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I pressed the little button on the intercom and within seconds, a disembodied voice asked for my name and the purpose of my visit.
“Ember Steele. Your Alpha will know why I’m here.”
I sat staring at the ornate barricade, waiting for it to open. I waited so long I thought Liam had refused to let me in, but then the gate slowly opened. Trees lined the driveway, blocking the house until I came around a bend. I drove by the front of the house to a separate building with four garage doors. Two were open: one empty and the other holding Liam’s top of the line, shiny black Tesla. I wasn’t sure if I should park in the empty one or not, but I did anyway.
I stepped out of my car and looked up at the mansion. Gray stone walls covered in the same vine rose high from the impeccably manicured lawn and gardens. The windows looked antique but were tinted to keep the sun out. A pair of the most beautiful doors I’d ever seen stood in the middle. They were dark mahogany, with circles of beveled glass in the center. The metalwork in each of them formed a Celtic knot with an ‘F’ in the middle. As I approached the massive doors, a man in a suit opened one and welcomed me into the huge foyer.
“Mr. Fraser will be with you in a moment,” the man said. “You may wait in the sitting room.”
I followed him into a large open room with oversized chairs and floor to ceiling bookshelves that put my little home library to shame. A quick glance at the titles of the books had me surprised and delighted. I’d walked into heaven.
“Tell him to take his time,” I said as I pulled a book from a shelf. “May I?”
“Of course,” the man said with a small bow as he backed out of the room and closed the doors.
I stared after him as I settled into one of the cushy chairs to read. I laughed to myself over the weirdness I’d just walked into. Between the house and the man’s behavior, I felt like I’d somehow fallen into a historical romance novel.
“Maybe it’s Lord Fraser,” I said aloud, making me laugh even harder.
Hoping no one had heard me, I settled myself and concentrated on the book in my hands. Jane Eyre was one I’ve read a million times, but this was a beautiful hardcover with gilded lettering embossed on the front and spine. It looked to be at least a hundred years old. I looked for the year of publication, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. However old it was, it was still in impeccable condition.
I was halfway into it when the doors opened again.
“Ah, Mr. Fraser, you finally decided to show yourself,” I said, closing the book as I rose to stand.
“Don’t call me that,” he said.
I tipped my head to the side a little. “Oh? You don’t like your role as lord of the manor?”
“No.”
He said it so simply and matter-of-factly that I almost felt guilty for picking on him. It was kind of my fault that he was in such a position. I mean as much as you can blame an infant for her father’s murder.
I dropped the book onto the chair and held my hands up in surrender. “Sorry.”
“Why are you here?”
“I want to know why you came to see me. And why did you believe me so quickly? You can’t stand me, yet you didn’t question me at all.”
He stared at me for what felt like an eternity. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Come on, dude, you stormed into my house tossing your power around, and you won’t tell me why. That’s not cool. I deserve to know why you were there.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he repeated more emphatically. “They’ve dropped the complaint against you, and Chris will no longer bother you. He won’t bother anyone anymore.”
My eyes widened at the meaning behind his words. I regained my composure but was still speechless. How could I respond to him killing a man for attempting to assault me?
“If there is nothing else, I have work to do,” Liam said.
That’s when it hit me. He hadn’t killed Chris because of what he’d tried to do to me. “I wasn’t the first, was I?”
He sighed and rubbed at his beard. “You were the first to stop him.”
He turned to leave, but I placed a hand on his arm, ignoring the bite from a static shock. He turned back to me to study my face as if searching for something. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to intimidate me or if he was thinking about what he wanted to say. Either way, I stayed silent and examined him in return. The dimness of the room made his light brown eyes look almost black. His deep brown hair tumbled in soft waves down to his shoulders, and my fingers twitched with the urge to play with it.
Not liking where my mind was going, I took a step away from him and cleared my throat. “Snap out of it, Fraser. Why did you visit me?”
He shot me a wry smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest, highlighting his well-defined muscles. “Listen, Red, I don’t need to tell you anything.” He held up his hands when I started to speak. “But something tells me you won’t leave me alone until I do, and I don’t have time for you.”
