Chapter 201


    Chapter 201: A Close Eye


    Moana


    By the end of the weekend, I was dying to get back to work. Since we decided not to leave the


    penthouse after all, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt any to return to teaching. Besides, E needed to go


    back to school as well, and since she didn’t remember the events of the night that we were kidnapped


    she was only getting more aggravated by the day. With each passing day, E was bing more


    confused and agitated and I was feeling more stir crazy, which only led to increased shbacks from


    the whole ordeal.


    So, on Monday morning, I got dressed for work.


    “Where are you going?” Edrick asked, looking up from his newspaper as I walked through the living


    room.


    “I need to get back to work,” I said. “I can’t just use a substitute forever. Tomorrow, maybe E should


    go back to school as well.”


    Edrick’s icy gray eyes widened. He threw his newspaper down and stood abruptly, shaking his head.


    “You can’t go. It’s dangerous.”


    “Edrick, I’ll be in a school just a few blocks away in the middle of the afternoon,” I said. “There’s a


    security guard on the campus who watches everything. I’ll tell them about the situation so they can


    keep an eye out for any trouble.”


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    For a few moments, the Alpha billionaire stared wildly at me as he gritted his teeth. I held my head high


    to show that I wasn’t going to back down; despite what had happened almost two weeks prior, I wasn’t


    a damsel in distress, and I had a job to do.


    Finally, Edrick seemed to see that I wasn’t backing down and he let out a sigh, passing his hand over


    his face.


    “Take one of the bodyguards with you, then,” he said quietly. “Take Darren. He’ll protect you. Actually,


    I’ll drive with you as well.” Before I could say anything, Edrick rushed over to the foyer and began to slip


    his shoes on. I watched as he pulled two surgical masks out of his pocket, then held one out to me


    along with my wide-brimmed sun hat. “Here. To protect your identity during the walk. We’ll go out the


    back, and if you tuck in your hair, you’ll be less likely to be noticed—”


    “Edrick,” I said exasperatedly, “hold on. I’ll walk with you and wear the disguise, but I can’t bring a


    bodyguard to school. Darren is big and looks threatening. He’ll scare the children, and I don’t even


    think that the headmistress will allow it anyway. And also, I want to walk, not drive. I feel cooped up.”


    Edrick stared at me for another few moments. I could tell right off the bat that he wouldn’t give up on


    the bodyguard, nor was he likely to give up on most of his stiptions. I figured that it was worth a try,


    though.


    Finally, after a long time of staring silently at each other, Edrick seemed to relent a little bit.


    “I know that you feel safer with Ethan and Kelly in jail, but it’s still dangerous for you out there,” he said


    firmly. “But how about this: can you just let one of the bodyguards drive you? They can just wait in the


    car and keep an eye on the school entrance while you’re at work. If you’ll just allow that, I promise I


    won’t nag you about it any longer.”


    I chewed my lip for a moment, thinking. Edrick was right; it was still dangerous, and even if no one


    knew that I was the Golden Wolf yet and I wasn’t yet at risk of being hunted, the paparazzi were on


    another frenzy because of the news footage of what happened at the warehouse. Finally, I nodded and


    sighed.


    “Okay,” I said. “I’ll let one of the bodyguards drive me.”


    “Thank you.” Edrick let out a small sigh of relief, then walked up to me and kissed my forehead. I felt


    myself blush a bit; he had been a lot more physically affectionate ever since I marked him, and I had to


    admit that I was enjoying it quite a lot.


    “And E can go back to school, too?” I asked, looking up at him.


    Edrick nodded, although a bit hesitantly. “I’ll talk to her about it today,” he replied. Secretly, although I


    wasn’t going to pressure him, I hoped that he would also talk to her about what really happened, and


    what her mother was really like. I doubted that he would do it so soon, though. Part of me thought that


    he should set up counseling for her ahead of time, as that news would no doubte as a major shock


    to her. She might even resent him for lying to her. E was a smart girl, not just an airheaded little kid


    who couldn’tprehend suchplicated topics. She deserved the truth, but the truth woulde


    with unforeseen consequences.


    As I thought about this, shes of seeing E’s little sleeping body tied up to the chair in the warehouse


    suddenly and unexpectedly shed through my mind, followed by images of Ethan holding the gun up


    to my face. I felt a pang in my chest, as though something was weighing me down and restricting my


    breathing. For the briefest of moments, I felt as though I was back there again… Back in the


    warehouse with the bright white spotlight beaming onto me.


    “Moana?” Edrick’s voice pulled me out of my daze. “Moana, are you okay?”


    When I came back to reality, I quickly blinked the tears out of my eyes and nodded, forcing a smile.


    Edrick was looking down at me with concern drawn across his face.


    “Sorry,” I said, hoping that he hadn’t seen my tears. “Thank you for being so understanding.”


    Edrick looked at me for a moment with a worried look in his eyes. I thought for sure that he had picked


    up on my shback and that he would tell me not to go, but surprisingly, he didn’t say anything. He just


    nodded and stepped onto the elevator with me, then took me downstairs to get into the car. He saw me


    off with another kiss on my forehead, and then I watched his face fade into the distance as the


    bodyguard drove off.


    Those shbacks had been happening more and more frequently with each passing day. It was


    strange, but they almost seemed to get more vivid as time went on, as though the horrific experience of


    what happened in that warehouse was blocked out of my mind at first but was now returning. I thought


    that it was just from being cooped up in the penthouse… It had to be.


    Surely I would feel better after another few days at work.


    But somehow, no matter how much I told myself that things would get better, there was a part of me


    that wasn’t so sure. And as the bodyguard drove me to work, I began to wonder if I would have a


    shback while I was teaching. I knew that I would be able to handle a simple shback if one were to


    happen at work, buttely, I had been feeling a sense of losing control during some of the worse


    shbacks.


    I hoped that it wouldn’t trigger me to shift involuntarily.