Chapter 49

Eric's POV

I come through the sample to sign sheets that were left for me on my desk. They all suck.

It’s only been a couple of weeks since Renee left, but the company is floundering. No one‘s designs compared to her. I swiped the papers off my desk. The sheets go flying. Just even looking at it makes me sick.

There’s a small wrap on the door.

My assistant peaks her head through the door, worry, lines crease her forehead. “Our clients over at the boutique in Australia are less than satisfied with the different options we gave them,” She says nervously.

“Yeah, I am too,” I stand from my seat and my assistant seems to shrink back.

“Tell them we’ll take twenty-five off their purchase,” I say. She visibly swallows.

“That won’t turn around much of a profit,” she says softly.

“I don’t care about a profit,” I shout back at her, my voice trampling over hers

Without saying another word, she quickly shut the door and leaves me alone. I squeeze my eyes shut and slam on the desk.

This can’t go on. I thought time away from Renee would prove to be good. I thought with her out of my sight she would be out of my mind, but the opposite seems to be happening.

Every day I fight the urge to go and look for her. I don’t because I didn’t do that for Annie, my own fated mate so why would I do it for someone else?

When I think of me and chasing after Renee, it’s like I’m able to give myself a second chance with Annie. But Annie is dead and chasing after Renee isn’t going to bring her back. Besides, Renee has already made her choice. She is with Jasper.

My blood boils at his arm, his hand and twined with her, at the thought of his lips touching her. Maybe instead of going after Renee I should be going after Jasper.

We may have the same blood but we’ve never really brothers.

My phone pings. I groan. It’s probably Mia.

Ever since she’s been without a job she is bored out of her mind and blows my phone up with stupid things that she does, most of which include spending my money.

This is all her fault. If she wasn’t an insecure brat, she wouldn’t need to steal from Renee and Renee would still be here. There’s a picture of Mia on my desk in a small square frame that she gave to me as a Christmas gift last year.

I pick it up and hurl it across the room. Glass shatters into a thousand tiny pieces. I need to get out of here. I need to get away.

I snatch my phone to book a flight somewhere near the mountains. Where there’s nothing but woods and peace. I need to connect back to my inner remember who I am. When I pull my phone up to my face, I nearly drop it, there is a text message from an unknown number.

I need to tell you something.

I quickly swipe open the text message and type back,

Who is this?

A reply comes instantly.

It’s Debbie.

My first thought is that she or Renee are in trouble. I think about calling her because this would be so much quicker but decide against it. If they are in trouble calling and causing the phone to rain can only put them in further danger. I replied back:

What’s wrong?

This time reply is not instant. My patience wears thin. I keep my eyes glued to the phone wanting to see the message. The second it shows up.

A symbol pops up to show me that she’s typing and then it disappears. I curse under my breath.

There’s another knock on my door. “Not now!” I shall. I hear whoever was outside my door run away as there should steps descend down the hallway. My phone makes a sound and tells me that Debbie’s message has come through.

I transformed into a wolf,

This time I do drop my phone. I barely hear it, as I fall deeper into my thoughts. I knew it.

I think back to when I found Debbie at the icecream parlor.

Renee thinks it was Andrew who found her but as soon as Renee told me that something had happened to Debbie, my instincts woken from deep within, and my I picked up on her scent before we even arrived at the ice cream parlor.

Renee was so quick to haul her away, but I saw her. More than that, I could smell her. It almost knocked me off my feet. My own inner wolf wanted to call out. I know my offspring.

And before that when Debbie started becoming enraged at the soccer field with Nilo that’s when I first knew something was up.

Debbie must feel a connective pool to me as well, something biological and her is calling out to me even she knows that I must be her father.

That paternal test was wrong, I mistake. Medical labs make mistakes. my eyes fall to the broken glass that held Mia’s picture. Unless something or someone else interfered with the results.

I text Debbie back asking where she is.

The airport

Shit. I don’t have much time. I grabbed my coat and run towards my car.

As I throw the car into drive and race against time I call Mia’s mother.

“Eric! She says sarcastically. “How nice of you to take some time to call the woman who saved her life,” This is why I never reached out to her. She never lets me forget that I am in debt to her.

“It’s over, “I tell her roughly. “Take everything that I am, I don’t want it. It can all be yours and me. I just want out,”

I hear her pitchy cackle on the end of the other line. “You think I would sell my daughter out? What am I some kind of monster?” She ask that last part with a hint of pride. That’s exactly what she is.

She may have saved my life, but only because, she knew I would owe her afterwards. I give her the net worth of everything I am. There’s a brief moment of silence on the other line.

“Meet me at my house,” Jane says in the line goes dead. I ripped the phone so tightly in my hand I think I hear it crack. I don’t have time for this, but if I’m am going after Annie this time it needs to be different.

I step on the gas and sip my way through traffic, leaving behind me a trail of blaring horns, and cars piled up on the shoulder, fearful that I would crash right into them.

I pull up to Janes gated community. I have no patience for the guard who asks who I’m seeing. I drive through the fence. There’s a loud crack like a whip and I look in the river mirror at the white fence, hanging to its post by a thread.

The security guard who is well past his prime looks at me stunned. He probably never thought the day would come when he would have to put any kind of pathetic training he got in use.

Jane lives in an older pack community. It has tennis courts and outdoor recreational area, even its own gardening area where the residence community grow their own food.

It cost a fortune to live here, and I only know that because it was one of the first things I did as a forced thank you for Jane.

I pull up to her white townhome and bang on the door. She opens the door and greets me with a smirk.

She's wearing a knee length cream skirt paired with a matching cashmere sweater. Her hair is twisted up into a neat bun that shows off her pearl earrings and her pearl necklace that rests on her collarbone.

She is small framed, just like Mia. In fact Maya takes after her mother quite a bit they both have a mouse like point to their nose. The only difference is Jane appreciates elegance whereas Mia likes to flaunt my money. “So kind of you to drop by,” she says and moves aside to let me in.

Inside her house I nearly choke on the scent of floral perfume and hairspray.

Here,” I shove a check in her face. “Everything is yours “

“Wait! Eric, don’t do this,” Mia pants as she bursts in to the foyer.

“What is she doing here?” I seethe. Jane hasn’t taken her eyes off the check since I handed it to her.

“My mother told me you were ending it with me. Eric we belong together,” Mia pleads. “Think of Nilo,” she adds as if I care about either of them.

Nilo’s a brat just like his mom. “We don’t and we never did,” I tell Mia.

“Mom do something!” Mia cries. It’s a artistic scene. Jane shrugs.

“Honey if he doesn’t want you then he doesn’t want you, who cares though we’ll be rich you can have anything else you want,” Jane says and tucks the check into her pocket.

If she weren’t an old lady I’d fight her just for herring to me as a thing.

A tear rolls down Mia’s face and maybe I should feel bad for her, but I don’t.

“It’s over,” I tell her.