AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You can’t make me do that,” he said. “I’ll get rid of the pictures, but you can’t force me to leave my job.”
“The way you forced Ella to leave the lab in Pisa? How does it feel, asshole?”
He drew himself up. “You’ve made your point, but I’m not resigning. If it comes down to that, I’ll give the Gibraltar money back.”
“I don’t care who has the Gibraltar money,” I said, meeting him toe to toe. “I don’t care if we have it, or the project has it, or the fucking Quasar Nebula has it. What I care about is getting you away from Ella and your sick, pathetic need for her. One way or another, I’m going to make that happen. It would probably be better if you did it on your own.”
He scowled at me, considering his options, and I scowled back, considering mine. I had all the money in the world, and all the heart-fueled intention, and he knew it. His frown deepened, his eyes dark with frustration, and when he strode away from me, I knew he was accepting his fate. He’d go back to the office and write that letter. It would end with his resignation.
Heavy-handed? Maybe, but it was for the best. Ninety-nine percent of me despised the guy, but one percent of me pitied him. Women like Ella didn’t come around very often. She was a unique star in the galaxy, a shining point in the continuum of time, seldom if ever repeated. Of course, Leo didn’t want to lose his grip on her, his proximity. I understood that from my own experience.
What if she leaves?he’d asked.
That was the only time I stopped and thought,maybe you should just butt out of this. But I couldn’t, because she was coming to mean so much to me. If she left, I’d just fly to go see her. I was a pilot and I had that freedom, and she would want to see me, unlike Leo Mann, who needed to fucking get lost.
Chapter Twenty-One: Ella
Igot homelate from work, hungry, exhausted, but I couldn’t eat because my mind was turning on everything that had happened. Leo was gone, resigned. He’d walked out of his office with a box of notebooks and his personal laptop, saying he wasn’t satisfied with our project’s direction.
What?
Leo was the one who’d set our direction. He’d controlled everything about our timeline and research, and now he was gone, just like that. Funny, that this should happen just after a huge donation from Gibraltar Airlines.
I’d told Devin not to interfere.
Of course, our work would go on just fine without Leo, because the Gibraltar money gave us the leeway to extend our lab work for years beyond the original schedule. Marc Neville, the most levelheaded member of the team, had already offered to lead until we made our way through the shakeup. There was no reason to feel upset that Leo was gone, or that he claimed to have deleted my photos. I should have been ecstatic, but I’d asked Devin to let me deal with things, and he’d stepped in anyway, and that felt like being manipulated again.
I took a bath to try to calm down and get my head together. It got me clean, but didn’t accomplish much else. I didn’t know if I was angry with Devin, or happy, or what the hell I felt. A stress headache teased my temples as I wrapped myself in a robe and made myself some hot chocolate. Sadly, the chocolate didn’t help either.
I had to call Devin. I had to ask him how, why, and what he’d done to Leo. I had to yell at him or maybe start crying with relief. I had to kiss him and feel his body against mine, but I didn’t dare ask him to come over when I felt this way, when I wanted to fall in love with him so hard that I’d never fall out of it.
I put down my mug, grabbed my phone, and dialed his number, hoping he’d pick up, because I wasn’t sure what kind of madness I’d babble out in a message. It rang so many times I almost hung up, but then his deep, rich voice was on the line.
“Good evening, Ella.” My name rolled off his tongue so musically. No, that was stupid. I was just falling in love. “How are you?” he asked, as I sat speechless.
“I don’t… I don’t know,” I finally said. “There was a shakeup at work today. But I’m guessing you already knew that.”
“Ella, I told you I had to help. I explained why.”
“And I told you I could handle it myself. When you do stuff for me, it makes me feel weak.”
“Wow, that’s a nice way to say thank you.”
I twisted my robe’s hem between my fingers. “I mean, I’m grateful. I don’t know what you said to Leo, or what you did, but he told me I didn’t have to worry about the photos anymore. He left. He quit.”
“Good.”
“Did you pay him off?”
“I told him off,” he said in a rough voice. “What he was doing was wrong, and I had more power to stop it than you. The money doesn’t matter. Gibraltar is always looking for worthy causes to support.” He paused. “Are you angry? I was trying to help.”
“I know, but I don’t like to depend on people.”
“That’s shitty, El, because life is about depending on people.”
Tears rose in my eyes. I didn’t know why. It was like years of unwanted emotion welled behind a dam inside me, waiting to break out.
“Thanks for helping me,” I said, when I got a handle on the surge. “I don’t know why I’m conflicted about it. Honestly, I appreciate it. I hope I can do something to help you sometime.”
