Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(148)

He’d never forget she’d said it. He’d never be able to wipe it from his mind. It was burned there, literally for eternity.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

His eyes opened, he lifted his head and looked blindly through the car park.

Then he thought of Gregor. Not the impending meeting. Gregor’s decision five hundred years ago.

Lucien had three choices. Keep taking from Leah. Make her his mate and put her in even more danger, conceivably making their nightmares come real.

Or, for her sake, release her.

No. He had only one choice.

The last.

Fuck.

He sucked in breath, straightened from the car and eschewed the elevator in order to race up the forty flights of stairs with vampire speed. If a mortal saw him and it came to the attention of The Council, f**k it. Let them fine him. In mere hours he was losing everything.

Everything.

He slowed when he hit the hall and stayed slowed as he opened the door and moved through his busy offices. He took out his cell and turned it off in preparation for the meeting while employees nodded to him, lifted their chins, Lucien returning the gestures.

He saw Sally behind her desk through the glass wall that exposed her office. She’d been in his employ for ten years. In that time she’d met and married her husband, had two children and lost her mother. In that time, he hadn’t aged a day.

It was time to move on. Create new companies, sell his vast holdings to himself, distribute severance packages, references, let his workforce go and move. This time, he’d need to disappear, hire someone young and competent to act in his stead for twenty, thirty years. Then he’d need to go through the motions again, managing his holdings as a ghost. In sixty, seventy years, he’d resurface or perhaps continue as a phantom looking after his fortune.

He’d been considering it a while. He’d even planned to discuss the destination for their future home with Leah.

Now he decided Singapore. Magdalene had moved there three years ago. She loved it. And he’d never lived there. It was as good a place as any.

In order to protect the knowledge he was vampire, he’d done this times too numerous to count. It was a chore that was never less than trying. And every time he wished he could simply be who he f**king was and not be forced to engage in this aggravation.

He pushed through the glass doors to Sally’s outer office. Sally looked up and smiled. Then she read his face and the smile died.

Therefore, instantly, she reported, “I’ve given them coffee and bagels, told them you called and explained your delay.”

“Thank you, Sally,” he muttered, moving to the glossy, wood panel double doors that led to his office.

“Would you like fresh coffee?” she called to his back.

He’d had nothing but Leah’s blood and he’d had her blood not knowing it was the last taste of her he’d ever have. He always savored her. If he’d known, he would have taken the time to savor more. Not just her blood, all that was her when she gave it to him.

“No coffee and no interruptions,” Lucien answered, turning the knob and pushing open the door.

He took in the room before he closed the door behind him.

Cosmo leaning against the side of his desk, arms crossed, ankles crossed. Stephanie lounging in an armchair in the seating area at the side of the room, legs crossed, coffee cup in hand. Avery and Gregor both seated on the couch, Avery’s posture relaxed but alert. Gregor, however, was lounged back like Stephanie, legs crossed, looking bored.

Lucien walked to the seating area as Cosmo pushed away from his desk and approached from the other side.

“I apologize for the delay. Traffic,” Lucien muttered, stopping at the back of the vacant armchair across from Stephanie.

“These things happen,” Gregor murmured, studying Lucien.

Lucien crossed his arms on his chest and leveled his eyes on Gregor, ignoring the others. Rude, he knew, but he didn’t give a f**k. He needed to get this done and he needed to go home and release Leah so she could begin healing from the wounds he’d willfully inflicted, enjoying every f**king second of it.

“Unfortunately I must apologize again. I know my postponements have been frustrating and today’s delay the same but the reasons for this meeting are now moot. This afternoon, I’ll be releasing Leah from her contract.”

He heard the swift hiss of Stephanie’s indrawn breath at the same time he heard Cosmo’s whispered, “What the f**k?” Both of these came with Avery growing more alert and Gregor’s gaze turning sharp.

“I’m sorry?” Gregor asked softly.

“I’m releasing Leah,” Lucien answered.

“Fucking hell, Lucien!” Stephanie snapped as she shot out of her chair. “What’s going on?”

Lucien looked to Stephanie. “It’s none of your concern.”

Her eyes got big. “None of my concern? Are you mad?”

Lucien took in a long, slow breath and held her eyes but he did not speak.

Stephanie didn’t like that, leaned forward and demanded, “Answer me! Are you mad?”

“I’ll repeat, Teffie, it’s none of your concern.”

“You are mad,” she whispered, her eyes narrowing.

“Lucien even you cannot expect to tip our culture on its head after five hundred years of convention then, weeks later, change your mind on a whim,” Cosmo put in, his voice low with anger.