I want you back mate

Hailey's POV

I could have marched through the office trying to keep my cool, but that wasn't on the cards. It was one big pressure cooker: the boardroom looking back at me, every investor, each employee—I was about to crack. But in one thing I had succeeded over the last five years—disguising the truth.

I watched every move Vickson made. I watched how his eyes had widened on seeing me the way he used to look at me before everything fell apart. That longing, that desire.. it was there as strong as ever. 

But I wasn't foolish; I wouldn't allow myself to get caught in the same web again. The person who had rejected, humiliated, and left me shattered could never be trusted once again.

While I was walking out of the boardroom, his voice was calling my name but I did not turn back. There was a meeting I had and it would be unwise for me to get off focus because of the ghosts of the past.

But fate, it seemed, had other plans.

I got so far down the hall that I felt the familiar, tingling pull in my chest. My wolf was restless, eager to get closer to him, but I paid it no mind. He mustn't be allowed back in.

As I walked into my office, on purpose the closed door crossed my mind, as a protection from the storm that was slowly starting in my heart. The words/ sound of my name being whispered so gently, yet so urgently, through the door wretched my stomach.

"Hailey," Vickson's voice was close, dangerously close.

I opened the door half expecting to find him standing there looking lost and desperate.

"Why are you here, Vickson?" I demanded, keeping my voice low but quivering slightly in earnest. His eyes expressed frustration as he combed his hair with a hand seemingly at a loss for words.

"I never intended this" he finally emoted and his voice was exposed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I made a big mistake. You have to believe me".

His words affected me like a punch to the gut but I couldn't trust him. Not after everything he'd done. Not after what Ava and her mother had put me through.

"You should have thought about that before your decisions," I said angrily, banging the door shut. "You had your chance, Vickson. And you blew it."

I didn't give him the chance to answer. I turned my back but before I could reach my desk, the door opened again. It was Vickson this time who entered the room, his presence overwhelming as he crossed the threshold and locked the door behind him.

"Vickson, what the hell do you want?" I asked, stepping back as he stepped closer to me. This was an episode of excitement now, my pulse quickening in a manner that had no logic.

He halted a few inches away from me and his gray eyes bored into mine. "Hailey, I know I've lost your trust. I don't deserve another chance but I'll do anything to earn that trust back. Please"

I stared at him but my resistance melted away. Each word he spoke was like a lifeline thrown into the sea I'd been drowning in for five years. I'd spent so long building walls around my heart to protect myself and here was Vickson, tearing those walls down with nothing but his broken words.

But I couldn't allow myself to fall again. I had four precious reasons to stay strong-my quadruplets.

"You don't deserve me Vickson" I whispered, despite the fact that every single fiber in my body screamed the opposite. "You don't deserve them".

The pain in his eyes was unbearable. "I don't care about what I deserve, Hailey. What matters to me is you, it's us. If you'll just give me one chance to explain, one chance, I'll show you that I can be the man you deserve".

His fingers shaked and I felt his hand practically touch my face, his breath warmed my skin. I stepped back in reflex to avoid giving him the chance to hurt me again.

"Don't touch me" I said, my voice firm.

He hesitated, then withdrew his hand. "I know I've hurt you. I don't expect forgiveness. But I need you to know that everything I did, I did for Emily. For my sister. You have to understand that, Hailey. I was trying to save her. Ava and Luna"

"Ava and Luna" I interjected, my voice tinged with the bitterness of sharpened memories. "They are the reason you discarded me. You chose them over me."

He winced, as if the words themselves could hurt anyone. "I understand," he replied, and his voice broke. "But you know I didn't have a choice. They held Emily captive, Hailey. They threatened to kill her if I didn't follow their orders. I had to pick one of them. And I picked her because I wouldn't be able to live with myself in case anything happens to her."

My heart twisted at the raw anguish in his voice. Still I couldn't allow myself to soften, not when I knew what had happened later, not when I knew that Ava had been lying about me, about everything.

"You should have trusted me," I said quietly, my voice trembling. "You should have trusted us. I would have helped you. I would have stood by you. But you let them win, Vickson and in return you let them destroy everything."

He stepped forward again reaching out his hand and this time I did not pull away. His touch was soft and hesitant as though he feared shattering what little remained of my composure.

"Please Hailey" he whispered. "Let me make it right"

Not knowing how to react, I stayed silent while the door flew open interrupting us. 

Both of us turned, surprised and saw Ava there with eyes that were filled with fury.

"How dare you!" Ava screamed, her voice venomous.

"You were meant to be mine, Vickson! Not hers! You belong with me!"

Her outburst was enough to tip the scales. I took a step back, away from Vickson, and met her with an icy, piercing stare. "You never had him, Ava. You never will."

Ava's eyes flashed with anger.

 "You think you're so special...don't you? Well, let me give you a little newsflash, Hailey—Vickson does not love you. He never did. You are just a challenge to him. He doesn't love you the way I do."

"That's enough, Ava," Vickson said in a low voice, his jaw tight. "You don't get to speak about her like that anymore."

Ava's face twisted with rage. "You think you can just leave me alone? I'll ruin everything you love, Vickson. Everything."

I was able to feel the tension on my chest, the burden that what is happening brings. It was no longer about me only. 

This was about the past of Vickson, his family and about dangerous people in our lives who wouldn't stop if they didn't get everything.

But that was not going to make me give up. This was something I was not willing to let go.

I turned to Vickson, my voice resolute. "We are ending this, once and for all."

Vickson's POV

Her words were more than a challenge; they were a declaration of war. Ava had always presumed she held the reins over everything and everyone in her vicinity. But Hailey was different; she was stronger now. 

She wasn't the frail omega I used to know. Now, as I stood before her, I could see it clearly—she's someone to be reckoned with.

"I whispered, "We will end this, Hailey." Together, but I need you to trust me first. Please."

Ava's eyes were burning with hatred, but I couldn't care less. Hailey was mine-she had always been mine, and nothing nobody was going to take her away from me again.

Hailey's POV

There was so much tension in the air as I walked out of Vickson's office, and my heart raced with feelings that I wasn't ready to handle. 

It had been five years since I'd seen him, and although I'd promised myself never to let go of such a deep feeling for him, again seeing him stirred up something very primal within me.

 The connection between us had never broken and however much I tried to suppress my feelings for her, they came back immediately when our eyes met.

The way he looked at me, the way he held me when I almost fell-it was like time had stopped. He still wanted me and that freaked me out.

 All the memories of everything he'd put me through came rushing back-Ava's betrayal, the divorce, the lies and I hated him for it. But why did my heart still ache for him?

"Hailey!" A voice sliced through my silent reverie, breaking the intense tide of feelings rushing through me.

It was Alpha Lyon, my business partner, and someone who had been desperately pursuing my attention for a long time. 

I hadn't been fair to him because, after all, he was kind and considerate and had offered me a chance for a new life.