Chapter 24
Evelynne:
48%
It felt like I was hallucinating seeing Rhysand stare at my lips a couple of minutes ago, cause after that, he didn’t even make the mistake of glancing lower anymore.
It was either his eyes were on my eyes, or on the pen he was flipping in his fingers.
Remembering he did this same thing the last time made me wonder if he was very fond of flipping pen in his fingers for no
reason.
Or was it perhaps a method to keep him relaxed? I couldn’t tell.
My throat perched, and I subtly glanced over to the bottled water on his table.
I turned my gaze back to him, settling on my seat as we began talking about what we intended to do on the deal–or rather, the offer–between us.
The time ticked fast and I soon lost track of it as he watched me talk, adding one or two sentence were he found necessary.
At some point, he picked his phone and ordered someone from the other end to prepare a contract and bring it within twenty minutes.
His gaze flicked to the expensive looking watch strapped to his wrist, and he relaxed on the chair, giving of an aura of superiority.
Watching him give orders, with so much masculinity and power oozing out his aura, I couldn’t help but trail my eyes low to his broad chest.
Just a peek. Just a single peek.
For just a couple of seconds, I told myself as my eyes lingered on the two buttons which were left open, revealing a smooth firm collarbone.
I was unsure of what was wrong with me, but then I mentally told myself that it was normal to want to admire a man’s beauty–face and body.
It was absolutely normal.
“Yes. I’ll send you an email of how I want the format to be like. Send it in fast.” I was certain I’ve stared far too long as my gaze finally moved up to meet dark and piercing eyes, I felt a jolt of electricity run through me.
A gasp threatened to escape my lips when our eyes locked.
He must have noticed me staring, cause his eyes remained still on mine for a while, and for an instant, I thought I saw a flicker of golden yellow, like a hint of sunlight in his irises. I blinked, only to see that his eyes have returned to its normal
dark shade.
He seemed uncomfortable and sat upright on his chair, before finally ending the call.
“My assistant will bring the contract in a couple of minutes,” he said, once again adjusting in his chair.
“Okay,” I muttered, turning my gaze away from him to focu
on the numerous number of files placed on the table.
08:27 Mon, 10 Feb
Chapter 24
“Before I sign a contract, tell me what your intentions are against Desmond,” he suddenly said after a while of silence between us
My brows furrowed into a frown. “To bring him down from his position.”
“Why?” he asked.
I became suspicious with the sudden question cause there was no way I’ll trust him enough to convey my reasons, so I just shook my head. “Nothing”
You see…” he drawled and kept my eyes in contact. “If we are going to be signing a contract to benefit off one another, we’ll need to trust each other in this. So tell me your goddamn reason, Evelynne.” When I saw the restrained fury in his eyes, it was then I realized he was indeed beyond serious.
“He took something away from me,” I lied with a very short sentence that could leave his assumptions to run wild.
Desmond didn’t take anything particular with a word from me, he took everything and left me in ruin.
“What?” he probed.
I threw a frown in his direction, “You asked ‘why‘ and I told you my reason, don’t pursue asking me what, cause I’ve said all I intended to.” I closed the topic, choosing to not divulge anymore.
He stared at me skeptically and after a while, he nodded, and glanced away from me to the laptop on his table.
It didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything to me anymore, so I picked my phone from my purse and swiped to the call logs to see if perhaps my mom called, but she didn’t.
Releasing a deep breath, I placed it back to my purse and focused on the man across from me, my mind wandered off and I spaced out staring at him.
A couple of minutes later, a knock sounded from the door.
“Come in,” Rhysand’s deep voice sounded, and I stared away from him.
The door was opened and a young man walked in with a file before handing it over to Rhysand.
He stared at it for a while, flipping over to the second page, and then the third.
“You got everything in?” he asked.
“I did,” the brooding tall man, dressed neatly in a pair of black pants and white long sleeve responded.
My eyes stayed on him for a while, in amazement at how meticulously clean he talked and looked, the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose added to his sophisticated aura.
The clearing of a throat brought my attention back to Rhysand as he handed out the file to me, “Go through it and sign.” I received it from him and his eyes turned back to his assistant.
