Page 8 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“That’d be awesome.”

I hand her my phone out of my bag and glance back at the door to the firm. I can’t help the paranoid feeling I have crawling up my spine, as if someone’s watching me.

“There, I’m saved as Veronica, the alien chick. Then you won’t forget. Bye, Willow.”

Her soft laugh echoes down the empty hall as she walks away.

“Bye.”

It’ll be good to get out of the house for a night…Maybe. Lord knows I need it. Other than Jenna, I don’t have any other friends here. I don’t go out. Hell, I haven’t even dated anyone in, well, at least a year…I think.

The thought of going out to a club already has my nerves on edge. It’s funny, in public I’m a nervous wreck, but in a courtroom is where I feel the calmest. I feel powerful in court. I may be small, but I’m known to be able to cross-examine a witness and get them to crack easily under pressure.

In the courtroom, I’m the one in control.

CHAPTER 5

NOAH

My little rabbit has definitely changed.

When that interview started, it was like she was an entirely different person. She didn’t even flinch when my father was basically cross-examining her against her own resume. She’s confident, and she knows she’s a damn good lawyer.

I followed her on the cams as they walked down the hall to the lobby. I watched my father’s eyes trail down her body and settle on her ass. A fire began to burn beneath my skin, seeing him look at her like that. As if she’s just another toy for him to play with. Not this one, though. This one is mine.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Come in,” I practically snarl. I know exactly who it is.

“You ready for lunch?” my father asks as he steps into my office.

When I look at him, all I see is my future. He’s literally just an older version of me, but with less muscle. My uncle is his identical twin, so to say the genetics are strong in this family would be an understatement.

I round the desk and pour a glass of cognac before tilting the bottle toward him. He waves me off like it’s a bottle of poison.

If only.

My father knows I have demons. I’ll disappear for a few days at a time. He’s said it before; he can see the darkness in my eyes. He’s seen the same look in some of the murderers we represent. He doesn’t know the reason for my darkness, nor would he ever care. He’d only see me as weak.

“I’m not hungry,” I say as I take a sip of the cognac.

It’s delicious. A Ferrand S.D.A. Cognac.

“You’re not hungry, yet you invited the new toy you’re interested in to lunch?”

“She’s not a toy.”

I try to keep my tone neutral, just like in the courtroom. Don’t give any emotion away that might show your guilt.

“Mhm. Well then, you won’t care that I decided to hire her on…As my personal assistant.”

He waited until the glass was at my lips to say the last part. I know he’s lying because I heard everything through my hidden cameras, but I still can’t control my reaction. The clench in my jaw, the tightening of my fingers around the small crystal glass, it all gave it away. He knows.

“That’s what I thought,” he chuckles darkly as he turns to walk out of my office.

“Dad?”

I take a deep breath, trying to calm the rage festering inside. My fist tightens around the crystal glass, feeling the slight give, but not enough to let it shatter.