CONNOR
I saw Grace climbing up the stairs and my tummy lurched.
She must've seen my car parked downstairs. Would she suspect I was already here? It took all of my willpower to not descend the stairwell to go meet her.So I stood frozen at the top of the stairs, watching her clamber up with a child by her at her side.Neither she nor the child had seen me yet. Grace's attention was fully on her as they both laughed and continued climbing.From my position, I almost gasped out in awe. The little girl, the same girl I saw on the tablet was like a miniature version of myself. The picture I saw didn’t do justice to what I was finally seeing.I wouldn’t need a DNA test, heck I wouldn’t even need Grace to tell me the girl now walking towards me was my daughter. Seeing both the mother and the child made me thrilled and scared at the same time.The little girl ran up ahead of her mum, hopping on the each stair with innate eneGRACE.“Gracieeee” Jody’s voice rang out from outside my house. She did that all the time, so I wasn’t startled. Considering the sort of mood I was in at the moment, I wasn’t really curious about whatever made her yell my name like that.What I wanted was staying somewhere where no one would see me and cry in silence. I wished with all my heart I could skip work tonight.I was on permanent night shifts for NAs Daily, a small scale newspaper company I managed to secure after rigorous job huntings, so as to garner more funds for Laurel and I, not to mention few other freelancing jobs I was doing here and there.On most days, I took Laurie with me, and on others, she stayed with NK and her kids or Jody helped me babysit her till I returned in the morning.There was nothing I could do. Securing a good job in central London required connection with insiders or a recommendation from top people, especially fro
CONNORI remained in my car at the entrance of the Grace’s house, willing her to come out, maybe to get something or to see off the woman that went in there earlier.I wasn’t sure I'd be lucky enough to see her again as the day was getting darker, but I had to make an effort. Who knows?As Marcus drove me back home after speaking with her, I thought long and hard on how to get closer to my mate and my child, how to make up for all those years I was absent from their lives.“Is something bothering you, Alpha?” Marcus had asked, staring at me from the car's rearview mirror.I shook my head and sent him a fake smile. I was aware he was still waiting for me to tell him what was going on, but also knew I would when I was ready. And that was when the idea of coming to her place later today without his knowledge occurred to me.I had let him drop me off at the house and go back home before rushing in to change to a mor
GRACE.Director Lancelot Howard looked so pleased to see me, I cringed, wishing he could make it less obvious.I bet he was thinking he had finally won me over. The main problem I had with men who were rich and handsome enough to get any woman they wanted, whenever they wanted, however they deemed fit.Lance was one of those kind of men. Alpha Connor Shelby was definitely at the top of the list.There I go again! The same name, the same person I was trying so hard to wipe off my mind. I hated to admit it, but he was the only reason I agreed to let Director Lance drive me to work today. And with the smug look the director was giving me, I wished I could take back saying yes and agreeing to his offer.He made me generally uncomfortable. He was too focused on himself and the impression he would be making on others. I wasn't sure I had met the real him yet, if at all it existed.He rushed to open the door wielding his heavy air of chivalry, smil
CONNOR.Marcus knocked on my bedroom door when I was finally trying to get some sleep. “Come on in.” I called from inside and sat up on my bed.“Good morning, Alpha.” Marcus was looking all smart and active in his navy-blue colored suit and tailored trousers.He raised his head to stare at me. “You look spent, Alpha, were you able to sleep at all?” he asked with a worried elevated eyebrow and creased forehead.Of course I look spent. I couldn’t sleep a wink all through the night, thinking about what Grace could possibly have going on with the Mercedes guy.I ran in my wolf form all through the night, hoping I could find some relieve or it would help clear my head.“I’m okay, Marcus.” I said instead. “Just had a lot to do.”He shot me a disbelieving stare before turning to the tablet on his hands. “An article came out last night about you in E
GRACEI was done with work before 4am, hence I was able to rush home and catch a short nap before day broke to take Laurel to school.Jody was on bed with her when I got in, so I crashed on the couch, feeling totally exhausted from hours of typing without getting any sleep. Our editor in chief worked with us through the night, thus, none of us could steal naps as we usually did whenever she went home on time as supposed.I remember director Lance calling me up to his office once to ask me to sleep. Come to think of it, he was great to me a lot of times and if I was a normal woman without so much fear or an ugly past or so much responsibility, maybe I might have given him a chance. The 7am alarm on my phone woke me up. I scrambled to my feet, aroused Laurie and started preparing her for school. But what I really wanted to do was crash and sleep like someone in a coma.Jody was already preparing for work as well. Some of her clothes
CONNOR.Marcus and I had driven straight to Laurel’s school after he got the information.I only wanted to watch her from a distance. See how she fared in class and interacted with her fellow friends. But I couldn’t bring myself to go too close.Aside from the fact that she had no idea who I really was, the media people were constantly monitoring everything I did, and they were surely going to pounce on any clue they got about her. I knew how much that was going to affect her regular life.I would never let my need to get close disrupt her life. However, I couldn’t stay away. It was really unfortunate that I was completely unaware of her existence for six years. I wasn’t there when she took her first breath or first step or first words.It was definitely something I would regret for the rest of my life, but I also had to live in the present. There was a lot of time to amend, to watch her sing rhymes, clap wit
GRACE.“Oh my god, Gracie,” NK muttered covering her face with her both hands after I finished narrating to her and Jody what was going on. To NK mostly, because Jody knew pretty much already. They were the only people I could bare my souls to this way. I knew they had my back, and cared genuinely about my happiness.NK and I sat on the long couch, while Jody leaning forward on the love couch. Laurel was napping peacefully on the bed.“I’m so… I don’t know what to say,” NK exhaled loudly and held my hands in hers, squeezing them gently. “How do you feel about this?” she asked gazing with genuinely worried eyes at me.“Yes, Gracie, what do you plan to do, cuz like you said, he’s not looking like he’s going to back down just cuz you tell him to.” Jody chipped in, hugging herself repeatedly. She still appeared much shaken with what happened with Laurel.I dr
GRACE.Christopher Miles got to my door step at exactly few minutes to nine the next morning in his usual, disorganized look. He was wearing an over-sized winter coat over a shrunken shirt. It rained early this morning, so I was sure everywhere would be as forlorn as my mood.I asked him to come in, but he declined, explaining he was going to stay out to arrange his camera as he left home in too much of a hurry.“Grace?” he called from outside. “You know the interview is taking place in his home office and not at his main company right?”Oh, I had no idea. What the hell is Connor Shelby planning anyway? The entitled bastard! I scoffed.“Sure Chris, let’s go,” I said, emerging from my house and shutting my door.We used Precious since Chris didn’t have a car. I hoped she would be able to take us as far as Shelby Mansion which was at the heart of London. We drove in silence, as Chri