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Harper’s face appears in my line of sight, but I stare straight ahead until her face becomes a blur. Then, my eyelids flutter shut, blackness takes over, and I can’t see anything.
Even in the deep recess of my mind, the terror follows me.
Chapter7
Calista
A scream piercesmy skull like an ice pick.
Then Harper’s voice penetrates my consciousness, as does the pain radiating along my shoulder. “Oh, my God, Calista!”
“Don’t touch her.” The deep boom of Sebastian’s command has me opening my eyes. The bodyguard crouches over me while holding out his arm to block Harper. “If Mrs. Bennett has sustained a head injury, we can’t move her.”
“Mrs.What?” My friend shakes her head. “Never mind. What do we do now?”
“The ambulance is on the way. Get the customers out of here, and don’t let anyone else in until we’re gone. This situation needs to be handled with discretion.”
Both Harper and Alex race to follow his orders while I blink against the overhead lights, trying to make sense of everything. My brain offers me nothing by way of explanation. The only thing I can concentrate on is the painful throbbing in my shoulder.
“What the hell happened?” Alex asks, coming to stand beside my bodyguard.
Harper takes up the spot on the other side of Sebastian, her face damp with tears. “Calista fainted and fell into the display case.”
I scrunch my face in confusion, searching my mind once again for any memory of what just happened. Everything is blank except the image of the lacy panties. A surge of panic hits me, and I struggle to rise, my body urging me to take flight.
“The box… the note…”
Sebastian lays his hand on my chest, his touch gentle but firm. “Don’t move. I don’t think you have a concussion, but that’s for the doctor to determine. Until then, lie still.” A wry smile twists his thin lips. “Knowing Mr. Bennett, he’ll be here before the ambulance does.”
Harper straightens, her expression grim. “I can’t sit here and do nothing while we’re waiting. I’m going to sweep up the glass.”
When I try to turn my head, Sebastian lifts his hand from my chest to rest it on the side of my face. “If you move you’ll cut yourself. There’s broken glass all around you. Don’t worry though. Everything’s going to be fine, Mrs. Bennett.”
“Calista,” I whisper.
He presses his lips together before giving me a nod. “I need you to stay calm, Calista.”
“Okay.”
The coffee shop, once a place of productivity, has transformed into a den of chaos. Not more than my mind. The reality of what happened sinks in, the way it affected me, to the point I had no control over my body and am now lying on the cool tile, surrounded by people concerned with my well-being.
Harper leans the broom against the counter with sweat dotting her forehead. “I’ve cleaned as much as I could without sweeping up Calista too.” She smiles at me, but her lips tremble. When I attempt to smile in return, she wipes at her eyes.
The sound of someone pounding on the door startles me. Sebastian frowns while Harper rushes from behind the counter to let Hayden in. I watch him through the display case as he bursts through the door, his gaze widening when he takes in the destruction.
“Calista?!”
My heart lurches in my chest at the sound of his voice. It’s frantic and unhinged. I mouth his name, unable to find my voice.
After a few strides, he rounds the counter, his face unreadable. However, his hair is tousled and there are deep wrinkles in his suit. Did he run to get here?
I stare up at him, taking in his blank expression and the way he clenches his fists, as if he doesn’t want to touch me. Hayden might’ve rushed to my side, but he’s not here to comfort me.
“What the fuck happened?” he asks.
A siren wails in the distance, growing louder every second, but all I can hear is Hayden’s anger. Is he upset because I interrupted him at work? Given how much this man wants to possess me, he could be mad because I broke his favorite toy.
Me.
