Chapter 32 #2
The tiredness these days came in waves. It was different than what it was all those months ago when I’d been working and caring for Alessia.
That had been a bone-weary kind of exhaustion that seeped into my very soul.
This was because I was huge, roughly the size of a whale, and my feet and ankles were so swollen that it hurt just to finish my shift, but I never thought about giving up, just like I hadn’t thought about giving up back then.
I had a good thing here, a job which, even though it was back-breaking, came with three meals a day and a room in the motel. Plus, the people here were good, kind people. Low-class, hard-working people just like me, and they had taken me under their wing.
Even when the baby was born, I would still have a place to live and a job. I really had landed on my feet when I had ended up here that first night and paid for a room while trying to hold back tears.
“Hey A.”
A pile of empty plates balanced in my arms, I turned to find the owner of the Midnight Motel staring at me from behind the counter.
“Hey.” Shuffling forward, I dumped the plates on the side and arched my back, throwing out my enormously pregnant belly even further. He eyed it from over the rim of his stained coffee mug. “Jesus, girl, you look fit to pop.”
I smiled. He always said things like that. “Not quite yet. There’s a month or two left yet,” I answered him.
“You know.” He sipped the bitter black liquid and continued to eye me. “If you told me who the baby’s daddy was, I could force him to look after you. You’re going to kill yourself doing these double shifts.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “I’ve told you, he doesn’t want to know.”
My boss cracked his knuckles threateningly. “I could make him see the error of his ways, A.”
My smile slipped. It was funny to think of him confronting Alexei. But not in a haha way. My boss would never stand a chance. Alexei would wipe him from the face of the earth with one well-placed shot.
“I love you for looking out for me, Derek,” I said softly. “But I’m honestly fine. The baby and I don’t need him.”
He continued to stare at me. “OK, A, I take it that he’s not a good person, so I won’t press it. But do you know who is a good person?”
I waited for him to continue. My eyebrow arched.
“Me,” he chuckled. “Do you want to man the front desk tonight, instead of waitressing? Our usual guy is running late thanks to car troubles. I’ll pay your usual rate, and it would mean you can get off your feet for a few hours.”
I looked down before I could help myself. My feet, my poor, swollen, sausage-like feet, were literally bursting from my tennis shoes.
“Yes, please.”
He grinned, his dead tooth catching my attention. “Get to it then, girl. And the rifle is under the counter. Don’t be afraid to use it if there’s any trouble.”
He always said that, but in all the months I had been here, there had never been any trouble. This wasn’t a high-end place. It was more of a secret place. The people who booked rooms didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.
“See you tomorrow.” I lifted my hand to wave at the other waitresses and stepped out into the humid summer night. Making my way across the almost empty parking lot, I lifted my face to the slight breeze that fluttered my pale pink waitress uniform around my knees.
The light wind was good against my sweaty skin, but taking the weight off my feet would be even better.
I eyed the cars in the lot as I passed. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing that looked like Alexei had found me. It had been months, and I didn’t think he was even looking for me. Why would he be? I was gone, and he now had everything he ever wanted. His long-lost love, Violet.
But it didn’t stop me double-checking my surroundings anyway. Pushing into the small office, I said hello to the middle-aged woman with bright red hair who always manned the office in the day.
“Hey, Sindy. You can go be at home with those kids now. Sorry, it took me so long to get—”
She ignored me completely. Sliding from her stool to brush past me and leaving without a word. OK, so Sindy wasn’t Mrs. Friendly. I liked her anyway. Groaning, I fell into the warm seat she had vacated and pulled the log towards me.
I just needed to check who was in what room, something I always did. There would no doubt be people who needed towels or even couples who would check out long before the morning. Those rooms would need to be cleaned.
My nose wrinkled. Those rooms would need to be scrubbed. I was halfway down the list when my fingers paused on a name I knew. Violet.
Instantly, my heart was in my throat, pounding away so hard and fast that it felt like I was going to faint. It had to be a coincidence, right? It couldn’t be that Violet? The love of my husband’s life.
Why would she be here? Unless she was with Alexei.
And there was no way for me to find out. I couldn’t leave the desk unmanned. All I could do was wait and hope that it wasn’t her and that Alexei hadn’t found me.
Four hours later, my replacement finally arrived, and I could go to bed.
Only this place after eleven p.m. was a hive of activity of the sexual kind, and the walls were paper-thin.
I’d barely fallen into bed when the people in the room next to me started going at it again, and I had to curl the thin pillow around my head to muffle the sound.
