Panic attack

Alpha Adrian’s POV

She was having a panic attack. That much was clear to me.

I hated drama. But most especially, I hated women’s drama. I did not know what I was thinking when I asked her to work as a caretaker for Kylian. Perhaps it was the drinks.

I wanted to blame it also on those multi-colored club lights that messed with my brain and did everything to increase my bad decision-making skills.

I contemplated leaving her in the elevator and waiting for her to figure it out herself. I had a meeting in one hour, and this was not how I expected today to go.

The growl my wolf gave me when I suggested leaving her there told me I could not just walk away.

But looking at her, clutching her chest as she struggled to breathe, I knew I didn’t have the heart to abandon her.

I pulled her out of the elevator, leading her into the female bathroom, not caring that the women inside shrieked at the sight of me, dashing out and trying to cover their feminine bits.

I nearly scowled in disgust. Brave of them to think I was interested.

I pushed Tori against the wall, holding her face in my hands as I forced her to look at me.

“Breathe slowly—slow, Tori. List five things you can see,” I ordered.

She whimpered, refusing to open her eyes, so I shook her hard. She whimpered again, but this time she opened them.

“List five things you can see around you,” I asked again.

She gulped, her eyes darting wildly, chest still rising and falling too fast.

“Mirror, hand sink, flower pot, tissues… you,” she whispered, her voice trailing off. She repeated the items again and again, ticking them off with her fingers.

Slowly, I could hear her heartbeat settle, though the color had yet to return to her cheeks.

When I was sure she was stable, I pulled her out of the bathroom and into the room where she was supposed to be staying.

She didn’t utter a word, focusing only on packing her belongings into her box.

We were silent on the return trip to the car. The cab I had called for her was already waiting in the driveway when we arrived.

“Alpha Adrian, I’m… about today…” she began, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

“Remember when I said your business is about Kylian alone? That applies to me too. I don’t care what you’re dealing with, as long as it does not affect Kylian. He hates noodles, so make him cereals when you get back home,” I said curtly, not waiting for her response as I got into my car and headed toward my office.

I grunted in anger as I checked the time. I had missed the meeting.

The very moment I stepped through the doors, my beta, Collins, bombarded me.

“Where have you been? The meeting’s been postponed. And your… Emily came here to make a fuss about why you weren’t in the office yet,” he said.

I sighed, pulling off my suit jacket and slumping into my chair.

The meeting had been with other alphas who were considering expanding their business throughout the American port. It would have fetched us a great deal of profit, and the fact that I missed it only worsened my mood.

“Can the meeting be rescheduled to today? I don’t want to give them any reason to doubt,” I asked.

He nodded, instantly picking up his phone.

“It can be,” he said, and I nearly sighed in relief. Then I remembered what he had said about Emily and grimaced.

“And what did she say she wanted?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes.

Apart from Agatha, he hated Emily the most.

“Something about how she saw another woman with you and how that woman couldn’t keep her eyes off you,” he said.

“I hired a babysitter for Kylian,” I told him flatly.

He gave me a look—half pity, half warning. We had known each other for years, and I trusted him with more than most.

“Maybe we should try calling her again…” he began, but my wolf growled at the suggestion, cutting him off immediately.

I knew who the her was. And after trying to reach her countless times with no response, I had decided to stop. Hoping she would come back on her own. But it had been nine whole months, and she was still nowhere to be found.

“Well, if you don’t want us to try contacting her again, then would you at least call off the whole deal with Emily? If anything, she’s traumatizing Kylian instead of helping him,” he said, and I understood his point.

After she left, in a desperate need for stability for my son, I had agreed to get back together with Emily—an ex I once caught cheating on me. The woman I was with before Agatha.

She had been more than eager, but as I feared, Kylian hated her.

That was why I had no other choice but to hire a babysitter.

My mind drifted back to Tori—her pale, trembling face as she tried to steady her breathing in that bathroom.

“I want you to help me research someone,” I said to Collins.

It was simple. I had to find out who she was. And more importantly, if she was safe enough to stay around my son.