Chapter Thirteen

Zach

Zach jolted up in bed, breathing heavily, his chest covered with sweat. When he looked around and took in his surroundings, he realized that what he’d experienced was just a dream. It was just too real, way too real.

He flung his legs to the side of his bed and sat there for a moment to come to his senses, rubbing his face with his hands to try to wake himself up. Somehow, he had dreamed about his destined.

How she rejected him, and he became weak. So weak that it killed him. He shook his head as if to get rid of the almost lifelike memory.

It was time for a good strong cup of coffee, he thought to himself. When he walked into his kitchen, he saw Ethan sitting at the breakfast bar reading the newspaper.

“Morning,” he grumbled, barely audible.

“Good morning, bud! Sleep well?” Ethan said, visibly in a very good mood.

“Not really,” Zach answered. He grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured some of the coffee that Ethan had made.

“How come?” Ethan asked. He looked at Zach with a bit of concern in his eyes.

Zach pulled out the stool next to Ethan and sat down with a sigh, then took a big sip of his coffee.

“Hmm, this is good,” he grunted. “Nothing better than a good cup of coffee in the morning.”

“I agree.” Ethan smiled a little, but still had a concerned look on his face.

“I had this crazy scary nightmare. Made me wake up in not such a friendly way,” Zach said to answer his friend’s question, then he drank some more of his coffee.

“Do you have a lot of those?” Ethan asked him, now fully turning to talk to his friend.

“I never remember any of the dreams I have at night,” Zach said, and finished his coffee in one big gulp. “But this one was so real, I can’t seem to forget. I want to, though. It was a horrible dream.”

He got up and walked to the sink to rinse his cup. “I am going to get dressed. It’s time to get to work.”

Ethan looked at him while he walked out, and frowned. He was concerned about his friend.

When Zach came back out of his room, fully dressed with his blazer in hand, Ethan turned around to look at him.

“I have some news to tell you,” he told Zach.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if you notice something different about me,” he asked carefully, trying to awaken Zach’s curiosity.

Zach fumbled with the cuff of his sleeve, trying to fasten the button. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, sorry.” Zach looked up. Is there something I should know about?”

“Joanna and I pledged ourselves to each other yesterday. We’re now fully committed to being destined lovers,” Ethan’s cheeks turned a little pink, and he looked down. “She is now a member of the family.”

“Seriously, that is great for you guys!” Zach walked over to Ethan and patted him on the back. “She’s taking big steps very fast. At least for an outsider, that is. I’m glad she understood the branding is a mark of your love.”

“She asked for it herself. She is very curious and wants to know everything about us.”

On his way to the office, Zach got a call from one of his employees. Something about a problem with a client.

In an instant, he decided to drop by to see what the problem was for himself. He had no appointments this morning, so he had the time. When he was back in his car from the visit to his client, he headed for the office.

It was almost lunchtime already; time had flown by. When he arrived at the underground parking garage, he parked his car in his dedicated spot, grabbed his stuff and his phone, and got out.

He threw the strap of his briefcase over his shoulder and walked over to the elevator. While he waited for the elevator to come down, he checked his phone for messages.

One was from his captain, Ron, to inform him about some break-ins by some thugs, another was from Christian to inform him that he had started the interviews, and two were from Adrian about stuff going on at his family.

While he was focused on reading the messages thoroughly, the elevator opened, and he walked toward it. He noticed someone bumping into him with their arm.

He stepped into the elevator and turned around to push the button for his floor. Just before the doors closed, he looked up and saw the back of a small, slender woman heading for her car.

~“Destined,”~ he heard in the back of his head, as if his instincts were picking up on something he wasn’t. And then he smelled that familiar perfume. Did he really just walk by his destined and not recognize her?

He quickly pushed some buttons in the elevator to try and stop it, but it didn’t work. When it finally stopped to let some people in, he rushed out of the elevator to the staircase and hurried down.

Once downstairs, he looked around—was she still there? He scanned the garage to see if he could see her. He heard the sound of an engine and walked to where the sound came from. It must be her.

He heard the car drive away from him, and when he looked up, he saw an old, red car drive to the parking lot’s exit. ~No, no! This can’t be possible~, he thought.

He ran to the exit, but his briefcase hindered his movements. Zach reached the exit but was too late. His destined was gone and out of sight.

