Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Alexei
I’d wrecked my office, and Micah had just stood back and watched me, almost like he was enjoying my pain. And maybe I deserved everything I was feeling because I’d let her down in the worst possible way. When she had needed me the most, I hadn’t been there.
And she had gone through all of that loss by herself. I knew how close Amy was to her sister and how much they adored each other, especially after the death of their parents. They had counted on each other, just like Amy should have been able to count on me.
That, coupled with the loss of our child? It would have been unbearable. Our baby was gone, and I couldn’t even hug my wife and tell her that it would be alright because she was gone as well.
“Where do you think she has gone?” I asked finally when there was nothing else to smash or break.
“I don’t know, sir, honestly,” he shrugged.
“She never mentioned friends or asked you to take her anywhere?”
He shook his head. “No, Mr. Petrovov. She visited her sister and your grandfather, and then her life seemed to revolve around making you happy.”
I winced back at his words. They cut deep, and then there was the fact that I would have to tell my grandfather. He adored and loved Amy like she was his blood. He would be furious to find out that she had left. Unless, of course, I found her first.
“I need to find her,” I said flatly. “I need your help to find her, Micah. You knew her better than anyone.” Even as I said it, I realized how absurd that was. I was her husband, and yet her bodyguard knew her better.
What a fool I’d been.
“I can’t do that. She doesn’t want to be found.”
His words hit me like a sledgehammer. “You are refusing to do your job?” Again, my voice was tinged with anger.
“I am doing my job, Alexei. I am protecting your wife. I don’t know where she went, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
I glowered at him. “I could make you tell me, Micah.” I threatened.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know, Alexei. You can torture me all you want. I don’t know where she has gone, and like I said, even if I did, I would take that knowledge to the grave. Amy has been betrayed enough as it is.”
I could put him in the grave easily enough. All I would have to do was pull out my pistol and shoot him between the eyes, but if I did that, then I would never find out where my wife had been.
Sighing, I forced my body to relax. I took a few deep breaths. “Stay here. Our conversation isn’t over,” I ordered as I climbed to my feet. “I need to speak to Violet and find out where she found my phone.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “You mean where she hid your phone?” he called out after me.
I didn’t want to believe that was true. But I knew it was.
“Alexei.” Violet greeted me the second I burst into her room without knocking. “I knew you would come to apologize, and it’s fine. Honestly, I’m not even mad. I’m just glad you’re here now.”
I stared at her. “Did you take my phone?” I asked without even a hello. I didn’t have time for pleasantries.
“Of course, not. I don’t even know why you would say that.”
“Tell me the truth, Violet. Amy needed me. She called me, and I didn’t get it because my cell phone was missing.”
She rolled off the bed. “I didn’t take your phone, Alexei. And I’m sure she is fine. She’s strong, you said so yourself.”
“She buried her sister today.”
Violet’s face fell, but somehow it didn’t feel genuine. “I’m sorry to hear that, but wasn’t it expected. Her poor sister was so sick.”
“She lost the baby as well. My baby. And now she is gone.”
“Oh, Alexei, I am sorry about the baby. But isn’t Amy being gone a good thing?
” She sidled up to me. “We can finally be together without having to worry, and you can get your solicitor to file for divorce because she abandoned your marriage. It might take a little longer, but I don’t mind waiting.
” Reaching up, she pressed her lips to my cheek.
It would have landed on my mouth, but I moved my face away at the last minute.
“We can have everything we have ever wanted now that they are gone. I mean, it’s not like you wanted a family with her, is it? She was such a—”
“Stop talking,” I growled out.
She fell silent instantly. “Alexei?”
“Just shut up, Violet.” I stared at her. She had schooled her face into sadness, but I was sure I saw glee in her eyes. She was happy Amy had lost my baby. Sucking in a deep breath, I stepped away. “Stay in your room and away from me until I can sort this out.”
“You said you would look after me, Alexei.”
Pausing in the doorway, I hunched my shoulders. “And I am a man of my word, Violet.”
I would look after her because I kept my promises, but I had also made promises to Amy. And I was going to keep them. I would find her even if I had to rip this city apart to do it.
If she wanted me to leave her alone, then she would have to look me in the eyes and tell me. It would be the only way I would listen.
