CHAPTER 36: BEING MORE HONEST WITH HERSELF

Upon hearing his words, Tara sharply interjected, "Leader, what sort of a joke is this?" Her face paled with stun as she asked the question.

What lover? That rude woman was? It simply wasn’t possible!

Thane ignored her, focusing on eating the burnt food on his plate. Everyone watched in awe as he devoured everything, his rich palate seemingly immune to the charred taste. This was a surprise, given that he wasn’t a big eater, and the food was truly unfit for even a dog.

When he finished, the pleasant look on his face morphed into an angry glare. His voice was cold and demanding as he asked, "Now, which one of you was it that laid hands on her?"

The question sent shivers up the spines of everyone in the room. All eyes fell naturally to Tara, who looked like she had seen a ghost.

Brooke strained a smile, trying to intervene, "No, it isn’t like that. I fell when getting out of bed this morning-"

But Hannah cut her off, her voice calm and steady. "I believe it was Tara, sir."

Her announcement thwarted Brooke’s self-sacrifice, and Tara’s heart skipped a nervous beat as Thane shifted his livid eyes towards her.

"Tara, outside. Now." He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone was sharp as a knife and as terrifying as a demon.

Brooke didn’t want this to turn into any bigger of a deal, especially between his colleagues. But seeing how livid Thane was, she had no choice but to let things play out.

Tara looked at Brooke with disdain, ’What a bitch! What happened to that good girl act she was putting on?’ she cursed Brooke in her head, as she went outside to face Thane’s wrath.

A sigh escaped Brooke’s lips as she stared mindlessly at Thane’s number on her call log.

"Staring at his number isn’t going to make him call you, Miss Brooke," Hannah stated, drawing Brooke out of her thoughts.

Brooke turned off her phone. "I wasn’t staring at his number."

Hannah sighed, her young mistress was completely hopeless. ’Master Grayson has been gone for just three days, and she’s already missing him.’ She dropped the rag she was holding and pinched her temples. ’Why even have cellphones if you won’t use them?’ she shook her head from side to side.

Hannah walked over to Brooke and squatted in front of her. "I’m sure Master Grayson is busy, waiting for you to call—"

"He wouldn’t have to if he didn’t leave in the first place," Brooke accidentally blurted out.

"Oh?" Hannah grinned in amusement. "Are you saying you’re angry Master Grayson moved his team away from the mansion?"

Brooke huffed. "I’m not angry, but I just don’t like that he has to inconvenience himself like that. He wasn’t the one at fault."

Brooke looked at her legs. ’He promised to be with me during my therapy.’ She mused, she’d be having therapy later in the day, but Thane wouldn’t even be around.

Hannah sighed, wishing Brooke would be more honest with herself. It was clear that she hated the idea of Thane staying somewhere else with Tara.

"You know what I think? I think you should call and ask how he’s doing. After all, he’s working hard for you. A little encouragement from his client would surely brighten his day," Hannah suggested.

But Brooke shut down the idea, shaking her head. "No, I don’t want to bother him."

"But it isn’t a bother—"

Brooke smiled warmly at her. "The leg will be finished in two days, and I don’t want him to have to wait for me. I want to prove myself too." She reached for the script on the bed. "I just have to do all that I can."

Hannah was impressed with her response. "Fine, you win, Miss Brooke." She decided not to meddle too much in their affairs.

’They’ll figure this thing out on their own time,’ she thought to herself as she walked out.

Two days passed with Brooke and Thane having no contact with each other. Brooke was in the middle of rehearsing her lines when Hannah came in, beaming with excitement.

"Master Grayson’s car just drove in!" she announced.

Brooke closed the book and tossed it on the bed. "Really?" Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked at herself to see if she was dressed well enough.

She pushed her hair back, then followed Hannah out of the room to go see him.

As soon as the elevator doors parted, the first thing Brooke noticed was that Thane and Tara were not around.

Her heart felt heavy.

Noticing her, Jessica rushed over to her. "Miss Brooke, we have completed the leg and would like to have a testing done."

Brooke nodded while looking over her shoulder for when Thane would step inside.

Why wasn’t he coming?

And where was Tara?

"Um, what about Tara? Isn’t she with you all?" She pretended to care about Tara to get information on Thane.

"She was forced out of the project and flew back already."

Brooke sighed inwardly, relieved to hear that. Feeling a bit confident that Tara was nowhere near Thane she asked, "What about Mr Grayson? Is he running late?"

But Jessica’s brightly lit smile faded, "Oh, the leader had some urgent work to deal with."

"When will he be back, tonight?" She worried, that he was going to overwork himself.

"Actually, he had to fly out of the country last night." She revealed, throwing Brooke’s world into a brief panic.

She forced a smile. "Let me go and freshen up, then we can have the testing done." She said, then retreated to the elevator. Hannah followed her, wondering what they had said that would make Brooke look so sad.

Watching her wheel away, Danny walked up to Jessica, and asked, "I just don’t get it. She is our leader’s lover, so why did he ask us not to tell her the truth?"

Jessica’s features softened, "I don’t get it either. She looked so sad too, I can only imagine what’s going through the poor woman’s mind."

Lance however had a different thought, "He doesn’t want her to worry." He observed, walking up to them both.

"That’s why he forbade us from telling her anything about his true reason for leaving. She has an audition, if we told her about his health crisis, it would hurt her too much." Lance revealed.