Chapter 178: Coffee With a Friend
Moana
As I held Olivia’s business card in my shaking hand, I wondered if I should call her.
I needed to know if she, too, had experienced these sort of strange occurrences. Although I couldn’t imagine why Edrick would ever want to give me something that would make my wolf sick, if someone really was intentionally poisoning me, then I needed to get out and get my baby to safety. However, I still had no way of knowing for sure, and I was afraid to ask Edrick or Selina about my wolf’s symptoms in case either of them were in on it and got suspicious of me.
But I still couldn’t be sure. Not only was I unsure of the situation with my wolf, but I was also still unsure of Olivia. I still couldn’t help but wonder if she really was an actress hired by Michael or someone else to get between Edrick and I, and so with a sigh I slipped the business card back into my purse and decided not to call her yet.
After all, Edrick had never really given me a reason not to trust him… Right?
However, as the night went on, I found myself unable to sleep. Edrick was staying up late in his study, and as I laid in his big king-sized bed in his dark bedroom, I kept tossing and turning relentlessly. The whole situation with the coffee that morning, followed by the smoothie, was suspicious to say the least. My first conversation with Olivia kept swirling around my head, and I couldn’t forget the fact that Edrick had stolen my wolf tooth at one point. And the worst part about it was that I couldn’t even talk to my wolf, who was normally a voice of reason, because she was too sleepy to even hear me. I felt alone.
Finally, I decided that I couldn’t sleep without contacting Olivia. If I really was being poisoned, and if it really was dangerous, then I couldn’t risk another day of practically being force-fed whatever was making my wolf sleepy. And if Edrick or Selina got too suspicious, then I had no way of knowing what other sorts of methods they would try to give me the poison.
While Edrick was still in his study, I quietly made my way to my room and retrieved the business card from my purse. I held it for a moment, reading the number in the dim light of my bedroom, before I took a deep breath and punched her number into my phone.
“Hi Olivia,” I typed. “It’s Moana. Can we talk? It’s important.”
When I hit send, the deep breath that I had taken in finally came out. I hid the business card back in my purse and quickly made my way back to Edrick’s room; and, by the time I got to his room, my phone buzzed already.
“Sure thing,” Olivia’s text replied. “I’ve been meaning to show you something, actually. Let’s meet up for coffee on Sunday?”
…
On Sunday morning, I prepared to meet Olivia for our conversation. Leading up to that morning, I had hidden the fact that I wasn’t drinking my morning coffee; lo and behold, Mina’s energy came back almost completely. Edrick and Selina didn’t seem to notice that I was secretly pouring my coffee down the sink when they weren’t looking, and by now I was almost entirely certain that they were, in fact, putting something in my coffee. There was no doubt about it; the way that my wolf’s energy perked up whenever I didn’t drink my morning coffee was too distinct to think otherwise. Of course I was still paranoid about anything else I ate or drank that had been prepared for me, but thankfully nothing other than the coffee seemed to be causing the issues.
That morning, I got dressed to meet with Olivia. I wore something nondescript and casual — a pair of jeans and a light jacket, since the weather was cooling down now with autumn just around the corner — which was quite different from what I normally wore and would hopefully keep people from noticing me easily.
The night before, I had already told Selina and Edrick that I planned on going out on Sunday morning; when they asked where I was going, I simply said that I was having coffee with an old friend from college who was visiting town.
Once I was dressed, I inspected myself in the mirror for a moment before taking in a deep breath and steadying my nerves, then headed out into the living room.
Edrick was sitting in the armchair when I came out. He looked over at me, seemingly taking in my appearance, and shot me a slight smile.
“You look nice.”
“Oh…” I smiled weakly. “Thank you.”
Edrick looked at me for another moment before returning to his newspaper. “Make sure to bring the driver with you,” he said. “And maybe you should wear a surgical mask. It makes me nervous that you’re going out in public alone, now that people know who you are.”
I nodded hesitantly. Although I hated that I had to hide my identity in order to feel safe, I couldn’t deny the fact that Edrick was right. The media attention since Edrick had announced our relationship had died down a bit, but the paparazzi were still roaming around like tigers pacing their cages in the zoo. Even when Edrick and I walked to school with Ella during the week, we occasionally got bombarded by cameras and annoying questions. And now, I especially didn’t need to garner any attention lest Edrick find out that I was meeting up with Ella’s supposedly dead mother.
“Sure,” I replied. I fished a blue surgical mask out of my purse and held it up with a smile. “Got it right here.”
Edrick, without looking up from his newspaper, nodded. “Well, have a nice time,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. It was difficult, though, knowing that I was about to meet up with someone that would likely make Edrick feel incredibly angry if he found out about it. “I’ll be back soon.”
With that, I stiffly walked out of the living room and stepped into the elevator.
On my way down, I did wind up putting on the surgical mask. I put on my sun hat as well to hide my distinct hair. However, when I walked out into the lobby, there was one bit of advice that I didn’t take from Edrick.
I decided not to have the driver take me.
After all, I didn’t need the driver revealing any information about who I was meeting up with. I didn’t know whether the driver knew Olivia, or even if he relayed all sorts of information back to Edrick. I needed this to be as discreet as possible, because if Edrick really was poisoning me for whatever reason, I would need to escape safely with my baby. If he knew too much, then there was a good chance that I would never escape.
Therefore, I walked out onto the street and took a right down the sidewalk, keeping my head down so as not to be noticed by the driver or anyone else.
