Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Alexei
Most of the day had been spent trying to find my phone, which had disappeared. I was sure I’d had it yesterday, but now I couldn’t find it at all. It wasn’t like I couldn’t afford a new one, and no one could trace that one back to me, but it was still infuriating.
So, it was late by the time I got back to the house, which was dark and unusually quiet. I threw my coat onto the back of a chair and looked around. “Hello?”
Nothing but silence met my voice, and that silence seemed to echo back at me.
Frowning, I moved through the quiet house, looking in rooms until I got to my office.
I didn’t expect anyone to be in here because it was my sanctuary, but I flipped on the lights anyway.
Sinking down into the worn but comfortable leather chair.
“You’re home.”
I hadn’t heard her approach, so my head snapped up in surprise to find Violet leaning provocatively in the doorway. Her body was draped in shimmering silver grey satin, like she was going to a party and not waiting at home.
“Yeah.” Slowly lifting my chin, I took her in. Even in pregnancy, she was beautiful.l There was absolutely no denying that. “Where is everyone?” She gave a bony shoulder hug.
And my frown deepened. Had she always been so scrawny? Maybe she had been suffering from morning sickness, and I just hadn’t realized it. Her stomach was already flat.
“How are you feeling?” I asked quietly. Sometimes I was an oaf, and I forgot that other people had feelings and needs. Violet had just gone through something terribly traumatic.
“Have you eaten today? I’ll get Mrs. Cole.”
Violet’s eyes flashed. “Of course, I’ve not eaten, Alexei,” she snapped. “There’s no sign of your good-for-nothing housekeeper. I can’t even find a maid.”
I blinked rapidly. What the hell did she mean by that? If my staff weren’t here, then where were they? Angrily, because that seemed to be my go-to emotion these days, I pushed my way up from behind my desk and went in search of my wayward staff.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Violet, but more the fact I wanted to see for myself, or not see, as the case might be. The kitchen and staff living quarters were empty, just like Violet had said. No wonder the house had been quiet; there was no one here.
“Told you,” Violet said in her sing-song voice.
“Now, can we go out? I’m starving, Alexei.
” Sauntering, her hips moving under the satin, she moved towards me, placing her hand on my arm.
“I want to tell the world that we are finally getting married. I want to show the world that I am finally wearing this beautiful Petrovov ring.”
I glanced down at the hand on my arm and the sparkling diamond and sapphire ring she had wedged on her finger.
It was so tight that it looked like it was cutting off her circulation.
Why didn’t it look like it belonged on her finger?
What was up with me? Violet had always been what I had wanted. Yet now?
Now, I wasn’t so sure.
I dropped my arm, and her hand slid free. “Not tonight, Violet,” I said firmly and turned to the cabinets. “I will make you a sandwich if you are incapable of making yourself something, but I have too much to do this evening. I can’t take you out.”
I didn’t want to take her out.
“A sandwich?” She screeched like I had just offered her poison. I threw her a look, and she quickly schooled her face into a soft smile.
“Maybe we could order takeout and—” This time when she reached for me, her hand landed on my chest. Her red-tipped nails slid downwards towards my belt. “Eat it in bed.”
The suggestion in her voice was clear.
“It’s too soon, Violet.” Again, I stepped away. It didn’t even make sense to me that she would be offering herself up to me on a platter so soon after her unimaginable loss.
“But I can order you whatever you want.”
Her hands dropped to her sides, and I watched as she clenched her fists. “OK, well,” her overly full lips thinned. “I thought you might want to spend time with me, your fiancée, but I can see that’s not the case.”
My fiancée? My eyebrows slammed down. It was so weird her saying that out loud. I had a fiancée.
Shit, I went perfectly still. I also had a wife.
Where the hell was Amy?
“It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you, Violet, but I do have things to sort out. My phone needs to be replaced, and I have to check up on a few people.” A look of pure unadulterated rage swept over her face. “Is the person you need to check up on Amy?”
“One of them, yes,” I said smoothly. “But not the only one. This house can’t run itself and—”
She stepped up to me, her small hands balled into fists. “I knew you still had a thing for her. She’s got some kind of hold on you.”
Easily, I caught her by the shoulders. “She is my wife. Well soon-to-be ex-wife. It’s my job to make sure she is alright. It doesn’t mean I care for her at all,” I snapped. “Pull yourself together.”
Violet stared at me for a few seconds, a cold, unreadable look in her eyes. “Fine. I will go to my room and get out of your hair. I’ll let you deal with your perfect wife.”
Angrily, she jerked out of my grip and walked away. Throwing open the kitchen door, she paused.
“Oh, it looks like you are in luck.” She threw a glare over her shoulder. “Her lapdog, I mean driver and security, is here.”
“Micah?” I was at the door before it could slam shut behind her.
Sure enough, there he was. Dressed in a thick black overcoat over his suit. He nodded his head respectfully.
“Where is—”
“I need to talk to you, sir,” he said politely. His eyes darted towards the stairs and Violet’s retreating back. The look he threw her wasn’t nice. “In private.”
“In private?” I parroted back. “Sure, let’s go to my office. Is everything alright?”
He didn’t answer me as we moved back through the eerily quiet house. It was so strange. I hadn’t noticed until now how much life Amy and the staff brought to the place. Without them, it felt more like a mausoleum.
