Chapter 11

• Every word out of her mouth sent a stake through my heart, but I knew that I couldn't think about it too much. I need to focus on Ms. Belcalis's well-being first and foremost.
• Biting down my own pain, I calmly reassured her, "Ms. Belcalis... Ms. Belcalis, I will bring you home and back to Liam, but you need to calm down and take a deep breath with me. You're going to hurt yourself more if you don't, and I'm sure Liam won't want that either."
• She immediately stopped mid-motion at the sound of his name and sucked in a harsh breath with a shakey nod before letting it out slowly.
• "Good, that's good. Now take another breath with me."
• She nodded timidly and followed me in, taking another deep breath and letting it out shakily. Her heart rate slowly fell back down as she repeated this a few more times with me. Although she was still on high alert, at least it was better than before. At least I knew that she wouldn't accidentally hurt herself.
• "I'm going to bring you to your office now and grab your bag, okay?"
• Her hand tightened around the fistful of my dress shirt that had collected between her fingers, but she eventually nodded acceptingly.
• I carefully shifted my arms to place her in a slightly more comfortable position and made sure that my jacket fully covered her before walking out of the room and toward her office. She was still stiff in my arms, but at least she wasn't pushing me away anymore.
• I was sure that all the other employees heard the loud ruckus coming from the conference room earlier, but none of them dared turn to stare at us as I walked out of the room, knowing that it would be best to keep their heads down and out of my sight.
• When I reached her office, I immediately spotted her bag and easily picked it up while balancing Ms. Belcalis in only one of my arms, as she was just that much smaller and lighter than me in comparison. Ms. Belcalis hugged her tiny purse to her chest with one hand while her other hand continued to hold onto my shirt.
• As I walked out to the elevator and down toward the garage, she slowly leaned into my chest as her eyelid began to droop heavily. The exhaustion of today's events must've caught up to her little body. Soon enough, she had completely passed out in my arms with a slight rise and fall of her chest.
• In any other scenario, I would've been ecstatic to see that she was comfortable enough to sleep in my presence, but I had more important things to focus on at the moment.
• For one, I needed to drive her back home before she woke back up. I was more than certain that she would freak out if she woke up fully coherent and in an unfamiliar environment. She would probably only becomes more stressed out if she realized that she had fallen unconscious next to male stranger.
• My jaw tightened at the thought as I gently set her down on the passenger seat of my car.
• I needed to get her back to Liam, her husband. It was the best choice for her well-being even if I wished with all my might that she could be satisfied with me and me alone. But I knew that it would never happen. She was never mine and would never be either.
• I gently pried her fingers off of my shirt and tucked her hands into her lap. My fingers mindlessly trailed along her cheeks and brushed her loose strands of hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep, completely relaxed without any fear of her surroundings, unlike all other times I've seen her.
• When my fingertips reached her lips, I unconsciously swiped my thumb over her bottom lip but quickly yanked my hand back when I realized what I was doing. I hastily pulled my jacket back up to her chin and leaned back from the car.
• No matter how hard I tried to forget about her, no matter how much I reminded myself that she wasn't mine, I always seemed to be drawn back to her like a moth to a flame.
• And now I had to drive her back home and hand her off to the one who actually held her heart, to see the one person that I knew existed in her life but never wanted to meet.
• Pushing through a dreadful 20 mins of stomach-churning drive, I eventually reached her place on the upper side of Manhatten in Washington Heights. It might've been a bit of an intrusion of privacy, but I had fished her address out of the HR system to bring her back.
• Her home was a quaint little townhouse squeezed between two large buildings. There were all sorts of green vines and plants spilling out of her windows and growing up along the exterior of her house, giving it a bit of a down-to-earth feel despite being awfully close to the Bronx.
• I parked the car in front of her driveway, trying to think of a good way to tell her husband what had happened at work and preparing myself for what will most likely be a resignation letter from Ms. Belcalis next week such that I probably wouldn't ever see her again after today.
• My stomach dropped at the thought.
• Was this really it?
• I glanced over at her peacefully sleeping body. Despite everything that had happened today, she still looked ethereal to me.
• Even though I knew her husband was probably sitting in the house right in front of me, I couldn't help yearning for her, wishing that I wouldn't have to see her off so soon.
• My fingers mindlessly thumbed the ends of her hair as the heavy thought weighed on my mind.
• Letting it slip out of my fingers, I released a heavy sigh as I climbed out of the car and rounded it to the passenger's side. No matter how much I wished for it, I couldn't kept her to myself for she was never mine to begin with.
• Opening the door, I carefully lifted Ms. Belcalis's unconscious body out of the car, making sure not to wake her. I walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell, making a little chime ring through the house.
• I waited for a few minutes without any responses or sounds of any incoming footsteps. Was no one home yet?
• Right as I was about to ring it again, a pair of bright violet eyes popped out in the lower window next to the door. It was a little boy with dark black hair and eyes that looked so familiar, but he disappeared from the window just as fast as he appeared.
• Fuck... Not only is she married, but she also had a child...