Obsession

 

POV: Eli

Eli had been waiting for an hour outside her building. Her address was among the information Pam had gathered last night.

After he got his release from an up-and-coming model, he went back to his penthouse suite to clear his head.

He could count on one hand all the people allowed inside his top-floor room, because all his other businesses were conducted in his spare room five floors down. Including bedding his conquests for the night.

But even after the hot sex, Eli was still on edge. All he could think of while he was fucking the hot blonde model was her.

He turned on his laptop and checked the photos his surveillance team had sent him via streaming. His already foul mood worsened as he stared at her pictures while she was having dinner with Barry. She looked relaxed and jovial.

He slammed the laptop shut. He'd seen enough.

Relaxed.

Jovial.

He hadn't seen her like that firsthand. She was either apathetic or infuriated when it came to him.

The Ghost didn't know where the sudden surge of emotion was coming from, but he didn't like it one bit. He wouldn't even let himself think of her name, much less say it out loud.

He refused to give the face a name. Because Eli knew once he started thinking of her as an actual human being rather than just an entity in his vast universe, then that would be admitting that she actually mattered.

Eli clutched the steering wheel tightly as he watched Barry and Brigail's interaction from two lamp posts away. Barry was still waiting for her response and Eli couldn't help the smile that graced his face when he saw her take a small step back as she clutched her bag to her chest.

Classic defensive stance, that's my girl!

Eli froze as his thought sank in. My girl?! What the fuck is happening to me!

He was pulled out of his musings when he saw Barry take her hand and plant a kiss on it.

It took all of Eli's restraint not to jump out of his car and take a swing at the smarmy bastard.

One more step, fucker. Take one more step and I'll break your nose, Eli thought grimly as he observed the couple.

A minute later, he saw Brigail walk inside the building.

Eli took out his cellphone and pressed number two.

Pam answered on the first ring. "Yes?"

"I can't wait until next week to get Fiordillatte. I want it sooner. Make it happen, Pam."

I want her now!

"How soon are we talking?"

Eli watched as Barry's car pulled away from the curb, his jaw clenched tight.

"Tomorrow. I want the contracts signed by tomorrow."

"Eli, that's impossible. The lawyers need time to—"

"I don't care what they need. Offer them double. Triple if you have to. I want to own that restaurant before the week is out."

There was a pause on the other end.

"This is about her, isn't it?" Pam asked quietly.

Eli didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on Brigail's apartment window, where a light had just turned on.

"Just get it done, Pam."

He ended the call and leaned back in his seat, watching the lit window like a man possessed.

He'd been called The Ghost for his ruthless business tactics, for the way he could make problems disappear, for how he haunted his enemies until they broke.

But now he was the one being haunted.

By a backwater girl with a gap-toothed smile and eyes that saw right through his bullshit.

Eli started his engine, but he didn't pull away from the curb. Not yet.

He sat there in the darkness, watching her window, and for the first time in seven years, Eli Michealson admitted to himself that he was completely and utterly fucked.