Chapter 52
Elodie’s POV
I set my phone down after Liora hung up and stared at the breakfast I’d made for myself. Toast. Eggs. Coffee. The same thing I’d been eating alone for days now.
It tasted like nothing.
I forced myself to eat anyway, then headed to the office. There was a big meeting this morning. One Dante would be attending.
My stomach knotted at the thought, but I pushed it down. Professional. I could be professional.
When I got to the conference room, I took my usual seat near the back and opened my laptop. Other team members filtered in, chatting quietly. Sherry sat beside me, scrolling through her phone.
We waited. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen.
Then the door opened, and Dante walked in.
The air shifted. It always did when he entered a room, that Alpha presence that demanded attention whether he wanted it or not. He moved with that effortless confidence, his suit perfectly tailored, his expression unreadable.
Sherry actually gasped beside me.
I glanced up briefly, just long enough to register that he was there, then immediately looked back down at my screen.
“Oh my God,” Sherry whispered, leaning close to me. Her eyes were practically sparkling. “He’s so hot. Like… ridiculously hot p>
I made a noncommittal sound and opened the meeting agenda on my laptop.
The meeting started, and I focused on taking notes. Detailed ones. It was easier than thinking about the fact that Dante was sitting twenty feet away from me and hadn’t even glanced in my direction once.
Not that I expected him to.
Not that I wanted him to.
Sherry, meanwhile, was completely useless. She kept staring at Dante like he was some kind of movie star, her pen hovering uselessly over her blank notepad. Every time he spoke, her breath caught slightly.
I wanted to tell her that he wasn’t worth the daydreams. That underneath all that polished perfection was someone who could look right through you like you didn’t exist.
But I didn’t say anything. I just kept typing.
When the meeting finally ended, Dante left first as he always did. The rest of us gathered our things more slowly.
Albert came over to collect the notes I’d taken. He scanned through them quickly, then nodded with what might have been approval. “Good work p>
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
He left, and Sherry finally seemed to snap out of her trance. “Wait, can you send me those notes? I… wasn’t really paying attention p>
“Sure p>
I sent them over without comment.
She stared at her screen for a moment, scrolling through the document. Then she looked at me, confused. “Did you study architecture before this p>
“No p>
“Then how do you know all these technical terms? Half of this stuff went completely over my head p>
I shrugged. “I taught myself. Found books, read articles. It’s just the basics p>
That was a lie. I’d spent years learning about the industries Dante and the company invested in. Architecture, medicine, tech, real estate, anything and everything so I could do my job properly. So maybe, just maybe, I could be useful enough that Dante would notice.
He never had.
“Wait, you know about medical stuff too p>
“Yeah p>
Sherry looked stunned. “What books did you read? Can you send me a list p>
“Of course p>
At lunch, I went through my collection and put together a list for her. Forty-seven books. The ones that had helped me the most, the ones that were actually readable.
When I sent it to her, she stared at her phone like I’d just assigned her a thesis.
By three o’clock, Albert asked me to make coffee for Dante’s client meeting. Several cups, one for Dante, the rest for his guests.
I went to the small kitchen area we had and started brewing. I’d made Dante’s coffee so many times I could do it in my sleep. He liked it a specific way, dark roast, no sugar, just a splash of cream. Not too hot.
I used to think it meant something, that I knew these little details about him. Now I realized it just meant I’d been paying attention while he hadn’t.
When the coffee was ready, I set the cups on a tray. Albert appeared before I could take it anywhere.
“I’ll bring it over,” he said, already reaching for the tray.
Of course he would.
Sherry had been watching from her desk. After Albert left, she turned to me, curious. “Have you ever delivered coffee to the Alpha directly p>
The casual way she said it, “the Alpha,” like he was just our boss and nothing more made something twist in my chest.
“Sometimes,” I said. “When Albert or the others are busy p>
“Elodie,” Sherry said suddenly, her eyes lighting up with that eager spark I’d seen all day. “How do you make coffee the way the Alpha likes it? Can you teach me p>
I could see exactly what she was thinking. The same thing every new assistant thought when they started, that maybe, if they learned his preferences, paid attention to the little details, they’d get noticed. That maybe he’d see them.
I used to think that way too.
“Sure,” I said. “I can show you p>
What did it matter anymore? Why would I keep something like that to myself when I’d already let go of everything else?
Sherry beamed at me, and I felt nothing. Just that same hollow emptiness that had been living in my chest for weeks now.
Albert appeared in the doorway of the break room, and I saw him freeze. His eyes darted between Sherry and me, something like confusion flickering across his face.
I knew what he was thinking. He and Chad had probably been waiting for me to crack, to do something desperate to cling to my position here. To sabotage Sherry, maybe. Make her look incompetent so I could keep my place close to Dante.
But I didn’t care anymore.
Let Sherry make his coffee. Let her learn all his preferences, memorize his schedule, anticipate his needs before he voiced them. Let her waste years of her life hoping he’d notice.
I was done.
When my shift ended, I declined Sherry’s dinner invitation with a polite smile and headed to my car. I had plans tonight, research I wanted to do on AI integration in Pack businesses, articles I’d been meaning to read.
My own plans. For myself.
My phone rang before I even got the car started. It was Liora.
I answered, already pulling out of the parking lot. “Hey, baby. What’s up p>
“Mommy! Are you done with work p>
“Just leaving now. Why p>
“I want crab cakes!” Her voice was bright, excited. “And sushi! Can you come home and make them for me? Please p>
My hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Home. She said it so easily, like that place was still mine. Like I still belonged there.
I hadn’t officially divorced Dante yet. The papers weren’t signed, the bond wasn’t severed. Technically, I could go back to the estate whenever I wanted. He probably wouldn’t even care, wouldn’t even notice I’d been gone.
But going back there… cooking in that kitchen, being in that house where I’d spent so many years invisible p>
“I can’t tonight, sweetheart,” I said quietly. “I have something I need to do p>
Silence on the other end.
I’d said no to her twice now. Twice in one day. That had to be some kind of record.
“But… Mommy, you’ve been so busy lately.” Her voice was small now, wounded. “I miss you. I don’t care about your plans, I want crab cakes and sushi p>
Something in my chest cracked.
She was my daughter. My responsibility. I’d brought her into this world, and I owed her everything.
But I was so tired.
Tired of bending. Tired of sacrificing. Tired of making myself smaller and smaller until there was almost nothing left.