Turning to Stone (Heart of Stone: Book 2)

Chapter 17: Blindsided

Chapter 17: Blindsided

"Sophia's not part of this meeting." Helen's hand landed on the small of my back to encourage me towards the door. "She's just dropped off the drinks."

I took a step forward, but my legs had lost their strength, all power diverting to my brain as it dawned on me that this would be much harder to talk my way out of.

"Actually..." Mac relaxed his shoulders and adjusted his tie. "I truly am so sorry for the inconvenience, but that phone call was from my secretary, asking me to return to the office. It's an emergency. I can send a colleague—"

"No." All eyes landed on me as I interrupted him. "Mac, I've not been involved in any of the meetings—"

"Doesn't matter." His clipped words replaced his overly formal professionalism, and then he looked past me, towards Helen. "I'm sorry. I have a relationship with your colleague. It's a conflict of interest. I'll send someone else."

Regret and frustration creased his forehead as Mac swept past me to gather his paperwork from the table. A waft of his woody cologne drifted over me. A familiar scent coming from an unfamiliar version of him.

My stomach churned with the potential implications of this. Not just for me, but for him. All the rules. The anonymity. The secrecy. It was all to avoid this exact scenario. A scenario that neither of us truly believed would play out, but that we agreed to plan for just in case.

And now it had played out, and all our efforts had been for nothing. Because I was never supposed to be in that meeting. In that room. If I hadn't helped with the drinks, I never would've known that Mac was representing the other side, and he never would've known that I was involved with the team trying to silence his client.

After a final apology, he strode out of the room. My eyes remained glued to the back of his navy suit as his tall figure rushed down the hallway. Power returned to my limbs and propelled me forwards. I caught him at the lifts, sliding my body between his hand and the buttons.

"Mac, wait."

A huff of irritation tore from his throat. He clasped his hands to my hips and effortlessly lifted me out of the way, dropping me back to the floor a foot to the side. His index finger stabbed at the downward arrow.

"Mac—"

"Leave it, Sophia." He stared straight ahead at the metal double doors.

Tension rolled off him in waves, and when I wrapped my hand around his forearm, he instantly shrugged me off.

"I had no idea you were on this case," I said.

"Well, I'm not anymore. One of the biggest cases of my career and—" He snapped his mouth shut, his jaw clenching.

I narrowed my eyes. "It couldn't be avoided, could it? Not with all the secrecy you swore me to."

The lift doors opened, and Mac stepped inside, turning and looking at me for the first time since leaving the conference room.

"Not talking about it here. Or anywhere. For my sake and yours."

And then the doors slid shut and I was left facing my own flushed reflection in the metal panels. Before I had chance to consider what this meant for both of us, Helen called out my name.

"Sophia. My schedule has miraculously cleared up. Shall we have that talk now?"

*

Ed didn't look at me when I sunk into the seat beside him. His elbow rested on the tabletop, face buried into his hand. With Helen and Mark sat opposite us, déjà vu hit me—only this time, I didn't think I'd escape so lightly.