18-Love After Heartbreak

(Next Morning)

Anna had barely finished getting ready for work when her phone vibrated on the bedside table.

She glanced at the screen, expecting a message from Georgia, but the name displayed made her pause.

Elliot Hayes. She picked up the phone and opened the message.

*I'm outside your apartment. We need to talk.*

Anna frowned. She checked the time. It was still early, and she couldn't understand why her boss had decided to show up at her apartment without warning.

And seriously how did he know her apartment? She scoffed.

She typed a quick response. *I'm getting ready for work. Whatever it is, we can discuss it at the office.*

His reply came almost immediately. *It concerns Jacob.*

Her fingers stopped above the keyboard.

For a few seconds, she stared at the message, her expression hardening. She had spent enough time dealing with Jacob's problems, and the last thing she wanted was for her ex- husband to become a regular subject of conversation in her new life.

She put her phone down, picked up her handbag and left the apartment.

Elliot was standing beside his car when she stepped outside. He wore a dark suit, his jacket unbuttoned, and held a slim brown envelope in one hand. His expression was serious, quite different from the relaxed look he sometimes wore when speaking to her at the office.

"Good morning," he greeted, watching her approach.

"Good morning, sir." Anna adjusted the strap of her handbag on her shoulder. "You said this concerns Jacob. What happened?"

Elliot studied her face briefly before answering. "There's something you need to know. He's been making inquiries about your whereabouts, and yesterday he attempted to file another complaint against you."

Anna's expression changed, but before he could continue, she raised a hand.

"Sir, please stop."

Elliot paused.

She looked directly at him, her eyebrows drawn together. "Yes sir, whatever you have to tell me, I don't want to hear it."

His brows tightened slightly. "Anna, you haven't even heard what…"

"And I don't intend to," she interrupted, her voice firm. "I already know who Jacob is. I know what he's capable of, and I know the kind of trouble he can cause. I don't need you coming to my apartment like you did this morning to remind me that I used to be married to him."

Elliot's jaw shifted. He had expected questions, even fear or anger when she heard what Jacob was doing. He did not expect her to shut him down before he could explain anything.

"You're misunderstanding the reason I'm here," he said, keeping his voice controlled. "This isn't about reminding you of your marriage. It's about making sure you're aware of what he's doing."

"I didn't ask you to investigate him." The words came out sharply.

Anna took a breath, trying to keep her temper under control. She only recently started putting her life back together. She just found a job, secured a place to live and was slowly learning how to make decisions without having someone else dictate what she should do. She wasn't going to allow another man to take control of her circumstances, no matter how good his intentions might be.

Elliot glanced down at the envelope in his hand. "I hired someone to look into the situation because I wanted to understand what was happening. Jacob has been making enquiries about you, and I thought you deserved to know."

"Well, I don't want to know." Anna's voice softened slightly, but her expression remained firm. "You should have asked me before doing any of that."

"I didn't think asking permission was necessary when…"

"When what?" she cut in, looking at him incredulously. "When you decided I needed saving? When you decided you knew what was best for me?"

"That's not what I meant and I never said that." He said calmly.

"But that's exactly what you're doing." She shook her head. "Mr Hayes, you're my boss. I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, and I'm grateful for the way you've treated me at work. But my personal life is not part of my employment."

Elliot's expression grew colder. "I am aware of that, Anna."

"Then act like it."

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Elliot was not accustomed to being spoken to that way. People usually waited for him to finish before responding, and even those who disagreed with him generally found a more diplomatic way to express it.

Anna, however, seemed completely unbothered about the fact that she was standing in front of one of the most influential men in the company.

He looked at her, his grip tightening around the envelope.

"I've spent time and money trying to find out why your ex-husband is suddenly interested in your whereabouts," he said, his voice noticeably firmer. "I thought I was doing you a favour."

"Thank you sir, but I never asked you to do anything for me." She retorted.

"You're making it sound as though I've done something wrong."

"Because you have." Anna's eyes narrowed. "You went behind my back, hired an investigator and started digging into my private life without telling me. How exactly did you expect me to react?"

Elliot exhaled through his nose, visibly struggling to contain his irritation.

"I expected you to understand that I was trying to help." He replied.

"And I expected you to understand that I can handle my own problems."

"Can you?" The question escaped him before he could reconsider it.

Anna stared at him.

Elliot immediately noticed the change in her expression, but the words had already been spoken.

"Excuse me?"

He looked away briefly, then returned his attention to her. "You know what I mean. Jacob has already involved the police once. Now he's making enquiries about you again. You can't simply pretend none of this is happening."

"I'm not pretending anything." Her voice was quieter now, but there was a sharpness in it that made him pay attention. "I'm choosing not to let him dictate how I live. I spent years in a marriage where my decisions didn't matter. I won't start allowing someone else to make them for me now, you know nothing about me, okay?"

Elliot's expression shifted slightly.

For the first time since their conversation began, he understood that her anger was not entirely directed at him. His actions had touched a part of her life she was desperately trying to reclaim.

Still, he wasn't prepared to accept the way she had dismissed his efforts.

"I am not Jacob, Anna," he said, his tone low and deliberate. "You don't have to treat every attempt to help you as though it's another form of control."

She held his gaze."Then don't give me a reason to do so, Mr Elliot Hayes."

The response left him momentarily speechless.