20. Aziel
I hada few meetings run over, so I arrived home after Azaria’s bedtime. I was thankful I’d spent a part of my afternoon with her. My dinner was in the microwave, and after inhaling it, I checked on Azaria before heading to our bedroom.
“Hey, beautiful,” I greeted Desire before we kissed.
“Hey, handsome. Did you eat?”
“Of course. Can you believe this was the first time I’ve had stuffed bell peppers? That shit was good.”
“Thank you. Ria liked it, too. How was the rest of your day?”
“Full of meetings. I talked to Tammy, though.”
“And?”
“This probably won’t be the last conversation we have. If her attitude doesn’t change, she’s gotta go. I have companies and a city to run, and I don’t have time for her nonsense.”
“She’s in love with you.”
“Baby—”
“We don’t have to debate it, but it’s true.”
“I don’t want to talk about her or work. It’s been a long day. How was the rest of your day?”
“Interesting.”
“Really? How?”
“There’s a new preschool opening in the fall. I completed an application and immediately got a response. I’ll be called in for an interview when they start the hiring process.”
“That’s great news, baby. I’m proud of you for not giving up.”
“It was looking a little bleak for a minute. I mean, there are only so many schools I can apply to in the city.”
“True, but remember, you don’t have to work. I kind of like the idea of you being home. Especially once I knock you up a few times and we have a house full of kids.”
“You and my biological clock aren’t on the same page, but let’s talk about that when there’s something to talk about.”
“Okay, we can table that conversation for now. What else interesting happened today?”
She sighed. “How about you shower, and I’ll tell you afterward?”
“Damn, is it that bad?”
“I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it.”
I tried to stall, but she insisted I shower before telling me the rest of her news. The shower was quick, and I strolled my naked ass to the bed and slid in beside her.
“What’s the news?”
“You have to promise not to be upset with me.”
“I can’t do that, baby, and you’re making me nervous. What the hell is going on?”
She let her head fall back on the headboard and blew out a deep breath.
“After our wedding, I started getting messages on Flikstagram.”
“Messages from who?”
“I’m not sure. The usernames are random, and the profiles are empty.”
I sat up and turned on my side to face her. “Usernames? So, the messages are from more than one person?”
“They’re from different profiles, but I think it may be the same person. All the messages are warning me about being with you.”
“What? Do you still have them?”
“I took screenshots before blocking the profile, but?—”
“Baby, why didn’t you tell me about this right away? Let me see the messages.”
She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, unlocked it, and went to her photos. Although unintentional, I aggressively snatched the phone from her hand, causing her to frown.
“You need to calm down,” she warned.
You just made the biggest mistake of your life.
He’ll never love you.
He’s incapable of love.
Don’t get too comfortable.
He’ll never be faithful.
There were other messages along the same lines, and as she said, all were sent from different profiles. The pictures taken today were included when I got to the last message. I thought back to this afternoon and didn’t recall seeing anyone who looked out of place. From the distance and angles of the images, they weren’t taken from close range. However, the fact that someone took the pictures and sent them to Desire fucked with me.
Your little fairytale will soon come to an end.
“What the fuck? You should’ve told me about this right away, Desire. Why would you keep this from me?” I shouted.
“I didn’t want to worry you. I thought it was harmless until today.”
“But you still waited several hours to tell me. I could already have someone investigating to find out who sent the messages. Don’t ever keep shit like this from me again. Do you understand?”
“I wasn’t thinking?—”
“No shit!”
I hopped out of bed and rushed to our closet, pulling on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. When I returned to the bedroom, my eyes caught Desire’s. She looked nervous and apologetic as tears rolled down her cheeks. As pissed as I was, I couldn’t stop myself from consoling her. I went to her side of the bed and pulled her into my arms.
“Baby, I’m sorry for how I reacted. Please stop crying.”
“I didn’t think it was serious enough to bother you,” she mumbled through her tears.
I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. “Desire, nothing you ever do or say will be a bother to me. You’re my wife, baby, and I’ve fallen in love with you in a matter of weeks. You have to know I’ll do anything to protect you and keep you safe. Don’t ever keep something like this from me again, okay?”
She nodded as she wiped her tears but didn’t verbally respond.
“Look at me, Desire.” She lifted her head. “Promise me you’ll never keep anything like this from me again.”
“I promise.”
I kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes again.
“I’m going downstairs to my office to make a few phone calls. I’m cool with one of the detectives down at the station who will investigate on the low. I’ll be back up in a little while. Get some rest.”
“Okay. Az, I’m?—”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing, baby.” I pressed my lips against hers and felt her body relax. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
A few hours later, I returned to our bedroom. Desire was asleep in the middle of our bed. After stripping out of my sweats and T-shirt, I slowly pulled the covers back and eased beside her.
“Is everything okay?” she whispered.
“My bad, I was trying not to wake you.”
“It’s fine. Did you find out anything?”
“I have somebody on it. Until we figure this out, Mark will take you wherever you need to go, and I’ll have someone watching the house. I looked at the camera footage from the last month and didn’t notice anything suspicious. I’ll have my guy look at it in case I missed something.”
“Okay. I wish I would’ve taken this more seriously, I just?—”
“Desire, I already told you to stop apologizing. I know now, and I’m taking care of it. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
My anger with her hadn’t lasted long, and my only concern was keeping her and Azaria safe. Things were in motion to determine who had been sending the messages, and all we could do now was wait.
I rolledout of bed and showered before my alarm sounded after tossing and turning all night. The possibility of someone targeting my wife played repeatedly in my mind and kept me up most of the night. The first few messages seemed harmless and could’ve been sent by women from my past. I could understand why Desire didn’t take those seriously. However, the most recent message was a clear threat, and I didn’t take threats lightly.
Had Desire not delayed telling me, we could be further along in the process of finding out who was behind the messages. I gave Quinton, the detective I’d asked to do some digging, the information late in the evening, so I wasn’t expecting to hear anything from him soon.
“You’re up early,” Desire whispered, sleep coating her voice.
I approached her side of the bed and sat on the edge.
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep well. I’m gonna head to the office early. Have you shared this with anyone else?”
“Umm, just my sisters and I told them not to tell anyone. I trust them.”
“Okay. Mark is available if you need to leave the house, but, baby, don’t leave if you don’t have to. It’ll make things easier, and I won’t have to worry.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go today.”
“Good. I had to give your phone to Quinton when he came over last night. So?—”
“Quinton?”
“He’s the detective that’s helping us out. I’ll leave my personal phone for you to use if needed, but Tammy will bring your new one over in a few hours. I know how you feel about her, but she’s still my assistant for now. Try to keep your cool, baby.”
She rolled her eyes but agreed. I finished getting ready while Desire took a quick shower before going downstairs to make breakfast. Before going downstairs, I peeked in on Azaria, and she still slept peacefully. After a pleasant breakfast with my wife, I headed to work, hoping to hear from Quinton soon.