Wearily, I sank back down into my chair. “Drink?” I asked, motioning to the crystal decanter. He shook his head silently.
“Mind if I do?”
“Of course, not, Mr. Petrovov. You might need it.”
My head snapped up. “What the fuck do you mean by that?” Wildly, I looked him up and down. There were wet patches on the shoulders of his coat, like he had been standing out in the rain for some time.
“Where is Amy? Is she at the hospital?”
“No, sir, she’s no longer at the hospital.”
I let out a sigh of relief. That was good. The last few days, I had been neglecting her. Not because I wanted to, but because Violet needed me so much more. Amy was strong. She would get through this loss.
“That’s good, I should go and see her.”
“She’s not here, sir.”
My head snapped up. “What do you mean she’s not here? Where is she? Is she with Mrs. Cole?”
“She was,” he answered quietly. “We were all together not two hours ago, but they aren’t together now.”
Slowly, I looked at him. “You were all together? But you don’t know—“
He cut me off. “We were together at Alessia’s funeral,” he said in a completely flat voice.
“What?”
He didn’t answer me.
“Alessia died? Why wouldn’t Amy tell me this? When did—” I cleared my throat. “When did this happen?”
This time, when he met my eyes, there could be no denying what his look meant. This man, who had always been loyal to me, was angry.
Actually, he was furious.
“She died the same night Amy was also rushed into the hospital.”
“She wasn’t—” I began to say and trailed off.
That was the night that I had taken Violet instead of Amy, and later came across Amy in the emergency room, with doctors battling to save her life.
There had been so much blood. Bile rushed up my throat.
All that blood had coated her and two of my staff.
And I had known it was too much blood for our baby to survive.
Grief flowed through me. She had lost our baby and her sister on the same night, and I hadn’t been there. I hadn’t been there because Violet had needed me, or so I had thought. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
“Why didn’t you bring her home?” I asked angrily, channeling my rage at him instead of at myself, where it belonged. “That is your job, Micah. Your only job.”
“I no longer work for you, Mr. Petrovov. Neither does Mrs. Sloane or the others. Or have you forgotten?”
I had forgotten. Hell, I had forgotten so much. I let my head drop into my hands. “Do you know where she is?”
“No.” He said simply. “But she did ask me to give you this.” There was the sound of crinkling paper as he pulled a folded envelope from an inside pocket and handed it over.
“What is this?”
“A letter she asked me to deliver to you. I said I would, not because you deserve to know anything, but because she deserves to be heard for once.”
I stared at the cheap white envelope. My name was scrawled on the front. The A was a little smudged like a tear had fallen from her face and smudged the ink.
Ripping it open, I stared at Amy’s neat cursive handwriting.
My dearest Alexei,
I didn’t want to marry you, and I know you didn’t want to marry me, but that changed pretty quickly when I realized that deep down you were a good and kind man.
The kind of man I had always dreamed of being with. I loved what we had in the beginning.
But I can not be with someone who doesn’t feel the same way. You have your Violet back, and I know she is the one who makes you happy. I really do want you to know that I want you to be happy with your new family.
And you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.
There is no reason for you to worry that I’ll come back with a baby in my arms and claim half your fortune.
I don’t want any of it. Now that my sister is dead, we have no reason to be together, making each other unhappy.
I give you your freedom, my dearest Alexei, and I would like you to do the same for me.
Hell. If you are even reading this then you didn’t turn up to Alessia’s funeral, and I’ll be gone straight afterward.
Be happy, my love, and be safe.
Sincerely,
A
I stared at the words without really seeing them, each word blurring together.
“Where—” I swallowed hard. “Alessia’s funeral was today? Why didn’t she tell me?”
If she had told me, I would have gone. I would have shown my support. I didn’t even know how she had paid for the funeral. Amy didn’t have any money of her own.
“She left you a message on your phone. The funeral was held this afternoon. Alessia had insurance in place to pay for it, so there was no reason to wait.”
“Was it—”
His eyebrows slid upwards. “It was a beautiful send-off. You should have been there.”
I didn’t even care that he was talking to me like we were equals. I couldn’t concentrate on that right now. My every thought was with Amy, standing out there alone and suffering from two unimaginable losses.
“My phone is nowhere to be found. I’ve been looking all day. If I had known, I would have been there for her. You believe that, right?”
He stared at me for the space of ten whole seconds. “I believe that you believe that.” He said, finally.
“Alexei?” Violet slipped into the room. And right there in her hand was my lost phone. “Look what I found.” She held it up triumphantly. “It was in our bedroom, you silly. Hey, is everything OK?” She paused. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Reaching out my hand, I snatched the phone from her. “Get out.”
Violet paled. And it was like I was seeing her for the first time. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she had miraculously found my phone when I had searched everywhere. It made me wonder what else she had done. Had she picked up that phone and not relayed Amy’s message to me before now?
“What?” She mumbled in shock, making her voice quieter. “You don’t mean that, Alexei.”
“Yes, I do. Get out and go to your room, Violet. I have too much to sort out to deal with your childish tantrums and needs right now.”
“But, Alexei.”
In a rage, I jumped to my feet, pointing to the door. “Get the fuck out, Violet.”