Our Cruel Hearts

Chapter Five

The ringing of my cell phone echoes in my dream, until I realise it's actually not and jolt awake. It's four in the morning and an unknown number is calling me, I weigh my options and every possibility before I answer. One of them being, throwing my phone at the wall.

"Ms Reyes, please come into the office. It's an emergency." Griffin speaks in a level tone but there's a hint of panic in his voice. His words bounce around my brain for a second before I realise what he's asking of me. Damnit, it's a Friday morning, I really needed the extra sleep.

"I'll be there in ten." He hangs up. Earlier this week I moved into staff headquarters, the only thing that'll make it possible for me to be there that quickly. I rush into the bathroom, my eyes swollen and blurry from sleep. I wash my face and brush my teeth, not realising it's already been 10 minutes. I throw a hoodie on with my sweatpants, strap a dagger to my thigh - just in case-  and rush out the door, probably looking as bad as death right now but something must be really wrong if Griffin called me himself. As I rush out into the hallway I notice Liam and James coming from their rooms, looking as though they were already up. I scan further down the hallway when I meet Meera's worried eyes. She looks just as distraught as I do when I throw my arm over her shoulders.

"What's going on?" My voice is hushed and filled with worry.

"I don't wanna be the one to tell you," She says, her tone unreadable. My head starts reeling, is it something involving everyone back home? Are they hurt? Wait, no one here knows about them. That's not possible, we wouldn't be having a meeting about everyone back home. It has to be something else.

A group of five of us flood into the conference room, we're met with Griffin sitting at the head of the table - his designated seat. His head is resting in his hands and his reaction to us all flooding into the room is concerningly delayed. Griffin rises hastily, his weight shifting unsteadily. Everyone is caught in a conversation I haven't been listening to as I stare at Griffin, his hair is dishevelled and dark rings expand across the skin under his eyes. He's wearing a white shirt like he hasn't left work, but the top two buttons are un-done. It's too much of a strain to avoid trailing my eyes down his body, so I do it anyway and heat immediately pools under my skin at the sight of his sleeves rolled up his arms. My eyes halt at his neck for a moment when his dark onyx eyes find mine. Any movement of the blood under my skin halts at the sight of his droopy eyelids, so drained of energy and life. For a moment I wonder if I'm dreaming when he gives me the most pained slight smile. Pure desire is let loose in me and I nearly back up into Liam as I peel my eyes off of Griffin.

"Watch where you're fucking going Ayla!" Liam says as he shoves me away from him, the disgust so thick in his voice that my hand finds the dagger at my thigh in an instant, before I remember where I am.

"Liam." Griffin says from behind us, everyone pauses. "I didn't call you guys here for babysitting, so either get your shit together and give Ms Reyes some respect or leave." Griffin is massaging his temples as he growls these words out. My breath hitches in my throat and Meera's eyes widen with interest as she watches me for a reaction. I just clear my throat as Liam continues talking to James and the other guy that I sat next to in the meeting earlier this week.

"There's been an attack on Alistair and his people." Griffin's voice is clear and brings the guys to a hush. My mind reels, I told Luca to back off. He promised. Luca wouldn't break that promise, and I'll cling to that here. The room has fallen into silence and none of us dare to take a seat as Griffin speaks further.

"Alistair is in hospital, he was captured and brutally interrogated. He should be out in a week or two." If it's not Luca and everyone else, then who did this?

"Several of his employees were murdered, and several more walked out on him, their whereabouts are unknown." Griffin's voice is thick with authority but I notice his hands trembling ever so slightly as he leans on the table.

"I called you here to let you know things have changed with immediate effect, scratch the plan from earlier, back off. We've sent down our men to deal with the situation and find anything that could lead us to the several employees that abandoned Alistair. I'll fill you all in." His eyes meet mine for a second over that last part. As I listen to Griffin explain their plan I can't help but notice all the flaws in the spaces in between, it's a good plan considering it's been formed on short notice but getting his men involved so soon can have detrimental effects on the long term process of finding the source of the illegal weapons. I can't say any of this though, because once again, I've got a persona to keep up. My heart aches at the possibilities of this all going wrong and I weigh the outcome of speaking up now about this flimsy plan, I also wouldn't want Mr Marbroi to think I'm insulting his plan and risk my job.

"Why weren't we sent out sir?"  Liam interrupts and my train of thought is broken by his insufferable voice.

"You're all too valuable," He says this as he looks at James and Liam, and that confirms my suspicion of James' talents. I scrunch my face at the thought of Liam being valuable to the team, not something I can imagine with his childlike words still bouncing around my mind.

"Take today off, everything is on pause after the incident." Griffin throws his arms up in resignation, letting out a huff as he does. And before his words even settle Liam has turned to the other guys and started planning, Meera is looking at me but I'm looking at him. It doesn't seem normal that he looks this distraught and the lines are so blurred, I'm not really sure what is normal for me to do as his assistant. I've kind of just been thrown into the deep end here. The group lingers for a minute longer, not sure if we're dismissed even though Griffin has taken his seat and is typing away on his laptop. Like he hears my thoughts, he waves his hand to signal us to leave and everyone flows out of the room. Meera gives me a pat on the arm as she falls into step with the guys. I stand across the room for a moment when Griffin snaps his head up at me, his gaze dark and empty through his sagging eyes. Like it's second nature, I cross the room to where he sits and pull out the seat across from him.

"What can I do?" Figure he's dealing with a massive mess right now, I might as well help where I can, even if that would imply bringing him some water. Griffin narrows his tired eyes at my words, "What are you doing Ayla?"

"Attempting to be your assistant," I shrug.

"Don't," He says plainly before turning his attention back to his laptop.

"Pardon me? You hired me for a reason," I blink, my forehead creasing.

"My father hired you, because he doesn't think I'm capable of handling this job myself." Well, that's a loaded sentence. Disgust laces his voice and his eyes burn with irritation, and it isn't clear if it's directed at me or his father.

"I dont give a shit who hired me, I'm here either way, let me help." I may be speaking out of line according to him, but I've never cared for my image like that.

"You wouldn't be able to help, this whole situation is outside of your job title," Griffin doesn't even take his eyes of off his laptop as he says this. He's speaking but it all sounds like a whole lot of nothing to me.

"Try me."

"No." His voice is low and uncompromising.

"Come on, golden boy." I notice my hand on the table slowly inching towards his arm.

"Just fucking leave Ayla!" He slams his hand on the table and finally meets my gaze, and I fear I may have tipped him to his breaking point by trying to help. I slowly pull my hand back under the table. My eyes burn and I start biting at the skin lining the inside of my cheek as I try not to show any reaction. Griffin's gaze softens and regret washes over his eyes but I'm already on my way out. Fuck  he grunts, regardless, I'm already out the door allowing the darkness in the hallway to envelop me as I allow my nails to dig into my palms.