“Oh, Kristoff.” An instantly recognizable voice screamed her release so loudly that I was sure half the motel had heard her. “More baby, please.”
Sitting bolt upright in bed, I clutched the pillow to my chest. That had been Violet’s voice. I would know it anywhere, but she hadn’t called out Alexei’s name. She had called out Kristoff. Who the hell was Kristoff, and why did his name sound so familiar to me?
“Not so loud, Violet.” A man’s voice grumbled out five minutes later. “You never know who is watching or listening. We don’t want anyone to know about us.”
“Oh, I don’t care who knows,” Violet cooed in a voice too loud to be seductive but somehow managed it. “It’s so hard being away from you.”
“Oh yeah, cos living in that mansion and being waited on hand and foot is such a chore. Come on now, Violet, this is me you are talking to. I know you. And you are loving being the lady of the manor.” His voice dropped into a sarcastic growl.
“None of the staff listen to me. Alexei says I’m too difficult and demanding.” I could almost hear her roll her eyes.
“Well, you have always known what you wanted. I find that incredibly attractive.”
There was silence that I knew was full of kissing and maybe something more. I tried not to listen, but it was impossible.
“Yes, I know what I want,” she said finally. “But he won’t set the date for our engagement. Alexei won’t even touch me.”
My head snapped up. What? Was she still with Alexei but here with another man? That didn’t make any sense. Violet and Alexei were meant to be together, weren’t they?
So, who was she here with? Who was this mysterious Kristoff? I ignored the next lot of moans and grunts. I didn’t need to hear them to know she was a giant ho, but I did listen out to the sound of them leaving, which came thirty minutes later.
The door slammed. Slowly, because I didn’t want them to hear me, I tiptoed over to the window and flicked the curtains back just enough to see them. The man was tall, and he had Violet pressed up against the trunk of his car, kissing her wildly.
“I hate having to go back to him,” Violet whispered, her head back so he could kiss her throat.
“It won’t be for too much longer. You just need him to marry you and then—” more kissing. “Then all of this will be over.”
“He won’t even divorce Amy. He barely looks at me.”
The man moved in a flash and grabbed her chin painfully. I winced back. “Then it’s your job to make him forget her. Wasn’t she some little mouse of a girl? Surely a woman of your,” he kissed her lips hard, “overwhelming talents should find it easy to seduce him.”
“I’ve tried.”
“Try harder then, otherwise this will all be for nothing. And I’ve worked too hard to let him win now. Leave now. I don’t want anyone to see us leave together. I love you, Violet.” He called out to her. “This will all be over soon.”
She moved away, blowing a kiss over her shoulder. But I didn’t move.
I couldn’t because I could finally see the man’s face, and I did know him.
I’d met him once before at a dinner party. He’d given me a diamond necklace and then cornered me in the garden and asked me to spy on Alexei. I’d refused, but clearly, he had found someone who would, and it was someone Alexei would never suspect.
I felt a pang of sympathy for my estranged husband. He was being used. He loved Violet, and she was here with someone he thought was his friend. Alexei deserved to know.
Kristoff lifted his head, and for one second, it felt like he was staring straight at me. I saw a crooked smile spread across his face before I dropped the curtain and stepped back, breathing heavily.
Had he seen me? Oh, God, had he seen me? Holding my breath, I waited for the knock on the door, but there was no sound except for the throaty roar of a car engine as he pulled away.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I rubbed my hands over my swollen belly. “That was close, wasn’t it?” I whispered to my baby, who I was sure was a girl. “We are going to have to be more careful if we want to stay here, hey Alessia.”
I was so sure I was carrying a girl that I’d even named her.
Of course, I was also using my sister’s name, so it might get confusing when she was born, but it worked for now.
Groaning, I crawled back into bed, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, not with the knowledge that Violet was cheating on Alexei.
He deserved to know. My baby moved, rippling the skin on my stomach. “It’s OK, Alessia,” I mumbled to myself. “I know I can’t do that.”
It was like my unborn baby was warning me. I couldn’t tell, Alexei. He couldn’t know where I was, and he sure as hell couldn’t ever find out that I hadn’t miscarried. I had no doubt he would try to take my child from me. He would probably want to raise it with Violet.
Only Violet was sneaking around with Kristoff. She was using him, and he didn’t even know. My head began to pound, and I pinched the skin between my eyebrows to try to ease it.
What happened in Alexei’s and Violet’s relationship was none of my business, so I wouldn’t tell him.
He deserved everything he got.
Both of them did.