Breed Me Cursed Alpha (Lyra and Ronan) novel Chapter 9

I blinked hard. Once. Twice. And just as I started to step forward for a better look.

“Don’t,” Lucas’s voice cut gently into my ear as his hand found the small of my back.

I turned to him, startled.

“You don’t need to spiral tonight,” he cautioned quietly, looking over my shoulder. “Even if it’s him.”

“So it is?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper with my heart racing for some reason.

“I didn’t say that,” Lucas replied, tightening his grip ever so slightly. “But whatever or whoever you think you saw, it doesn’t change anything tonight. You’re here for your company. For the future. Not the past. Just be present.”

I let out a shaky breath and turned my eyes away from the crowd, back to Lucas. His hands never leaving my hand and his presence grounded me keeping me from panicking.

“You’re right,” I assured myself softly, lifting my chin. “I’m not here for him.”

He nodded. “Good. Now let’s make everyone else in this room remember exactly who you are. You’ve been doing so well and they are all impressed.”

A server passed by with a tray of champagne and Lucas handed me a glass. I took a long sip, letting the bubbles calm my nerves. I could still feel eyes on me but that was okay. I wanted them to look. I wanted them to see. I glanced at the kids making sure they were okay…and they were chuckling leaning on each other and eating the snacks I had requested for them.

I smiled and let out a breath. I was still

Because tonight, I wasn’t running. I wasn’t hiding. I was here. Powerful. Successful and Unapologetically me.

And if Elijah was in this room room?

Well… he’d just met the woman he lost forever.

2/2

The One Wronged

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The One I Wronged

ELIJAH’S POV:

EARLIER THAT DAY:

The knot of my tie wouldn’t sit right. I yanked it loose for what felt like the fifth time, trying not to snap. I was stressing out, and I didn’t even know why.

Janet’s voice came in from the closet nagging as usual as she walked towards me, “You’re going to ruin it if you keep pulling like that.”

“I wouldn’t have to if it was stitched right,” I muttered under my breath, but loud enough for her to hear.

She emerged in a gold backless gown, her long hair swept up in waves, earrings like tiny daggers catching the light. She looked flawless, like she always made sure to be, but there was something stiff about her tonight. Like she was trying too hard. She always seemed like she was trying too hard. But she was around and that seemed to be enough for me to tolerate.

“You look nice,” I complimented her staring back at myself in the mirror. It was the polite thing. Nothing more.

“Just nice?” she asked, raising her my eyebrow in questioning, giving me a look as she adjusted her diamond

bracelet.

I didn’t answer, letting out a deep sigh. Anything I would say would have been more upset and nagging and I

wasn’t in the mood for that.

“You are also trying to ruin the mood.” She pointed out kissing her teeth and walked off while I made sure my tie was perfect.

We had been invited to the Rosemont Grand Hotel for a major event hosted by my subsidiary company which had been making the headlines. Honestly, I couldn’t wait for the partnership to come about and for the partnership to work out with our investment bringing in revenue already, but I didn’t care much for fashion or new partnerships unless it was tech or real estate but this was something I was exploring as it was now very profitable and a company that was already doing amazingly well could use our resources to even further themselves. It was supposed to be a win-win situation for everyone and I was genuinely thrilled to meet their executives who had been invited.

My mum and Janet were huge fans of their designers calling it one of the bests in the world.

As we rode the elevator down from the penthouse, she was talking, but I couldn’t focus. Something inside me has been off lately. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was the stress at the company. Maybe it was the silence between us, the way we danced around each other more like business partners than anything else.

Maybe it was the dreams.She’d been showing up in them again. Not Janet. Her. Hannah.

I hadn’t seen her in almost seven years. Not since she left without a word. Not since she ripped herself clean from my life like tearing skin off bone. Sometimes I wondered if I had imagined the whole thing, our marriage, the way she used to look at me like I was the only man in the room. And it was so easy to imagine she never even existed because she was hardly

I remember waking up that morning and panicking as memories of that night filled my mind and I was filled with utter disgust and anger at myself for what I had done to her.

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The One Wronged

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She truly didn’t deserve it. Although I tried to justify my actions by stating that she was behind the reason why I wasn’t married to the love of my life. But something in me doubted if she was truly behind Janet ending up in

the back seat of the car.

She never seemed like she wanted anything from me, so how could she have set things up. I had so many questions.

Flashback.

I walked out of the room, with low eyes and in my T-shirt and black office pants and heading to my own room. I didn’t know what to do as I had barely a conversation with her and as a matter of fact her pleadings sounded like Janet, her sister and the girl of my dreams. I got into my room, took a shower and prepared for the day.

As soon as I arrived downstairs, I heard whispering coming from a few maids which made me pause and ask, What’s going on?” They quickly jumped startled.

“Good morning Mr Elijah, we have your breakfast and coffee to go ready.” One of the maids said, with a smile and I stared at her with squinted eyes.

((

“What is going on?” I repeated seeing the nervous look on the other’s face. I think this was the most I had ever stopped to question and speak to either one of them.

After a moment of utter silence, they spilled it saying, “Mrs Hannah is gone.

>>

“Gone? Gone where?” A wave of cold air hit me, as fear that I had been aggressive with her or she had killed

herself crossed my mind.

“She left early this morning with her bags packed and without uttering word. It’s like she disappeared.” She answered and I frowned deeply.

But she was right because I never heard anything from her and couldn’t even find her after weeks of searching but no one else seemed to care in fact they were all so overjoyed over the news.

P

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