Emily's POV
I swore I was done with men, with wolves, with anything that's not my agency. I hated myself for being so gullible and playing into the hands of not one, but two Alpha's. .
I thought Damon traumatised me earlier after the ball, little did I know that my 'saviour' was a maniac.
I dug my nails deep into my palms for not connecting the dots when he admitted he was a leader of a rogue pack. They had no morals, nothing was too dirty for them to do.
"I know you don't want to see me here, but I just couldn't go to bed knowing that you're still mad at me, I'm sorry I didn't mean to… what happened to your face?!" Freda asked in shock.
She'd scared me, cause I don't expect to see anyone cuddled on my couch.
"Maybe next time, let me know before letting yourself in. I could have shot you." I said, getting over my initial shock.
"I think we have bigger fish to fry." She said, disregarding what I'd just said, but looking so intently at my face.
"Just leave me." I said to her,
I dumped my heels in the living room.
The red gown too was making me feel so silly and I couldn't wait to strip it off.
I'd gone to that ball, as a queen, and came back as a damaged rag doll, no different from what I'd been or felt ten years ago. It made me question if I'd really grown and healed, or if I was just able to live with myself because I was away from him.
"You have to talk. To me, to someone." Freda begged.
She'd followed me all the way to my room.
I could not give a hoot about privacy, so I stripped off my clothes right there, threw them in the direction of the bin, and missed, as expected.
"To you? Do you know how funny you sound? Is 'Freda' even your name? I don't think I know you anymore." I replied to her and went into the bathroom.
I purposely had sand themed tiles installed, so I could imagine myself at a beach whenever I felt down and decided to take a consolation shower.
"Yes! I'm Freda!" She screamed from outside. Her tiny voice barely made it past the sound of the shower.
I'd set it to about forty degrees, and was thinking of going higher.
I wanted to scrub all the memories out of my skin, out of my soul.
"Rahhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed loudly as I mistakenly tore myself on my thighs.
Everything had become so annoying, even my bathroom.
The water washed the blood away, but not the horrible feeling inside of me.
I felt invaded, like all my walls had been breached,mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually.
"It's Saturday, you should spend time with those you love." I said to her as I walked out of the bathroom in my full glory.
I needed the moisture to dry on me, I had zero intentions of towelling.
Abashed, Freda turned her back to me.
"Emily, I need you to know that I want to help you. You've been very good to me, and I only think it's a fair deal." She continued.
"Firstly, our 'deal' is nothing personal. You work for me, I pay you. But I need you to do the work with zeal, so I'm nice to you, you know, creating an enabling environment, it's really not deeper than that." I said.
"Really?" Freda asked and turned, not minding my clothless body.
"No." I admitted. She'd gotten too deep under my skin to deny that I hadn't begun to see her as just my personal assistant.
"Then please." She begged.
"What more did you know about this 'ball' that you left out while telling me the deets?" I asked, looking her in the eye.
"I knew who was throwing it. It's an exclusive ball, invitees were directly reached out to." She confessed.
"Good."I said, it made things far easier that she was telling the truth. "Who did he say he was?" I asked.
"I never met him directly, everything I know about him other than his name and fleet of companies, I got it by stalking." She replied to me.
"Good." I said again. "And just how deep did you stalk? How much do you know?" I asked her.
"Well, not so much. He does not have personal social media accounts, so I traced everyone who's close to him." She confessed. "Basically, his wife, Zyna Damon."
The sound of her name brought the gall up to my tongue.
Freda probably saw me flinch, judging from the crease on her face, but she immediately straightened up.
"And what did you see, love?" I asked her again.
"Just a couple of pictures of them together around the world." She admitted.
That's not what I'd be longing to hear.
I wanted bad news. I know I constantly told myself that I couldn't care less about how Damon's life without me turns out, the truth is I cared. Matter of fact, I cared too much.
My ears were almost straining, straining to pick up every word Freda said.
"Oh, and his retired maid, who accompanies him sometimes." She said,
I knew of whom she spoke, and really, Nala was quite inconsequential to the case at hand.
"So did you figure out why we were invited?" I asked the next question on my logic string.
"You." Freda corrected, "you were invited, mine came as an afterthought, just the previous night, with a stern reminder to make sure you attend. And I'm not gonna lie, I did find that weird and creepy, and I reached out to the owners of City Hall to verify the event. They said it was safe, so I dropped that thought."
"Is there something else you'd like to tell me?" I asked her, smiling and staring right into her eyes.
"He has your house address." Freda coughed. I swear I wanted to lurch at her and wring the life out of her.
"What did you do that for?" I asked, trying to contain my anger.