Page 77 of Wild Heart

Ivy sent me an apologetic look.

I waved my hand in the air dismissively. “Go. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Yes, I want to know how those possible studios work out for you. See you later, Ava. And congratulations on the new place.”

“Thanks.”

With my heart pounding wildly, I scurried out of the hotel as fast as I could. Without giving it a second thought, I made my way to the office building where Tate worked.

For days now, I believed he had slept with another woman. Days spent agonizing over what to do, how to confront him, and if I could ever move on.

And it had been for nothing.

Please, God, I hope it had been for nothing.

I parked, flew out of the car, and raced toward the building.

“Please, please, please,” I chanted quietly.

Before I knew it, I was riding the elevator up to the floor where Tate worked, my body trembling. The doors hadn’t even opened fully when I dashed out and straight to his office.

I burst through the door, but he wasn’t there.

An overwhelming sense of panic bubbled up inside of me. I needed to talk to him. It was then I recalled Ivy mentioning he might have been in a meeting.

My feet carried me down the hall, away from his office and toward the conference room. I made it to the door and couldn’t see through the windows lining the wall since they were covered with closed blinds.

Maybe this was crazy. Maybe I was out of my mind.

But I had to see him.

So, I put my hand on the doorknob and flung the door open. My eyes landed on Tate, who was seated at the opposite end of the table. And though I was aware there were other people in the room, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

20

TATE

If it hadn’t beenthe force with which the conference room door opened, it would have been the look on Ava’s face that made it happen.

Never, not once in all the years that I’d been working, had Ava ever barged into a meeting. She’d never even entered my personal office that way. Truthfully, she rarely made visits to see me while I was here at work, but if she’d stopped at Westwood’s for something—whether to see one of my sisters or otherwise—she’d always been composed.

Ava was the very opposite of composed now.

I could see the stress in her expression. Her eyes were wide, begging and pleading with me. And even from the distance, I could see her skin was flushed with a sheen of sweat as she struggled to catch her breath, which was quick and shallow.

She seemed to be panicked about something.

And considering I wasn’t expecting to see her until the end of the week, at best, I was even more concerned at what I was witnessing now.

Fortunately, I was at the end of my meeting, so I didn’t hesitate to act. “Okay, that’s all for today. Everyone can get towork on what we discussed, and I’ll touch base shortly to follow up. You’re free to go.”

Even if, like me, they had not a clue as to what was happening, my staff was easily aware of the severity of the issue, so they were swift about making their exit. I stood from my chair at the far end of the table and kept my eyes on Ava as, one by one, everyone else left the room.

She didn’t move.

She hadn’t even taken her eyes off me, not even when people were moving past her.

Though nobody lagged behind or took their time, it felt like every second was minutes long. I waited about ten seconds after the last individual walked out of the room before I asked, “Are you okay? What happened?”