to check his wristwatch, and with his eyes gleaming with barely contained excitement, he added; "I have been looking for ways to make this meeting torturous for them, but now, after seeing you, I know exactly what the real torture should be..."

"I want to come along." I said quickly, a maniacal thought forming at the back of my mind.

Jarek grinned but didn’t object. Instead he spat; "I want to put you in charge."

My smile was so bright, it rivaled the fluorescent lights above our heads, and as we walked out of the elevator, he placed his hand on the small of my back, leading the way to the room used for meetings like this and whispered into my ear.

"Brace yourself." He whispered, and I turned to fix him a glare, only to instantly understand what he meant by that when the door was pushed open to reveal the triplets sitting around a large oval table, but that wasn’t all.

Chalice was with them.

My parents were there too.

And so was Gavin.

This would be interesting.