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Chapter 9 - Uninvited
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2026-11-01 19:56:34FREYA'S POV
I saw Silas step off the elevator in one of his good suits, scanning the floor like he owned it, before his eyes landed on me and gave a smug smile. He was here for a meeting.
“Freya.” He said it warm, easy, like the past couple of weeks had never happened. Like I hadn’t watched him stand on a stage and choose someone else in front of two hundred people. Like he hadn"t tried to tie me down, using my mother's condition to his advantage. “I heard you got a job here. I didn’t believe it.”
“I’m working. You should get to your meeting.” I tried to move past him toward the elevator, but he shifted just enough to block my path.
“Come on. Five minutes.” His voice dropped, softened, the tone he used to use on me at two in the morning when he wanted forgiveness he hadn’t earned. “I’ve been trying to reach you. You changed your number.”
“For a reason.”
“Freya.” He reached for my arm and I stepped back before he could close his hand around it, and something flickered across his face. Irritation, gone almost as fast as it appeared. “I’ve been an idiot. You know that. I know that. Catherine was never.....it was never what you think it was. It was family pressure, it was the board, it wasn’t.....”
“It doesn’t matter what it was.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “You stood on a stage and told two hundred people I wasn’t good enough to stand beside you. Then you told me backstage I could still keep being useful to you in private. I don’t need you to explain that to me again. I lived it.”
“I was going to fix the hospital payments.” He said it like he was offering me a solution to al my problems. The money would solve a lot of my problems, yes, but i wasn't going to bend. “I still can. One call, Freya. One call and Elena’s bills are covered again, no strings, I swear to you......”
“Don’t.” The word came out sharper than I meant it to, loud enough that a woman two desks down glanced up before pretending not to. I lowered my voice. “Don’t use my mother to get me to stand here and listen to you.”
His jaw tightened. The warmth drained out of his face fast, replaced by something colder and more familiar. The version of Silas that showed up when charm stopped working. “You think Raiden’s going to keep you around out of the goodness of his heart? You think this is some kind of rescue?” He stepped close enough that I had to tip my chin up to hold his eyes. “I know my uncle. He collects things because he can, and he gets bored the second they stop being new. You’ll be back to nothing in three months, and I’ll still be the one who actually loved you.”
“You didn’t love me. You owned me. There’s a difference, and it took you humiliating me in front of your entire family for me to finally see it.”
“Freya...”
“Mr. Ravenscroft is waiting on the fourth floor,” I said, loud enough, not caring who heard it, “for the meeting you’re currently late for.”
For a second I thought he was going to grab my arm again, the way he used to when a conversation wasn’t going the direction he wanted, back when I used to let him. He actually lifted his hand, and I fliched without meaning to.
“Silas.”
The voice came from behind me, low, and absolutely commanding. The kindof quiet that felt more dangerous than shouting ever could. I didn’t have to turn around to know who it belonged to.
Raiden was standing maybe ten feet away, a folder under one arm, his expression giving away nothing. I had no idea how long he’d been there, but judging by the stillness in his face and voice, long enough.
Silas’s hand dropped. “Uncle Raiden. I was just...”
“I heard what you were just.” Raiden didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. “The meeting started four minutes ago. Garrick’s covering your section for you.”
“I can still make it....”
“You’re done for today.” It wasn’t an argument. It was a verdict, delivered in the same flat tone he delivered everything else, like there was no version of this conversation where Silas got to negotiate. “Send my assistant your notes by end of day if you have anything worth contributing. Otherwise don’t bother coming back up to this floor without an appointment.”
Silas looked defeated and humiliated. His eyes cut to me, one last time, full of fury he didn’t bother to hide anymore, and then he turned and walked back toward the elevators without another word.
I stood there in the sudden quiet, heart still going too fast, waiting for Raiden to say something to me. An acknowledgment, a question, anything.
He didn’t. He looked at me for one long moment, unreadable as ever, and then he said, “Back to work, Ms. Dalton,” and walked past me toward his office like the last ninety seconds hadn’t happened at all.
I stood by the elevators a while longer than I should have, watching his door close, trying to decide whether what I’d just seen was a man protecting territory that had nothing to do with me, or a man protecting me, and hating how much I wanted it to be the second one.
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