3-A Glimpse of the Past

6:40 in the evening, Creekview Manor, the charity dinner held by Kade Pharma of Pack Deimos is starting in 20 minutes.

The core executives of the pack gathered together, with many important people of the city there supporting the event. The manor is brightly lit, the dazzling light able to be seen miles away. The guests are all glamorous, neatly dressed in their luxurious custom-made and glimmering jewelry, looking noble.

Media are squatting at the entrance, some wandering around the banquet with their cameras flashing nonstop, capturing the glamorous faces with their lens, phones on gimbals or simply in hands.

The host of the dinner party though, Bruce Kade, has not yet appeared. The guests gather together in twos and threes, chatting heatedly.

Mia has an old mobile phone on a gimbals. With a fake media ID, she has been able to sneak into the party without rising suspicion.

"Remember, you are hired by Mrs. Adina as her private photographer. That’s her thing, everyone knows it. Except she is not coming today. She hurt her leg recently and few knows yet. If anyone asks, that’s your cover story.” In her earphones, Robert explains her borrowed identity for the day.

“Roger that,” Mia murmurs as she walks over to a corner where she scans the whole room with her camera, “Where is the target? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

Clint Wood is the reason Mia sneaked into the party for today. He is the head of a third party firm that handles some of the Duncan Family’s financial affairs. The Duncan family doesn’t deal with these affairs with their official account with good reason. People like Clint Wood, they know things. Allegedly, things about her nightmare night, too.

That’s what Mia is after today.

Though a year has passed, her narrow escape on that rainy night is still vivid like yesterday, printed in her mind. The pouring rain, the hunting steps behind her, the haunting memories, Elena’s vicious laugh, and the phone call that never go through, all mixed together. Every time Mia closes her eyes, it haunts her.

From that day on, revenge became the sole purpose of what is left of her life.

The first three months were hellish where Mia struggled on the edge of death. Elena’s drug didn’t kill her, but the torture was worse than death. After that, Mia spent nine long months gathering small drops of her family possessions, and information about the Duncan family, and that night.

The information is a hard access.

She is dead to the whole pack, as in, her whole life, after that night. She didn’t dare to contact anyone, even friends. At least there is no further danger if she remains “dead”.

But that limits her help, and info on everything. Clint Wood is the only solid lead she got in nine months.

She has to come.

Otherwise she would never touch anything with THAT MAN’s scent. Alpha Bruce is coming tonight. It’s a pack’s event, and Kade Pharma is HIS property. Though she has severed herself from the pack’s mindlink web, and her mate bond with him, there is always a risk.

After all, their souls were once bonded together in the most intimate way.

“The target has arrived 3 minutes ago. Do you not have eyes on him?” Robert’s question comes through the microphone.

Mis drops her phone and search the room with her own eyes. Still nothing.

“Negative.”

“Give me a sec,” Noisy typing replaces Robert’s voice. Soon he comes back: “Got it. The target entered the building through the back door and headed directly to the second floor. Some emergency it seems.”

“The second floor...” Mia’s eyes land on the huge spiral stairs. It’s too obvious. If anyone recognizes her or take a picture of her when she goes up, it would be trouble.

“The escape ladder outside. More convenient.” Robert says quickly as if he heard her thoughts.

“Roger,” Mia puts away her gadgets and heads out with her head low.

Just at this moment, everyone's attention is pulled toward one single direction. A girl right beside her gasps, holding her cheeks in her hands and screams: “God!”

Doesn’t dare to go the opposite way against everyone, Mia stops and mingles among the crowd, looking up to see what caught their attention.

Just a glimpse and Mia freezes.

A very familiar figure is coming down the luxurious stairs Mia was trying to avoid.

Tall and straight, he has broad shoulders and long legs. The dark brown striped suit gives him a solemn look. Black hair, green eyes, angular face, high nose...His face is sharp, yet a pair of gold-rimmed glasses successfully transformed this aggressiveness into a insightful sense of wisdom.

Keeping his eyes low, he scans the room indifferently. His eyes land on no one, but everyone feels his fierce vigour.

He stops three stairs from the floor.

The whole room hold their breathe, waiting from him to officially start the event.

A sharp pain stabs Mia’s heart. She wants to look away. She wants to hide in a corner, to leave the room as planned, to get her target.

But her limbs are disobeying her. She is nailed there, her eyes pasted on that man.

The man that catches everyone’s attention in every room. The man who used to be her whole world.