Lila

She was safely back at her apartment, though feeling very sore, before the knock came. When she opened the door, Josh was there, frowning. The courier stood behind him looking pale and shaky.

​​

"What did you do to the poor boy, Josh?" she asked kindly, holding out her good hand for the package.

"Were you expecting this?" Josh said gruffly.

"Yes, I'm sorry. It's from a friend—for the wedding, and I'm just so scatterbrained… I didn't even think to tell you. I'm sorry if you got concerned."

The guy held out the package and a unit for her to sign on. She had to extend her bad arm, and winced, but got the little screen signed, then took the small box from him. The courier turned on his heel and hurried down to the stairwell door, not even waiting for the elevator, with a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Lila—" Josh started, but she waved him off.

"I'm sorry, I know I should have warned you. I'm just… this is a wedding gift and I'm not… I'm not sure I'm ready for that," she said, without meeting his eyes. "I didn't want to talk about it."

He sighed and put a hand to her shoulder. "Okay, I get it. But please, promise me, from now on, you'll let us know if anyone's coming. I almost pulled a gun on that guy."

She put a hand to her chest. "I'm sorry. Yes, I will. I promise."

"Did you want me to come in and check the package?"

She went quiet, like she was thinking about it, then shook her head. "No. No, I need to do this. But thank you." She tried to smile up at him, but the look of concern and compassion on his face almost sent her over the edge. "I'm going to go take a look at this then take a nap. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay."

When she'd closed the door, she walked as quickly as she was able with her sore side into the bedroom where she had scissors and tape already out. She tore the box open and John had been thoughtful enough to put a beautiful, velvet setting for an even more beautiful necklace—a thin, gold chain with a teardrop pearl on the end. It was stunning, and simple, and exactly what she liked. How had he known? There was a small note in the box and she opened it hurriedly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Josh wasn't coming into the apartment.

"Lila, beautiful, I'd seen this several times and got it for you in a hurry tonight. I wanted to bring it, but I couldn't. So John's going to pass it on for me if anything goes wrong and I don't get back to you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Do you hear me? You're the only thing that matters anymore. Don't worry about me. I'm going to fix this. All of it. Once and for all. And then we'll finally be able to relax and enjoy each other. It's my dream for us. Always yours, Dane."

It was so unexpected, so perfect, and so chilling, that she just stared, and re-read it.

It was Dane.

It was really him?

When had he bought this?

The sob broke out of her throat like it was ripped. Forgetting everything she'd been meant to do, she clutched the note to her chest and slumped onto the bed, crying so hard she was worried she'd unset her rib.

Oh Dane… oh Dane… Oh my husband…

She didn't know how long she lay there, unable to think of anything but his face, his smile, his touch. At some point she took the necklace out of its setting with shaking hands and put it on. Looking at herself in the mirror just sent her back to the bed, sobbing into the pillow again.

But she knew she couldn't give into this fear and grief. She had to get this package on its way back to John.

As soon as she could breathe without sobbing, she tore the necklace setting out of the box to reveal the careful slots beneath it—two compartments just big enough for phones, and a small box attached to the packaging, with a removable lid that would click back on.

Her fingers shook so badly she had trouble getting the tiny device out of her hair where it had been stuck to her scalp since Dane had put her in the bin and sent her out with Chris.

He'd written it on her hand earlier that evening.

HAVE DEVICE. TINY. NO SIGNAL. RECORDS AND STORES. NEEDS JOHN.

She'd looked at him in the dark and written on his hand WHERE?

STUCK IN HAIR.

He'd taken it off and stuck it on her, so even Chris didn't know. He'd warned her about that. NO ONE CAN KNOW. NO ONE.

She took a look at the little thing carefully. It looked like a pimple. If it hadn't been so serious, she would have laughed. She dropped it into the box and snapped the lid closed, then placed her old phone and Danes in the slots in the box. With a hesitation, she also dropped the burner phone in there, though there was no slot for it. John apparently hadn't known she'd have it. But she didn't want to leave any stone unturned. Just in case. She'd already gotten the message off of it that Dane had sent that night—another thing that had made her cry.

Then, she put the necklace setting back into the box, pressing it down so it would hold the contents securely, resealed the box, and tore off the delivery label so the return label showed underneath.

She felt ill. But that was probably good. Josh would be more likely to believe her.

Rubbing her eyes again, and aware that her nose was still plugged with snot from all the crying, she stumbled to the front door.

Josh whirled when she opened it, his eyes widening. She must look worse than she thought. "I can't… I can't take this," she said hoarsely. "I can't… I can't look at it. They said I could return it. Can you please… could you get this taken to the post office, or something?" she said in a tiny voice.

"Of course. I'm so sorry Lila."

She shook her head and waved him off. "Please… I just need to be alone."

He nodded sadly and she turned back into the house and closed the door, let herself cry again in case he could hear, and headed back to the bedroom, to the necklace, to the note, and to her abject terror that she'd never see Dane again.

*****

NOTE: If you are not reading this content on WebNovel.com or the WebNovel app, the content you're reading has been stolen. Piracy is a crime. REPENT! Come join me (the author) for hundreds of free chapters and daily updates here:

https://www.webnovel.com/book/secretly-loved-by-the-dangerous-ceo_18741039705804205