Hostile Takeover

Chapter Eleven

Quinn kept walking and didn't stop until she was outside on the street and walking toward the closest bus stop in her too high heels. She was such an idiot. She had actually been ready to kiss him again and she hated that he still had a pull over her. She realised that he probably always would, but obviously Gray was moving on, not with Bella, but as she'd first thought with his divorce lawyer. Or maybe both. Tears stung her eyes which was probably the reason why she didn't notice the man following her. She didn't even notice him as she stood at the bus stop, probably because she was digging around in her bag looking for a tissue to dab at her eyes. But when the bus pulled up to take her back to her apartment she certainly noticed him. He practically lunged at her with his camera, photographing her in rapid fire as she mounted the steps of the bus. She glanced at him and realised it was the same photographer from before. He was stalking her. She shot him a horrified expression which she knew would be all over the front page of the papers by tomorrow morning.

"Get away from me," she snarled as she disappeared onto the bus and it pulled away. But everyone on the bus was looking at her. It was peak hour and there were no seats. She had to stand. She was shaken and scared by yet another encounter with one of Dylan's photographers. It was the most uncomfortable bus trip of her life and Quinn decided she would be going car shopping this weekend.

Quinn was still worked up when she made it inside her apartment. This photographer was starting to get to her and suddenly she wanted to distance herself from Gray as much as possible. She could only hope she landed an interview for the foreign correspondent position. She was certain Gray would not get in her way, not now. Quinn pulled the envelope she'd been carrying around all afternoon out of her bag and tossed the divorce papers onto her kitchen bench. She found a pen on the countertop and immediately signed her name then slipped them back into the envelope. Then she went straight into her bedroom and opened up her bedside drawer. She found the velvet box that contained the ring, opening it to make sure it was still there. Of course, it was, but Quinn wanted to look at it just one last time. It was truly exquisite and she wondered why Gray had never told her the diamond had come from his grandmother throughout their marriage. She guessed he never got around to it given the bad blood between her and his family. Perhaps he would've told her today if it hadn't been for Morgan interrupting them. She re-entered her kitchen and placed the ring on top of the envelope ready to hand to Byron on Monday. There was no way she was going to hand them back to Gray personally. She was done with ever seeing him again. Now if she could just forget the way he could turn her on with just one look, then she'd believe her own lies.

So much for keeping her dignity intact while her marriage fell apart around her. One little touch from Gray and she was ready to be all over him again. She hated that he had that power over her, hated that he could unravel her carefully constructed facade of contempt for him with just a look or a smile. It was almost as though he knew that deep down she was hurting inside, that really, if she'd had things her way, they would never have split up at all, they'd still be married and maybe they'd even be working on making a baby. Gray had just been warming up to the idea when everything had started to fall apart. She swiped away a tear as she tried not to think about how cute a mini version of Gray would look.

She wasn't going to think about that now. If she was quick enough she could still make it to her yoga session before girl's night with Kat and Summer.

****

Quinn could feel the pull in her legs and the burn in her arms as she held herself in place. It hurt, but she wanted it to. If she was completely honest, she would say the ice cream she'd had for breakfast was also sitting a little heavy.

"Breathe in," Seraphina said.

Quinn inhaled. It burned more.

"Breathe out."