Chapter 5

(Emi’s POV)

My heart races in my chest at what Adam revealed. Why would Alpha King Lucian even think to do that?

The Northern Alpha King owns all commercial and residential real estate in the Northern Territory. His casino and business complex are pillars of his empire and wealth. Why would he want to be associated with a small little bake shop? Wasn’t that why he kept it silent in the first place?

“As you saw when you came by last week,” he tells me with that wicked smirk. It finally occurs to me that he hasn’t tried to hunt me down, because he doesn’t need to. “There’s plenty of foot traffic at the Moon Eclipse casino and hotel. He wants you to open a new location there.”

“At-At the same building as him,” I stammer out in a squeak. I can’t be in the same vicinity as him. That’s insane! Why would he suggest something like that? “But I’m barely having enough staff and—“

“He’s well aware,” he cuts in as if he already knows all my protests against this crazy idea… or rather Alpha King Lucian already knows. “He’s already arranging hiring events for your location here and the new location at Moon Eclipse.”

He chuckles at the panic in my eyes, because he knows I have nowhere to escape. I bite my bottom lip and I glance over at Iris. Her eyes are narrowed, bouncing back and forth between Mr. Delacroix and myself. I can see the gears turning in her head. My eyes survey the rest of the shop and notice pairs of eyes peering over before refocusing their attention back on what they were doing.

Alpha King Lucian Wolfe is always a hot topic so this is juicy news. Why would a powerful wolf like him care about a small bakery shop like mine? It’s almost like he’s doing this on purpose and I don’t understand why. He spent years with no contact and now he’s forcing me into the spotlight.

“My suggestion Ms. Moon is that you reach out to Lucian and discuss this with him yourself before it gets worse,” he tells me honestly. There is no guilt or regret in his eyes, knowing exactly what he has done.

* * *

Before Mr. Delacroix leaves, he exchanges numbers with Iris and arranges a date later on. He also slips me Alpha King Lucian’s business card. My hands tremble when I take it from him.

When he takes his leave, Iris bites her lip, watching him go before she sighs. Her eyes drops to the gold metallic business card in my hand. Her eyes widen in surprise at it.

“That’s a dermatoglyph business card,” she whispers to me in awe. I glance down at it, watching it swirl with shades of dark purple and emerald green. It looks intricate and refined. “It’s really expensive. Pretty much only the person it’s intended for can access information on that by touch.”

I swallow as the design shifts to letters until I can read the details on the card. It shows all his phone numbers — his personal phone number, his work phone number, and home phone number. It has his email address. It also shows a gold symbol of a wolf howling at a crescent moon.

“What does it say?” she asks curiously.

I frown, glancing over at it. “You can’t see it?”

“No,” she says. There’s a knowing look on her eyes and smirk on her face. “I can’t, but you definitely can.”

I flush at the implication in her words. Did she already figure it out? “It has his personal, work, and home phone numbers. It has his email address too. There’s also a symbol on it.”

She bit her lip to try stop a smile from forming. I frown at her. “I guess I should thank you for landing me this job then,” she chuckles softly. Her eyes meets mine. “He knew I’d automatically suggest you for the events. I’ve been a public advocate for your bakery for a long time. It seems he knew if he hired me that it wouldn’t look strange to have your goods in his hotel and casino.”

My mouth drops open in surprise. Why would he… because I’m his mate even if nobody knows and he knows that it would provide me more financial stability in my life. He has been trying to take care of me without drawing so much attention to himself and me. That’s why he has gone to these elaborate lengths being my silent business partner and hiring my best friend to secure that my business thrives even more.

“You get it now,” she whispers to me. Her eyes drift to the last customers packing up for the day. “So what happened?” I frown at that. “He’s been keeping his distance all this time. What changed for him to take more of a proactive approach?”

My heart aches as the memory of barging into his office to discover the truth and him courting Jasmine pushes into my mind. My cheeks heat up at having to come clean to Iris.

“When-When I dropped off the samples last week, I-I may have discovered that he’s my-my fated mate” I stammer. Her eyes widen at that.  “His secretary happens to be my ex’s fiancée and threatened to call security on me.”

Her eyes narrows at that. “That’s a bit screwed up.”

“Especially since he was there when they humiliated me at that event,” I add in with a sigh while I return the wave my last customer gives me before heading out.

“He was?” she gasps in surprise as if that actually matters. I nod. She chuckles as if it all makes sense now. “Oh, the plot thickens!”

I frown, looking at her in confusion. “The plot thickens?”

“Oh, come on, Emi, you don’t see what he’s doing?” She sighs when I continue to look at her in confusion. “Everything so far he’s done is to take care of you from afar. He hires your ex’s fiancée knowing what they did to you as his secretary and he just randomly hires her. I bet he’s setting them up to get humiliated for humiliating you. I’m willing to bet you money that that’s what he’s doing.”

I swallow thickly at before shaking my head. “But he just went out with Jasmine Beaumont.”

She takes a deep breath. See, that’s not one can’t easily be explained way. She bites her lip. Her mind reels as thoughts roll through her head.

“They live in a world of politics, Emi,” she says honestly. “I don’t have an explanation for that, but I’m sure it isn’t what it seems. It never is.” She points to the card. “The only way you’ll get any answers to any of these questions is if you reach out to him. I also have a feeling he’s not going to let you run away from this either. Why else would he be making his association to you public knowledge now instead of silencing you?”

I look down at the business card and recheck all the details again. They’re still all there. Is it really his contact details? I mull over her words.

Before my mind can decide what to do next, the door opens and the bells and chimes go off. Both Iris and I look up to see who walked inside with my chipper greeting dying on my lips. Spencer Halifax and his fiancée walks in with Spencer’s mother, Mrs. Halifax, and Mrs. Faux.

“Did hell just walk into your bakery?” Iris mutters to me.

I swallow, watching the group of socialites approach Iris and myself. Spencer’s eyes widen as realization sets in that I work here and Mrs. Halifax seems to remember me all too well. Mrs. Faux is looking straight at me with suspicion through narrowed eyes and Lysette gives me a cruel smirk as she places a possessive hand over Spencer’s chest while being plastered to his side.

“Spencer, isn’t this the girl you were secretly dating before you came to your senses?” Mrs. Halifax asks her son.

Yes, Iris, you’re correct. Hell has walked into my bakery.