Chapter 17 #2
“You think this is how you’re supposed to treat people?” my voice sounded deadly calm. “It’s not nice to try and steal other people’s husbands.”
She gave Axel a bewildered look, as if asking him to intervene. To protect her.
Like it was his job.
It was too much. I picked up her glass of red wine and, without any hesitation, tossed it at her face.
“My god,” Giselle sputtered.
“Mila, what the hell are you doing?” Axel’s tone snapped cold.
I turned on him. “After I saw my necklace, I actually felt bad that I turned down your boring dinner with your stupid clients that don’t even exist.”
Giselle was trying to dab her face with her napkin.
It was Axel’s calm demeanor that pushed me over the edge.
He sat there watching me intently, refusing to show me anything beneath his cool expression.
For some reason, his lack of response enraged me.
I grabbed the necklace around my neck and ripped it off, breaking it at the clasp. Then I slammed it down on the table.
“You are the worst husband in the world.”
I spun around and almost ran into a group of people. The hostess and four men stood behind me, waiting to join Axel and Giselle.
The clients.
I looked back at Axel. He looked like he wanted to murder me.
And then I bolted.
Oleg was just coming into the restaurant from the parking lot when I charged out.
“What’s wrong?” He looked at me with surprise.
“You know, this was a bad idea,” I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out into the pouring rain.
He tried to pull me back under the canopy. “Let me go get the car. I parked over three blocks away.”
“It’s fine.” I yanked on his arm. There was no way in hell I was going to stand like a sitting duck at the front entrance of the restaurant. “I need to get home.”
Axel must have driven like a bat out of hell, because his vehicle was already pulling into the driveway when I was letting myself into the house.
I raced inside and was halfway up the stairs when I heard the front door slam behind me with a tremendous bang.
“Mila,” Axel roared from the front entrance.
“Leave me alone,” I yelled back, as I dashed up the steps.
He moved like lightning, and by the time I was at the top step, so was he. He yanked me across the hallway and pinned me against the wall.
His face was soaking wet, and so was his hair. He looked like fury incarnate.
I wasn’t scared, not in the least. I was fascinated by the intensity and magnitude of the emotion he was feeling. All of it directed toward me.
It fired me up. Finally.
“What the hell was that, Mila?” His voice was cutting.
“You were dining alone with her.”
“We were waiting for our clients, for a dinner I invited you to.”
Why couldn’t he see my side? Couldn’t he see what tonight had looked like to me? I had gotten dressed up and made an effort to do something nice for him and instead I had found him cozying up to Giselle. And the smug way she had smiled at me. She was happy I had found them together.
“She deserved what she got. I wish I had dumped more wine on her.”
He looked beyond frustrated. “Stop acting like a brat.”
“I’m not! You don’t understand.”
“I understand you caused a scene at one of my business dinners.”
“I know what it looked like, but do you?” I yelled in his face. “Do you know what all of this looks like to me? All the time?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Suddenly, overwhelmingly, I felt myself close to tears. I couldn’t look into his face without starting to cry, so I stubbornly looked over his shoulder. “You’re gone all the time.”
He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.
And in that moment, I had no sense of self preservation left. It had been ripped away with the shooting, with Bandit and with everything else.
“Why won’t you sleep with me?” I implored, watching his face closely, looking for evidence that he hated me or didn’t want me as much as I wanted him.
Instead, I watched all the anger drain out of him. What was left was resounding defeat. He looked tired, and wiser than his years.
“It’s not you, Mila.”
My eyes filled with tears. “You’re in love with her.”
He pushed me back and held me against the wall. “No.”
“What is it, then?” I yelled all my feelings of rejection and loneliness at him. “Why can you take her out for dinner but not me? She’s so beautiful. And if you don’t find me attractive, why just not tell me?”
“Mila,” he started, and then stopped. “This isn’t about how much I want you.”
“Then what is it?” I cried, frustrated and hurt.
“It’s bigger than us.” He stepped back from me, as if to create some distance between us. “I can’t tell you the details of why. It’s not because I don’t want to. It’s because I’m protecting you.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Can you please explain to me what that means?”
Beneath us the front door opened and then shut. Then Oleg called up the stairs. “Boss?”
“Not now, Oleg.” Axel’s voice was harsh and commanding.
Oleg cleared his throat. “There’s someone named Viktor in the driveway. He said you’d want to talk.”
Axel froze at that, and then immediately recovered.
“Ask him to wait there. I’ll be outside in a moment.”
We heard the front door open and then close again.
He turned to me. “Mila.”
I sadly shook my head. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“What do you understand?” His voice was dangerously low.
I gave him a sad smile. “I understand you have to go.”
“Mila.” He said my name with so much meaning it literally made me want to cry.
“Good night, Axel.”
I walked into my room and then burst into tears.