Sage

66

Harry.

I could feel the heat radiating off my body as I stepped off the elevator and immediately began storming toward my office. Luckily, all of my employees are either in their offices or on lunch, leaving the narrow hallway occupied only by the sound of my heavy breathing and determined footsteps. I have a million things racing in my mind right now, each thought towering over the other until there's nothing but a loud suffocating clangor.

My fist is itching to meet someone's nose, and I know exactly who it's gonna be.

Ellie's face replay's in my mind- the way I could physically see the light drain from her face when I told her I had to go to work. I couldn't forgive myself for that. I promised her I was taking the day off. I told her we had reservations, and we did. But all of that is out of the window because of him. I hated having to send her home in an Uber and not even being able to make sure she left safely because all that was on my mind was getting here.

I didn't get to hug and kiss her like I usually do before leaving. I didn't get to watch her bulbous nose crinkle as I flicked it with my finger, and I didn't get to tickle her belly and quietly promise our child I'd be coming back.

I didn't get to do any of that.

I simply left her sitting on my jacket, her eyes wistful and her face fallen in disbelief.

When I get to my office, I shove the door open and am immediately met with his hazel eyes.

I see Gale jump from his seat and rush toward me, but he's quickly pushed out of the way as I continue my way toward Tiki. My pulse radiates through my veins and my mind goes silent the second I raise my fist back and send it directly into his nose. The cracking sound relieves something in me that he's lucky I ignore.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I growl, shaking my hand to rid of the pain that begins to throb. Tiki stumbles back, his jaw stretching as he holds one hand to his nose, and the other out toward me in a rather weak attempt to keep me away. Blood trickles from the hand he uses to cup the assaulted area.

"Nice to see you too-" He manages through a choked cough.

"What the hell were you thinking, sending that to me while I'm out with my family," I gesture angrily, my blood boiling at the image of Danny's dead body, captioned with - we need to talk. While the image didn't particularly disturb me, the thought of Ellie seeing it did. How the fuck would I explain that? The more I think about it, the harder my heart beats. I don't even want to know what would have happened if she did. She would never forgive me.

I would lose everything.

I could have lost everything.

"Harry, calm down. He says this is about Danny-" Gale sets his hand on my shoulder and pulls me away.

"How the fuck is it about him when he's dead, Gale!?" I snap, harshly shrugging him off. None of this is making sense and Tiki has about five seconds before he joins Danny himself. Gale says nothing, only flickering his eyes to Tiki, which tells me he doesn't know shit himself.

"We need to talk... alone," Tiki says, still stretching his mouth while massaging his nose. His eyes narrowed at me, slightneing widening as if there were an underlying message I should have gotten.

I furrow my brows at him, my breathing still heavy and head angled slightly to the side as I try to figure out what the fuck he's talking about.

And then it clicks.

Quinn.

Gale has no idea he's standing in the same room as the man who killed his cousin.

My chest physically constricts as the realization dawns on me, making my head shake slightly.