A Gift from the Goddess novel Chapter 121

The plan was simple;

Track down Kieran and demand he fix whatever he did to me.

With Noah tied up and locked inside a cupboard, I would head towards the hotel which had been listed in Victor Lycroft’s information folder. With any luck, his son had the same taste in accommodation.

Once I found him and got my answers, I’d then just have him undo the effects before going back to Noah to finish the job.

I’d complete my mission tonight and get back home without any issues. As a result, Father would begin to trust me again and Gavin wouldn’t need to drag me back into the basement.

Everyone will be happy.

Well… except probably Noah. He’d be dead. But that was unfortunately just the way it had to be. ‘C'est la vie’ some would say.

Now to just pray that nothing went wrong.

I hailed a taxi and gave the driver directions to the hotel, doing my best to make my clothes seem more casual on the way over. There wasn’t much I could do but I worked with what I had. By the time I arrived, there was nothing on me that would stand out too much in a public setting.

Upon stepping out of the car though, I found the hotel was surprisingly large. The kind of place only the very wealthy could afford which, given he was the son of a literal mayor, I guess that made sense. Though for a small town I’d never heard of before, they sure seemed to have the cash to spare.

Whilst this was an interesting thing to note, it unfortunately meant that sneaking in was going to be difficult. The place would have security cameras and staff walking around everywhere.

So how was I meant to…—.

And then I smelt it.

That intoxicating scent that I could recall so vividly now. The one belonging to Kieran.

He was here or, at least, he’d been here sometime recently. I would just need to follow it and hopefully scope out the area before entering his room.

But the scent didn’t lead me towards the elevator as I expected. No, it led me to the hotel’s bar area. A place where far too many people would be around to witness. Certainly not an ideal development in this plan.

“Apologies, madam,” a man at the entrance said, holding a hand out to pause me. “I just need to quickly confirm your name and room number, or the room number of the person you’re here to see.”

I stared at him blankly, confused. This hotel was apparently far more exclusive than I’d realised. However, I’d had to deal with far worse obstacles than this before.

“Oh! Is that so?” I asked innocently. “That’s a little awkward… You see, I was sent here to surprise Mr Lycroft but no one told me his room number. I guess it was just a mix-up. Isn’t there any way I could still go inside? Just this once?”

He looked uncertain and taken a little off guard. This wasn’t the kind of job where you’d want to accidentally insult the wrong influential person. “Oh… well I suppose I could quickly go in and find him to confirm. Mr Lycroft you said?”

He took a step away as if to enter, but I knew if he did that and Kieran told them to not let me in, then this whole plan would become messy.

“That won’t do,” I said a little too quickly. I then walked over to gently touch his arm. “As mentioned, it’s meant to be a surprise. We haven’t seen each other in the longest time and his father, Victor, told me Kieran was in town.”

“Madam… we have precautions in place to ensure the safety and privacy of our gu—.”

“The whole family will be so disappointed if it’s ruined. We’ve been planning this for a while now. I know Victor likes to come here regularly when he’s here for business. It would be a shame if this one unpleasant experience tarnished that… Especially if I have to call the family so late for something so petty….”

Immediately, he became flustered, but I didn’t give him any more time to process the situation. After all, bad decisions were always made under pressure.

“Please…,” I repeated, giving him my best smile.

And it only took a few more seconds before, finally, he cracked.

“Okay… very well. I’ll just need your name for the record and you can head on inside.”

A feeling of smug giddiness rose inside me as I won the small victory, and I instantly started walking towards the door.

“You can call me Raven,” I called back.

And I entered the bar before he could ask any further questions.

Inside, it was far quieter than I’d expected. It was mostly a lot of people sitting close together having intimate conversations in low voices. The sort of atmosphere one would expect from a fancy establishment. Definitely not the kind of place I personally liked to have a drink, but I was familiar with the vibe nevertheless.

However, I wasn’t here today for that.

I was here to find *him*.

And, right now, I could still catch his scent as it slowly became stronger the further inside I travelled.

I followed it carefully, screening the faces of every person I walked past, but none were of the man I met days earlier. In fact, by the time I’d done a lap of the entire floor, I was beginning to worry I’d walked past him entirely.

Just where the hell was he?

I kept walking, heading towards another small group seated… and that’s when I finally found it.

His scent, not within the room itself, but veering off through a door to somewhere else. A door that held a sign saying ‘Staff Only’.

Well, obviously that wasn’t going to stop me.

Waiting until I was certain all the servers and staff weren’t looking, I slipped through the door and continued to follow his scent until it led me into a back storage area. The space seemed pretty untouched for the most part, clearly not used very often. The only question I had though was why was he here of all places…?

It was almost as if he knew I was tracking him... but that was impossible. For that, he would have to know I could trace his scent, which was already unnatural in itself.

So many questions were swimming in my head but, as I rounded the corner, everything seemed to just… slip away.

And once again I found myself falling into that trance as I met his expectant hazel eyes.

It was hard to explain, but seeing him again made me start to feel almost calm. Like something inside that had been scratching away was finally ceasing. All because he was here. Because I was in front of him, within feet of being able to touch him.

Just like the night we first met, he wore a perfectly fitted suit, his dark brown hair styled to match. Gorgeous in every possible way. Almost impossibly so.

It took everything I had inside me to not just immediately rush into his arms… though I couldn’t say the same for him.

As soon as he caught my eye, he instantly moved forward as if to embrace me, but it was that very same movement that made me remember why I was here. A reason that was to fix this exact issue, one which was causing me to feel this way about a complete stranger.

He quickly stopped himself as I took a step back warily.

“Raven,” he said, sounding almost relieved, and it caused a shiver to spread through me at the sound of his voice. “I’ve been looking for you for days. Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

Here I was thinking that I was the one losing my mind, and yet this guy was almost certifiable, acting as though we were close friends. Was I missing something?

“What…?” was all I managed to say, so extremely confused by this turn of events.

“I wanted to give you some time to cool down before I explained a few things to you, but it’s almost as if you don’t exist,” he said. “I asked several different people about you, trying to find out how I could contact you, but out of everyone I spoke to, only one person seemed to know of you. Something that they even admitted to not knowing prior to the charity event.”

Mayor Lewis. It would have to be him since I didn’t end up staying at the event long enough to meet anyone else.

“Why the hell were you looking for me?” I asked. “Is this your grand scheme? Drug a girl then stalk her? Why are you even doing this?”

“I didn’t do anything. What you’re experiencing is completely natural. It’s—”

“Bullshit!” I said, cutting him off. “People don’t just meet someone and instantly become infatuated. It doesn’t stop them from being able to function… or work… or do anything. I tracked you down for the sole purpose of making you reverse this. I want my life back.”