25
Eva
A scream rings through the office, ruining the peace and quiet I’d been enjoying for most of the morning.
I sit up abruptly, wondering if I truly heard that or if someone was playing a video too loud or—
“What was that?” my secretary exclaims, sitting up in his chair immediately.
“I don’t know,” I say, already making my way in the direction of the sound. Whatever it was, it can’t be good.
By the time I’ve entered the hall, though, several other people are making their way toward Bill Steinman’s office at the far corner of the building.
I can hear mutters of exclamation and worry, and when I reach his door, I can already sense an impending dread, based on the faces of the people around it.
I peer inside, and several employees move out of the way for me. Through the receptionist area, I can see directly into his office.
And sprawled out on his big, cherrywood desk, I can see the limp shape of Bill, facedown, as if he were dumped haphazardly on top of it. Next to him, his receptionist, Joan, has her hand over her mouth as several other employees assess the situation.
“He’s out cold,” someone says beside me.
“Like someone knocked him out clean,” another replies as I listen in to what updates they can give me.
“What’s going to happen?”
“Who did this to him?”
I immediately look around, my mind already settled on a good idea for who could have possibly done this.
Only one person I know would be so reckless.
“Make sure someone’s called an ambulance,” I yell to the group of employees next to me.
“They’re already on their way,” one replies, and I make my way down the hall, past the quickly gathering crowd of onlookers.
I’d tell them to get back to work, but having the COO of a company unconscious on his desk isn’t an everyday occurrence, so I can’t really fault them.
I rush into Tanner’s office, and finding it empty, I make for the lobby of the building, jamming the main floor button about a thousand times before the elevator finally acquiesces to my wishes.
I’m not even really sure how I know where Tanner is, but somehow, I just kind of do.
The elevator opens, and I stride out just in time to catch a tall outline with dark hair shouldering his way through the outside doors of the Qualtechnics building, hands shoved in his pockets.
I give chase, my heels clicking on the marble entranceway.
By the time I get outside and reach Tanner, he’s standing at the edge of the curb, pacing back and forth. His shoulders are hunched, and his brow is furrowed, the deep creases around his eyes giving him the look of some dark, avenging angel.
Regardless of how wonderful he makes me feel, he’s officially gone too far.
“Tanner?” I ask, my heart desperately wanting to believe he didn’t do this.
For a moment, he keeps looking away, staring at nothing as if his mind is elsewhere. When he turns to me, his expression is darker than I’ve ever seen before.
Haunted.
“I’m sorry, Eva.”
For a moment, I pity him. He looks so miserable. But I can’t ignore the fact that I let my guard down and he betrayed my trust.
Upstairs, my company is in shambles. Everything I feared is now happening, just when I was starting to relax.
Why does Tanner have to have everything his way? It meant a lot to me that he would let me have a say, because so many men in my life have made decisions like they knew better.
I didn’t want Tanner to be like that.
I want a partnership. Someone I can trust when they say they won’t go behind my back and decide things without me.
I don’t want the chaos of my home, with constant fights and no compromise or teamwork at all.
My heart is hollow but aching as I stare back at him. “Why?” is all I can ask.
His eyes are tortured. “Eva, there’s so much to tell you.”
“No,” I say. “This isn’t some complicated thing. You said you wouldn’t do this. You broke your promise.”
“I’m trying, okay?” His tone is harsh, but he’s turned away from me now, hands in his pockets. “I’m not perfect.”
“True, because punching out the COO just because you lost your temper is pretty far from perfect.” My words are harsh, but my heart is hurt. I’m putting walls up because Tanner’s inability to act as a team with me is making this feel all too familiar and chaotic.
I’ve had people try to push me around and say they know better my whole life.
I didn’t want this with my soul bond.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he says, turning to face me again, eyes so pained I just want to run to him and wrap him in my arms.
Despite all of this, he’s my soul bond, and I can feel that powerful connection.
“Tell me why you did this.”
“I was trying to protect you,” he says, everything about his expression and posture begging me to understand.
But I’ve seen what happens when someone keeps allowing their needs and wants to be smothered by a more dominant partner who won’t take their input.
I’ve seen the tug-of-war that ensues, and I don’t want any part of it.
“You’ve set us so far back,” I say. “Now I have to focus on Qualtechnics. Making sure that—”
“They’re going to fire you,” he says abruptly.
His words linger on the silent morning air between us, and for a moment, I’m too shocked to speak.
“What?”
“In the merger,” he says, pacing now as he runs a hand through his hair. “I talked to Morgan about the situation, and he mentioned it.”
“When?” My heart feels like it’s going to break out of my chest with a sledgehammer.
He looks slightly guilty now. “Yesterday.”
I let out a ragged breath. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought I could fix it,” he says desperately. “I thought—”
“How could you hide this from me?” My hands curl into fists. “Don’t you see that this is the whole problem? You’re still Commander Tanner, making all the decisions and expecting me to just be fine with it. You aren’t trying to understand that it’s important to me to have some control over what happens in my life and my world.”
“Eva, I was going to tell you once I knew there weren’t options…”
“You should have told me when you knew!” I’m practically spitting because now I’ve been betrayed from two sides.
I let my guard down with Tanner, gave myself to him, and he broke his promise a day later.
I’ve given Qualtechnics my whole adult working life, and they’re going to throw me away in a merger like garbage.
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” he says brokenly.
I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Aren’t we supposed to be united? A team? I could have been trying to fix this with you.”
He looks at me, shocked, as though he hadn’t even considered such a possibility.
“It’s not your job to handle everything, Tanner,” I say frustratedly. “You’re not God, making decisions for us all.”