Leonard couldn't take any of what the therapist was saying to him any longer. He wanted to be away from that place, he needed to reach out to his wife. "I will uhmm, I will be on my way." He announced and got up and left the room, even as the therapist wished to explain something to him. As he pulled into his car, he tried ringing Matilda 's line, but it wasn't going through and the moment he turned on the ignition of his car, he heard a beep on the phone and checked through. He gasped the moment he noticed Matilda on the bed all asleep.It wasn't something bad, but the reality that it was an anonymous individual who had taken that photo horrified him. There was only one person, who could pull such a thing and that was Elena .Leonard drove through the road like a raging bull. If anything happened to Matilda , he was willing to find Elena and kill her. When he arrived at his apartment, Leonard got down from the vehicle and rushed to the house, yelling out Matilda 's name. The m
Though he employed a new important staff without her acknowledgement, she wasn't going to just sack him. What were the other staff going to think of her?The company wasn't her private life where she would behave anyhow.But why on earth does it have to be the stranger she met in the elevator.Trying, her day was cursed.Everything gave her a headache.Matilda looked up at Leonard with disgust. Their first meeting wasn't okay and sacking him might give up the wrong message. And if he tells everyone what she had done, social media won't haste."Can I have your papers?" Matilda requested but Leonard 's frown has become his new mask."I hope you know, all documents are being submitted so, they should be on your desk." Leonard said angrily. " What is your name?" Matilda asked as she flipped through some documents.Even Roxie wanted to act because she didn't understand why her friend was being harsh to the new staff. She wondered but only kept staring suspiciously.Matilda on the
Alright, let me get this straight to be sure I understand. You're saying Mr Leonard asked if you would like to be a co-lead in the ongoing Gartrich Project? As in the same multimillion dollar project our company is working on alongside Rutledge Fay Inc., which took him several months to pull off?”“Keep it down, Tracy. Someone might hear you.” Elena looked around, tucking a loose strand of hair behind the back of her ear. “Yeah, Gatrich project, the same one Broadway Enterprise, the company's major business rival showed interest in,” Elena said with a shrug, fetching a can of fruit juice from the dispenser. “Ain't no way you'd be thinking about accepting the offer, girl! That's a big catch! Co-leading? One more word about thinking through the offer and I'm gonna whoop your ass really hard.”Elena rolled her eyes, walking past a couple of chattering employees, greeting one of them, Cathy, the assistant of Gary Simon, head of the Personnel department who stopped in her tracks at th
When Matilda finally collapsed onto a bed after her meeting in the throne room, she couldn’t fall asleep, despite the exhaustion in every inch of her body. After being roughly bathed by brutish servants, the wounds on her back throbbed and her face felt like it had been scrubbed to the bone. Shifting to lie on her side to ease the pain in her dressed and bound back, she ran her hand down the mattress, and blinked at the freeness of movement. Before she’d gotten into the bath, Benjamin had removed her shackles. She’d felt everything—the reverberations of the key turning in the lock of her irons, then again as they loosened and fell to the floor. She could still feel the ghost chains hovering just above her skin. Looking up at the ceiling, she rotated her raw, burning joints and gave a sigh of contentment.But it was too strange to lie on a mattress, to have silk caress her skin and a pillow cradle her cheek. She had forgotten what food other than soggy oats and hard bread tasted like,
She scowled as she stood. Her frown deepened when she discovered the head of the Guard smirking as they walked into the fray of the readying company. However, the unbearable urge to splatter someone across a wall lessened when they brought her a piebald mare to ride.She mounted. The sky came closer, and it stretched forever above her, away and away to distant lands she’d never heard of. Matilda gripped the saddle horn. She was truly leaving Endovier. All those hopeless months, those freezing nights. . gone now. She breathed in deeply. She knew—she just knew—that if she tried hard enough, she could fly from her saddle. That is, until she felt iron clamp around her arms.It was Benjamin, fastening her bandaged wrists into shackles. A long chain led to his horse, where it disappeared beneath the saddlebags. He mounted his black stallion, and she considered leaping from her horse and using the chain to hang him from the nearest tree.It was a rather large company, twenty all together.
Matilda brushed a stray wisp of hair from her face and allowed herself to be led into the clearing. If she wanted to break free, she’d have to go through Benjamin first. Had they been alone, she might have attempted it, though the chains would make it difficult; but with an entourage of royal guards trained to kill without hesitation . . .Benjamin remained close beside her while a fire was kindled and food prepared from the boxes and sacks of supplies. The soldiers rolled logs to make small circles, where they sat while their companions stirred and fried. The boss’s dogs, who had dutifully trotted alongside their master, approached the assassin with wagging tails and lay at her feet. At least someone was glad for her company.Hungry by the time a plate was finally laid in her lap, Matilda became a bit more than irritated when the Soldierdid not immediately remove her irons. After giving her a long warning look, he unlocked her chains and clamped them onto her ankles. She only rolle
She could still smell the fires that had raged throughout her eighth and ninth years—the smoke of burning books chock-full of ancient, irreplaceable knowledge, the screams of gifted seers and healers as they’d been consumed by the flames, the storefronts and sacred places shattered and desecrated and erased from history. Many of the magic-users who hadn’t been burned wound up prisoners in Endovier—and most didn’t survive long there. It had been a while since she’d contemplated the gifts she’d lost, though the memory of her abilities haunted her dreams. Despite the carnage, perhaps it was good that magic had vanished. It was far too dangerous for any sane person to wield; her gifts might have destroyed her by this point.The smoking fire burned her eyes as she took another bite. She’d never forget the stories about Oakwald Forest, legends of dark, terrible glens and deep, still pools, and caves full of light and heavenly singing. But they were now only stories and nothing more. To spea
Matilda stomach started to flip. She felt her cheeks flush red.She attempted to shake her self out of it, but it continued to resurface.Leonard 's unexpected use of the word "love" surprised me. It was the first time he had called me by such a loving term, and it gave me goosebumps."Are you addressing me as love?" I stuttered, her eyes unable to look away from his intense stare.Leonard 's mouth formed a slight grin, yet a hint of sorrow shone in his gaze. "There is more to our agreement than what is apparent, my dear. But it is not the right moment to talk about it."Before I could continue questioning him, a waiter arrived to get our food requests. I rapidly looked at the menu, trying to shift her focus away from the intense emotions brewing inside me. Leonard seemed lost in thought as he unconsciously made his decision.While we waited for our meal, I found her self sneaking looks at Leonard . It was impossible to resist the charm he exuded with his strong jaw