The next on my list was a hard one—time to work on releasing the anger and bitterness toward my uncles.
My losses remained the same. They couldn’t take anything more from me. My position in life wouldn’t change.
It was better to channel my energy toward the plans currently in motion.
Finally, I had to face that truth.
I bore the responsibility for my pain when I saw Sam with Jesika.
I’d walked away. Sam believed for another man. It was his right to move on, no matter the attraction we had for each other.
I couldn’t sleep with him again. It was wrong. I couldn’t compromise my case, my plans, everything I’d sacrificed.
I wouldn’t hurt Jesika that way.
I continued to breathe deep, trying and failing to release the turmoil of rioting emotions whirling inside my soul.
Controlling my inhalations, I returned my senses to the environment around me. From the sound of the air conditioner humming and the feel of my clothes to the tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed.
At least I’d cleared two out of three big issues.
I fluttered my lids open and focused on a distant building.
Of course, I would zero in on the King Holdings building.
No matter how hard I tried to remove it, Sam’s grip on me remained, but I couldn’t repeat the actions of the other night. I had to stay away from him.
Cheating once was wrong enough. I refused to do it again.
The draw was too powerful, and as he’d said, any scenario with us in a room alone together would result in us fucking each other’s brains out.
Being in the ballroom and dinner tonight felt like torture, especially with him seated only three tables away and directly in my line of sight.
My best bet was to avoid him at all costs, remove any possibility of interaction, pretend I felt nothing.
Tomorrow, I’d put someone on the task of learning the details of his daily schedule so I could implement my plan of self-preservation.
Now that I’d decided, it was time to power down. I rolled my shoulders to loosen the muscles and then scooted to the sofa’s edge.
Suddenly, I froze as I felt a familiar presence behind me.
“I love watching you meditate, especially your ability to concentrate and sort through all your worries. This one took a long fucking time. Could it be because you were puzzling through the fact that you broke us for a damn operation?”
8
Sam
I leanedagainst one of the glass walls behind Devani and smiled at having managed to sneak up on her.
In the rare occurrence it happened, I had to congratulate myself.
Her back stiffened, going ramrod straight. I had no doubt a jumble of profanity coursed through her mind, most of it directed at me.
It wasn’t a lie when I’d said I loved to watch her meditate. She had this utter focus, this ability to tune out the world.
But it was something she only did in a place where she felt safe.
And no place was safer than her home.