“Dang it!” he shouted and let some more curses slip from his mouth. ~“No, no, no, no! Not again, not again!”~ he thought to himself. Striding back to the elevator, he cursed again.

He couldn’t help but slam his fist against the wall just beside the elevator door. The elevator arrived and he got in.

Her perfume lingered in the air, which doubled his anger.

The elevator stopped at his floor, and he strode out, not looking up, trying to contain his frustration. Employees scurried out of the way, terrified of the murderous look on his face.

She had been on this floor, just a moment ago.

Once he was in his office, he slammed the door shut with a loud bang. He leaned against it and let out his breath very slowly, only realizing now that he had been holding it in.

He tried to contain his anger, he really tried. His breathing got heavier as his heart rate sped up.

“Aargh,” he roared, stepping over to his desk and wiping off everything that was on it—his computer, his papers. The stuff landed on the floor with a bang.

Then he lifted up the top of the desk, toppling the thing over again, making a lot of noise. He roared again but tried to calm down. He was heaving, his chest moving violently.

He stood there with his back to the door in the middle of the room, his fists balled, trying to control his breathing.

He heard a knock on the door.

“Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hunter, are you alright?”

“Go away! Leave!” Zach bellowed.

“Mr. Hunter, it’s me, Christian. I am coming in.”

The handle of the door went down, and the door opened slowly.

“No! Leave!” he bellowed again.

“Mr. Hunter—Zachary—what is going on?”

Christian’s form was becoming visible in the doorframe. When Christian saw Zach’s tense form, he entered cautiously.

Zach felt Christian’s hands on his shoulders.

“Turn around, Zachary. What is going on?” Christian asked him quietly.

“Nothing, it’s nothing, Christian.” Zach lowered his head and looked at the floor.

“Turn around. Look at me,” Christian pleaded. “Tell me what made you so upset.”

Unwillingly, Zach turned around but kept staring at the floor. “Nothing, Christian, I’m fine now,” he said quietly.

“Come with me. Let’s go to my office, and I’ll get someone to clean this mess up,” Christian said in a calming tone. He put an arm around Zach’s shoulder and led him to the other office.

Once inside Christian’s office, he led Zach to a sofa that was placed against one wall. “Sit down, calm down a little, take as long as you need. You can even lie down if you like. I’ll get some water for you.”

Christian headed out. Zach was still tense but was no longer about to explode again. He took a deep breath and laid his feet on the other end of the couch so he could lie down but shot up immediately.

The perfume, it was there. She had been there. No, it must be a trick of his mind. That was not possible.

After a couple of minutes, Christian came back with a glass of water. “Here,” he said, and gave the glass to Zach. He took one of the chairs that stood behind his desk and placed it opposite Zach to sit down on it.

“Now tell me,” he said, and he looked Zach straight in the eye. “What made you so upset that you trashed your office? You know you can trust me.”

“I… I…” Zach looked at his feet. He didn’t know what to say. He trusted Christian—he was his business representative for a reason—but he simply couldn’t tell him about his destiny.

Christian didn’t know anything about the mafia world and the family he led, let alone about pledging and those kinds of things. “I don’t know how to explain. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Look, I don’t want to force you to tell me if you’re not ready. I know I’m not in the position to scold you, but you can’t just barge in here and go mad like that.

“You are an example for your employees. They look up to you, you know.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Zach was quiet and rubbed his face with his hands. He actually was ashamed of his outburst; he felt like a little kid being scolded by his dad.

Christian got up from his chair and put it back in its spot, then said, “Well, I’m going to get some work done. Those interviews take a lot of time that I don’t actually have.”

Zach’s head jolted up. “Did you have some today? Are there any suitable candidates?” He looked at Christian expectantly. Maybe his destined had been here for an interview.

Christian’s head shot up to look at Zach with surprise. “I thought you weren’t interested in those interviews.”

“I know,” Zach sighed. “But I could use the distraction right now.”

“I made some folders of the candidates I have already talked to. You can skim through them if you like.” Christian handed him the stack of folders. “I have ranked them from most interesting to least interesting.

“The one on the top is the one I find the most suitable. A very polite young girl, very qualified. She was the last one I spoke with.”

Zach took the files from Christian and looked inside the first folder. When he read the name, his heart started to race, and his hands became clammy. He just knew this was her—this was his destined!