Chapter 228

Moana

I let out a yelp. I jolted, and then everything stopped. The rain, the wind, the grass… All of it turned

back into the still, calm air of my bedroom. Michael’s hand no longer gripped my wrist, and the golden

glint of the knife in his hand turned into the soft amber glow of the lamp on my bedside table.

“Moana?” Dr. Rhodes said, sounding concerned. “Are you there?”

I quickly sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Y-Yes,” I replied. “I’m okay. It’s just…”

“What is it?”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I lied. “Dr. Rhodes… Will you be available to try again tomorrow?”

The therapist paused, then cleared his throat. “Sure. You can call me anytime if you want to try again,

or even if you just need to talk. Are you sure you’re okay, though?”

“I’m fine,” I lied again, even though my hands were shaking. “Thanks, Dr. Rhodes. I’ll call you

tomorrow.”

…

I didn’t sleep very much at all for the rest of the night. I was too nervous to try to sleep in case I

sleepwalked again or had another vision, but at the same time I also couldn’t stop thinking about the

vision I had during hypnosis.

It wasn’t really any different than my other visions. But this time, something just felt… off. It almost felt

as though there was something else in the mist behind Michael, another presence. Was there someone

else working with him?

The next morning, I woke up after getting a couple hours of sleep and awoke to the smell of bacon

rising up through the house. I was hungry, and my hypnosis session with Dr. Rhodes made me

temporarily forget about my anger toward Edrick, so I quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to

get something to eat.

When I walked into the dining room, Edrick and Ella were sitting at the table while Selina scurried

around placing food down.

“Good morning,” Selina said when she saw me. “Sit down. I made breakfast.”

I felt Edrick’s eyes on me, and instantly felt a little sheepish beneath his gaze. He looked at me with a

stony stare in his eyes, but there was also something soft and apologetic behind it. Instantly, I started to

wonder if I was too mean when I stormed off and wouldn’t speak to him at all yesterday.

Ella, on the other hand, was picking at her eggs with her fork. She was leaning her cheek into her

hand, and kept letting out loud, dramatic sighs every few seconds.

“I miss school,” she said.

“Ella… It’s Saturday,” Edrick chided gently. “You wouldn’t be at school anyway.”

Ella looked up at him. He was looking down at his newspaper, as he usually did during breakfast time,

and she took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at him.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth. That’s rude.”

Ella’s eyes widened at the fact that her father had seen her stick her tongue out without looking at her. I

had to stifle a smirk.

“Well, it’s still not fair!” she whined. “I won’t be able to go to school on Monday!”

Edrick sighed and folded up his newspaper calmly, then set it down on the table and picked up his cup

of coffee. “If you keep having an attitude, you wouldn’t be able to go back to school even if we were in

the city,” he said, to which Ella scowled. “Besides…” He gestured toward the set of open French doors

behind us that led out to the patio. “Isn’t it pretty here?”

Ella shrugged. “I guess,” she moaned. “But I still want—”

“Well, it’s not always about what you want.”

Edrick’s voice was short and stern. The table fell silent. Even Selina and I froze at Edrick’s sudden

snap; it was extremely rare that he ever was so stern with her. I opened my mouth to say something,

because I felt as though it was unfair for him to snap at her when he was the one who dragged her

away from home to begin with, but he quickly spoke again.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed and set his coffee cup down. “That wasn’t very nice of me.”

“Darn right…” I heard Selina whisper as she walked away. Edrick glanced up at her, but said nothing.

His eyes then wandered over to me, and his gaze locked on mine for the longest time.

Once again, I felt sheepish beneath the Alpha billionaire’s gaze. Part of me wondered if he had

overheard my conversation with Dr. Rhodes the night before. If he hadn’t heard it, I almost wondered if

I should say something to him about it… In private, of course.

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I felt my palms start to itch with anxiety beneath the table, and I

busied my hands with buttering my toast. It was also a way for me to break my gaze away from Edrick,

but I could feel him still looking at me nonetheless.

“I miss school,” she said.

“Ella… It’s Saturday,” Edrick chided gently. “You wouldn’t be at school anyway.”

“It’s okay,” Ella said with a sigh, breaking the silence. “I’m sorry too, daddy.”

Once again, Ella was acting beyond her years. Sometimes I really did forget that she was only eight

years old.

For a little while, the three of us ate in silence. The warmth of the coffee and the tasty breakfast food

eased some of my worries, although I still couldn’t get the image of my hypnosis session out of my

mind. If my intuition was right, and if someone was working with Michael, then who could it be?

Ethan and Kelly were in jail. Verona was likely not a suspect, and I trusted Edrick at this point. There

was no way that Selina or the maids were up to anything, either… There wasn’t anyone who I could

think of who could be working with Michael, and who could be an active threat anytime soon.

Unless it was someone who I didn’t know very well…

But, no. Edrick hand-picked all of our security guards and had done extensive background checks on

them. I trusted his judgment.

Maybe I was just being paranoid. Sometimes, maybe a feeling was just a feeling and nothing else…

Right?

At the end of our meal, Amy and Lily came and cleared the plates away. I got up and helped them, if

only to have a good excuse to not sit there in front of Edrick any longer.

But when I stood and walked to the kitchen with two plates in my hands, I heard Edrick clear his throat.

“Ella,” he said, his voice gentle, “can you come here, please?”

I heard Ella sigh, and the sound of her chair scraping against the floor as she pushed it back. I heard

her footsteps and then I peered around the corner to see Edrick holding out his arms for her. She

climbed into his lap, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Edrick then took in a deep breath, and looked up. He looked right at me and held my gaze for several

long moments.

All I saw was love in his eyes.

Then, he looked back down at Ella.

“Ella, there’s something that I haven’t told you. And I think you deserve to know the truth.”