Micah was nowhere to be seen when I got downstairs, but I never really expected him to be. That was fine, though. I had more than enough men to find my wife, and when I knew she was safe, then I could deal with the fact that I was sure Violet was lying to me.
Five days later, I hadn’t found her. It was like she had left the cemetery and disappeared into the drizzle. There were some sightings of her on some cameras heading towards downtown, but nothing else.
I had thought on day two that she had gone to the train station, but it hadn’t been her, and the cameras at the bus station hadn’t worked in weeks. Amy was gone, and I didn’t have one solid lead to where she would have gone or who was helping her.
Even Gabriella and Misha hadn’t seen her since the day of the funeral, and they were now in Europe. She wouldn’t have gone with them. She didn’t have a passport as far as I was aware.
There had been a moment where I thought they might have gotten her fake documents to smuggle her out of the country, but even I realized that was a bit far-fetched.
Still, she had to be somewhere, and I wasn’t about to give up. I would just have to look further afield.
“Mr. Petrovov?” The receptionist in the retirement home finally called my name. “He is back now, so you can go on through,” she flashed me a sad smile. “Please tell Amy if there’s anything I can do to help after poor Alessia’s death, then just call me.”
I blinked at her in shock. Had she been at the funeral? Did one of these women know where my wife was? No, if she had known, she wouldn’t have been asking me to pass on messages. “Thank you. I will.” I lied.
My grandfather was sitting in his armchair and not his bed, staring stonily out of the window. He didn’t turn when I walked into the room. “You decided to finally visit me, hey?”
“Sorry. It’s been crazy.” I sucked in a breath as he turned his head to look at me. “Look, this is going to be hard to hear, but I have to tell you the truth.”
I had to tell him. It would tear out his heart, but I had to. It had been almost a week, and there was no sign of her. If he didn’t hear it from me, then he would learn it from somewhere else.
“Amy has left me.”
“I know,” he said completely deadpan.
I did a double-take. “What do you mean you know?” I couldn’t help it. My voice shook with anger.
“She came to visit and say goodbye before she laid her sister to rest.”
Sometimes, I didn’t agree with everything my grandfather said, but I’d never been angry with him. Until now. “And you just let her leave?”
Slowly, he raised cold eyes to me. “It’s not my place to keep your wife happy, Alexei. And from what I have heard, she has every right to leave you.”
“It’s not—”
He cut me off. “Did you give your grandmother’s ring to Violet?” He didn’t let me answer him. “I can’t stop you from marrying Violet, Alexei, because you are an adult, and it’s time I let you make your own mistakes. But that ring will never be hers.”
“Do you know where Amy is?” I asked, completely ignoring his jibe about Violet being wrong for me. I’d caught it, though.
“No, Alexei, I don’t. I have started the paperwork for your divorce, though. It’s a little complicated, but—”
“I never said anything about a divorce,” I snapped, and this time the anger in my tone was undeniable.
Old eyes narrowed at me. “You can’t be with both women, Alexei. I suggest you don’t even try.”
“I don’t. I just want to make sure she is ok.”
He shook his head. “Let her go, Alexei,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “Let Amy go so she can spread her wings and be free. You owe her that much.”
“She is my wife.”
He speared me to the spot with his eyes.
“Then you should have thought about that before you tossed aside the only good thing to happen to you. She is gone, and you will leave her alone. She wants nothing more to do with this family.” For the count of ten, he stared at me.
“You may leave now, Alexei. I am suddenly tired of your company.”
Never in all my years had Nikolai dismissed me. Not once. Even when I was a child, he always doted on my every word. Amy had changed all of that. Or maybe it was Violet’s reappearance that had changed it. I didn’t know which one.
“Of course.” Bending over him, I pressed my lips to his thin white hair. He stiffened under me. “I will come and visit again in a day or so. Get some rest.”
“I mean it, Alexei,” he called after me. “Leave that girl alone.”
“Of course,” I said too quickly. But I was lying. I had to find Amy because I had to make sure she was alright.
And then there was that horrible open pit in my heart. The empty feeling in my gut that only she could fill.
I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I missed my wife, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to give up until I found her.
Chapter33
Amy