Chapter 36 - 37
Elodie’s POV~
Today, Dante looked the same as always, tall, impossibly composed, and devastatingly handsome. And yet, his presence still hurts me. His expression didn’t even flicker when his eyes brushed over me. If anything, it grew colder, like frost crawling over glass.
Not a word. Not a pause. Just that hollow glance before he looked away and kept walking.
I swallowed hard and lowered my gaze. My voice came out in barely a whisper, a pathetic habit I hadn’t shaken off even after all this time.
“Alpha Dante...”
He didn’t stop. Didn’t acknowledge me. Just passed me like I was another faceless wolf in the hall. My heart tightened so painfully I thought it might tear open, but I forced my legs to move. I walked in after him, breathing shallowly, fighting the burn in my throat.
I tried to drown myself in the work piled on my desk, though it did little to ease the ache gnawing inside me.
By noon, my phone buzzed. My grandmother’s voice, gentle and warm, filled the line.
“Elodie, the Veneto Pack, a friend of mine from there sent us lamb this morning. The weather’s turning cold, you should come home tonight. I’ll have the kitchen prepare a feast, just like when you were a little girl.”
Her words tugged at something fragile inside me, a sliver of warmth in a world that had turned icy. My chest tightened as I whispered, “Alright, Nonna. I’ll come after work.”
That fragile hope carried me through the hours, though I didn’t see Dante again. Not until evening, when I was packing up to finally leave, my bag already slung over my shoulder, freedom so close I could taste it, when Chad, one of Dante’s secretaries, approached.
“Elodie,” he said briskly, dropping a file on my desk. “Urgent. This needs to be handled tonight.”