Chapter 8

SIENNA

I smashed my wine glass on the wall with a snarl as I gripped my phone hard enough to almost break it.

"What the fuck!" I yelled into the phone. "You told me you had never failed a mission! I thought she was as good as dead."

"She should be," the voice on the other end replied. "We had an interruption. We lost all of the men we sent. All except the scout."

"How on earth is that possible?!" I hissed. "How could you send weaklings after her?!"

There was no reply for about a minute before the person on the other end spoke.

"A piece of advice," the voice came, cold as ever. "Call us weaklings again and you would get a taste of those weaklings. We'll see if you survive them."

I frowned at that.

"Is that a threat?"

"An advice," was the reply and he kept talking. "The target was more powerful than we assumed, but we never work with assumptions. We overcompensate for the sake of success. She would have died regardless of her monstrous strength. She was helped by the Alpha of the Black Moon Pack. Your husband to be, thwarted your plans and killed my men."

I growled at that.

Sebastian, that bastard!

He just had to go to her, didn't he?

"Good day," were the last words I heard from the phone before the bastards ended the call.

I tossed the phone on the bed with a frustrated groan.

"My head hurts," I muttered as I rubbed my temple.

What do I do now?

I wanted to ask if their men had exposed me but I doubt he did.

If he did then I would have been arrested by now.

It was scary but I knew what I had to do.

Keep calm and act like the neglected spouse.

If I blame him enough, he wouldn't have his focus on me.

As I mulled it over, I heard greetings in the hallway, indicating that Sebastian was back.

I hurried out of it without a second's thought and accosted him before he walked past my room to his own.

"Where have you been, Sebastian?"

He gave me a long disinterested look and then looked away.

"Just out," he replied as he tried to walk past but I stood in his way again.

"You were not outside."

This time, he looked down at me with his towering frame and sighed.

"I am neither in the mood nor do I have time for this, Sienna. I'm busy."

"Then tell me where you went," I insisted. "You were never like this, Sebastian. This started when she came."

"That's your insecurity talking," he replied. "I've always gone out whenever I wanted and I've never owed you an explanation then and still do not owe you one now."

I glared at him.

He wasn't exactly wrong, but he was still lying.

I know he has been with her.

Unfortunately, I can't say it.

"Why are you so worked up about her?" He asked, obviously getting annoyed. "You got me. We are about to hold our mating ceremony and she is only here because you requested for her. She is only here to make your jewelry."

"I don't want her anymore," I retorted. "I do not want my jewelry made by Valerian or Athena. I don't want her anywhere around us. She can crawl back to whatever hole she crawled out of."

"A little too late for that, isn't it?" He said with mirthles amusement in his voice. "They're terribly expensive and we've spent quite an insane amount of money on this. According to the contract, an undeserved termination would mean we pay even more instead of getting refunded. I might be rich, but I don't spend my money like a fool."

"I could spend mine," I offered. "I could tell my father to reimburse you."

He chuckled at that.

"Sebastian Stone, receiving charity from people who can not match up to him in wealth. How mocking. I will not accept charity. You wanted this. You got it, now live with it."

Those words stung as he once again tried walking past but I blocked him.

"Promise me that you don't have lingering feelings for her.

He gave me a cold look, his expression never faltering.

"I divorced her for you. I maltreated her for you."

His eyes glowed at that as he walked past me.

"That's enough said."

Those words seemed like both am assurance and an accusation.

I couldn't decide which one it was and it plagued me that I was leaning towards the latter.

I wanted to go after him, apologise for my outburst and simply try to get on his good side, but I knew it wasn't going to change anything.

Especially after hearing the click of his door as he locked it behind him.

I opened the door and let myself go into my room as I tried to plan my next line of action.

"What do I do?" I muttered as I stepped around the mess of wine and glass close to the entrance where I threw it. "What can I even do?"

With this, Sebastian is definitely going to be more involved with Athena now.

That bitch is going to be spending more time with him in the name of an investigation.

With nothing else left to do, I picked up my phone and called the last person I wanted to call.

Athena.

She picked the call on the fourth or fifth ring and answered in a cold voice.

"Yes? How did you get my personal phone number?"

"How did you know it was me?" I asked, trying to sound amused.

"I have the contacts of all my clients," she replied swiftly.

"And I can't have yours?"

"You have Bella's," she replied. "Anything you need can pass through her."

"I want a meeting with you" I said calmly. "Just the two of us."

"Impossible," Athena replied. "Business is all we have in common. I'll bring Bella. You bring whoever you want as well."

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll send you the time and date when it's fixed."