Chapter 0004

Fiona

Ducking my head, I break eye contact with Ethan. I can’t let him sway me again, even if my body craves his touch. God. How can a couple of seconds of eye contact have me wanting to curl back up in bed with the man?

I shake off the connection I feel to him. He’d completely ignored my need for help.

I’ll have to find someone else to help me because I can’t wait for the kind man he was that night. That version of him may never show up again.

Walking past the refreshment table, I freeze when I see Jack and Jessica talking with another couple. I move in the other direction and find myself standing before one of the top lawyers in the state.

“Hi, I’d like to speak with you about an inheritance case—”

“I apologize, but my caseload is full,” the man says, cutting me off and walking away. I head to the next lawyer and then the next and the next. Each comes with another excuse for why they can’t help me: conflicts of interest, tight deadlines, high risks, or the strength of the opposition.

One after the other, they turn me down before I can even give them all my information. Had Jack got to them first? Had he convinced them to turn me down?

Anger and bitter disappointment eat at my chest as I look around the room.

“Mrs. Aldridge.”

Turning, I come face to face with a smiling man. He reaches out a hand and offers his name, “Daniel Tharen, Lawyer. I hear you’re looking for representation.”

Hope sparks in my chest. He’s the first lawyer to start a conversation with me.

“Hi, yes. I am divorcing my husband and want to keep the inheritance my mother has left me,” I tell him. “My husband says he has a way to retain my inheritance while only leaving me with scraps.”

“I see. Well, from what you said, the inheritance is rightfully yours,” Daniel says then hums and looks around the room. “Why don’t we take this conversation to somewhere more private where we won’t be disturbed.”

“That would be great. I can give you any information you need to explain the situation,” I tell him. He nods and asks me to follow him, so I do. I didn’t think I’d find someone to help, and hopefully Daniel will be that person. If I can get him to hear my entire story, I’ll be so much closer to opposing Jack.

Once we’ve gotten through the crowd, we make our way outside to the garden. I look around as we walk further into the garden and realize no one else is out here.

“What was this about an inheritance?”

“Um, I got it after my mother passed, and my husband is trying to take everything. I only have thirty days,” I tell him.

An uncomfortable feeling sinks in my gut as a light flickers above me. Silence surrounds us, making goosebumps run along my arms.

“Um, Daniel…”

Before I can say anything else, he grabs me by the arm and shoves me against the brick wall of the building.

“Hey, what—”

I yank at my arm, but Daniel’s grip is strong.

“Let go,” I demand, struggling. Daniel merely smirks and pushes his body against mine, his lips descending to my neck. I jerk but my head hits the brick.

“Stop! Get off me!” I shove at his chest.

“Shut up, woman!” He growls, and I whimper. My eyes only find the darkness around us and with my smaller frame, I know I can’t get free. Pain sears my face and a foot slams into my side as Daniel kicks me to the ground. He’s on me in seconds, pinning me to the grass.

“Help!” I cry out again, fighting uselessly against the man.

Fear and despair wrap around me like a noose as he chuckles, “No one is coming to help you.”

Ethan

Her scent hit me the moment she walked in the room, and I had to force myself to ignore her. My eyes immediately found her, and it took everything in me to keep from walking over to her and throwing my jacket around her.

The damned woman had too much skin showing. Her gorgeous body, those curves, on display and calling for me. Damn her.

The more eyes that follow her, the harder it is to keep calm.

“Ethan.”

“Mr. Montgomery, you look amazing.”

“That suit looks…”

The women around me fight for my attention, buzzing around like annoying flies as memories of the other night flash before my eyes. Her warm body against mine. The little moans that fell from her lips. The way her touch sent heat like I’ve never felt through my body.

Everything about her was ingrained in my memory.

“She’s stunning,” my wolf growls. He’s right. The blue gown hugs her curves perfectly, making me want to peel that little dress off her. But I won’t. She left. Disappeared that morning with no goodbye. She was the first woman ever to dare leave me behind in a room like I was nothing.

“Maybe she had something urgent. You’re too arrogant,” my wolf says with a sniff.

Glancing out over the crowd, I watch as Fiona approaches man after man. With each interaction I watch, my fury grows. I didn’t see her as a flirtatious woman until now. Of course, we’d slept together even though she’s married, but now, to see her coming onto all these men. I growl.

“You can’t jump to conclusions so easily. I want you to go to her,” my wolf instructs.

I scoff and respond, “She’s trouble. Have you forgotten how greedy those ‘needy’ women can become in the end?” They’re all the same. Clingy and after money.

Fiona walks over to another man, talking enthusiastically with him. I look away. She can’t be trusted just like all the other women who throw themselves at me. She’s no different.

“I know you don’t trust women, but I can feel the mate bond very strongly,” my wolf says, pushing me to feel the warmth that runs through my chest. It was never there before I met Fiona, and my wolf keeps tugging at it.

“Ryan,” I call through our pack bond.

A few minutes later my Beta, my second in command, is at my side with a questioning glance.

“Why is Fiona Aldridge attending?” I ask. His job before and on arriving was to make sure everyone attending was checked. He’d given me a few names to be watchful of, but nothing mentioning Fiona so far.

“She’s likely here with her husband, Jack Aldridge,” my Beta, Ryan, answers. Turning my eyes back to the crowd, I find the new partner of my firm in the crowd. He and his secretary are talking with a group of lawyers, laughing.

The man looks happy enough without his wife at his side.

“Does she love her husband?” I ask. When he gives no reply, I sigh. “Investigate her background, and—”

“Get off me! Help!”

Her voice is faint yet filled with fear.

“Mate. Danger,” my wolf growls. I take off, following the pungent scent of fear taking over Fiona’s softer scent. I shove through the back doors and into the garden.

“Help!”

When I reach her, the filth pinning her to the ground sends my blood boiling. Faster than I’ve ever moved, I grab him by the collar and throw him aside. A crack sounds through the air as he rolls, and anger bubbles within my chest.

“You dared to touch her,” I growls, slamming a foot into his stomach and sending him flying into he brick wall with a thud.

He groans in response, and again I glare down at him.

“I remember you—an apprentice lawyer,” I spit. “You’re in big trouble.” I slam my fist into the man’s face and drop him unconscious at my feet. After sending a quick message to my Beta for a clean-up, I turn to a frightened Fiona as she cowers against the side of the building.

Fear and suspicion shine bright from Fiona’s eyes, and annoyance sits like a rock in my chest, and my words come out angrily, “You’ve been flirting with men all night, and this is the best you could find?”