“Leave.”
And with that, his assistant walked out of the office.
“He is your assistant?” I found myself asking few minutes later.
“Yes,” he answered in a curt tone.
2/4
08:27 Mon, 10 Feb
Chapter 24
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“What’s his name?” the question was out of my lips before I could hold it on.
Rhysand watched me with a gaze I couldn’t put a finger on, “No name,” he turned his eyes away from me, signaling the close of the topic.
My lips pursed into a thin line, what exactly was wrong with him?.
Shaking it off, I read through the file in my hand, and gazed up, nodding in contentment as it was filled with every single thing we’ve agreed upon, along with the rules he made, and the one I made.
A pen was placed before me already, so I picked it up and wrote down my signature on the first page, second and then third before handing the file back to him.
You read everything?”
“I did.”
He nodded before picking a pen and then reached out for the lenses on the table, wearing them.
A couple of minutes later, he signed on it also, and placed the
e table, “I need a copy,” I said. file on
“I’ll have my assistant make another copy for you.” He offered.
“No, I want the original copy.”
He stared at me, about to say something but then decided not to, perhaps realizing at this point that we’ll go back and forth on it till he accepts my choice, “Okay.”
The conversation took a dive over to what I had offered him first, “Tell me about the information you have on the rogue wolves that have been attacking my pack’s borders,” he suddenly asked, his gaze turned serious as he stared deeply at me.
A flash of memory from my past infiltrated my thoughts at that moment and rather than giving him the info he needed, I shook my head, “You’ll only get it after one month.”
“What?!” he snapped and his eyes narrowed at me.
Deciding that I wasn’t going back on my words, I repeated, “You’ll get the info needed after one month. Depending on how the contract between us is fairing. If you break a rule, then you don’t get it for another two months,” my tone was firm, leaving no room for his rejection on it.
I knew I wasn’t playing fair, I was playing very dirty, but truth is, a tiny part of me felt like this might not end well.
And I feared that he might suddenly back out of it at any point he wanted. So I needed one month to see that he was in this as much as I was.
Despite how hard I was trying to, I couldn’t bring my whole self to trust him completely–he was a man I barely knew much
about.
He could at any point decide he wasn’t interested in this again, and then he’ll flip me off with money, while I’ll be left at a lurch with no idea how to continue every single thing I had planned.
His progress on helping me bring Desmond down will determine the info he gets from me.
I couldn’t tell him this, so I opted the truth out and instead gave him the other option in my mind. Keeping my real motive to myself.
08:27 Mon, 1QFeb DS.
Chapter 24
སཾ<,49%.
His brows tightened into a frown, and he stared at me like he would suddenly reach out for my neck and strangle me if there wasn’t a table between us.
“The fuck do you mean by that,” his voice turned dangerously low, compared to the toned down calmness he’s been giving
- me.
I cleared my throat, keeping his gaze, “I meant exactly what you heard. If you break a rule, I keep the info for another two months.”
“I knew this was a bad idea,” he muttered under his breath.
His
gaze
flicked down to the file which was now placed between us and signed by the two parties already, “Do I have a chance to back out now?” he stared hard at the file, as if with the full intention of burning it into ashes with the intensity of
his eyes.
“No. It’s been signed already,” I smiled in victory, before picking the file from the table.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he cursed under his breath.
Rhysand stared deeply at me, “You are playing dirty.”
“Read a book on how business men deal with things, guess the first rule?” I said randomly when in fact I’ve never read any book on business men in my life.
“Guessing it’s playing dirty,” his eyes narrowed at me, unamused.
“Correct.”
I was happy with myself. The contract had been a way to trap him in, and I had pondered long on it on my way here before deciding to play it this way.
At the end of the day I was playing with him as an asset, and not an ally.
He wasn’t–isn’t- an ally in my game for vengeance.
No one was.
No one could be trusted, except myself.
Just two years, and we’ll be over with it.
And I’ll make sure to benefit from this as much as I can.
But oh goddess, the man before me looked like the perfect description of temptation with that face–body, and voice.
And I was determined to not falter.
