Chapter 16
A few days later…
Since the night she seduced Ries, he had gone back to barely talking to her, refusing to let her leave the apartment, and leaving directly after breakfast everyday to go do only-he-knew-what.
He came home each evening, where they ate a silent dinner together, and then he retreated to his makeshift office and she watched television until she fell asleep.
Stephanie was beginning to go stir crazy but Ries wasn’t around to share that with, and on this day, she found herself wandering from room to room, searching for some way to make the boredom and the distance bearable.
She’d just entered the room he was using as his office when his computer screen came on and his brother Damon’s face filled the screen, the soft ring of a video call sounding over the computer’s speakers.
She glanced around, unsure if she should answer the video call or just pretend she’d never seen it. The prospect of having some role, any role in the investigation was tantalizing. Even if it was just passing messages from brother to brother.
Yet she remembered what Damon had said about her the last time she’d seen him.
One of Ries’ women.
The last thing she needed was for anyone to remind her of her fears about the man she still had strong feelings for, despite everything.
When the call disconnected, she breathed a sigh of relief.
But then a second video call started immediately. Damon again.
It must be urgent.
What if Ries was in danger, and he didn’t know it?
Stephanie found herself sitting down in the desk chair and moving the mouse to the answer icon. She clicked it and then held her breath as the call connected and his brother’s voice filled the space.
“What are you doing answering Ries’ computer?” Damon’s face was stern, even angry.
Stephanie felt her breath catch at the tone of his voice and then forced a smile to her lips. “Hello, Damon.”
Damon arched a brow and then sighed, “I need to speak with Ries.”
“Uhm…he’s not here.”
“Ries is not there and yet he left his computer unlocked with you? My brother continues to amaze me.”
“I can tell him you called,” she offered, biting her tongue to avoid saying something she’d regret.
“No, that won’t be necessary. Although, there is something you could do for me. For all of us, including Ries.”
Stephanie slowly nodded. The thought of being useful was enticing but she didn’t trust Damon’s tone of voice. “Okay. Shoot.”
“You already know that my brother is a playboy of the worst sort and has had a succession of girlfriends. He’s incapable of committing himself to only one relationship and usually is already started on the next one before he ever completely breaks it off with his current paramour.
“And then he has the gall to act heartbroken, which only serves to draw more women to his side to soothe his broken heart. He doesn’t seem to know how to do anything but manipulate people’s emotions.”
Stephanie digested his words. This was a strange thing for Damon to talk to her about – he hadn’t exactly given off the vibe that he was interested in her feelings.
“Why are you telling me this?” She demanded.
Damon sighed again, running his fingers through his perfectly coiffed hair.
For a moment, the expression on his face was almost human.
“Look,” he said, “you seem like a nice kid, and I don’t believe you want to hurt my brother.
But you deserve someone a little more mature than him.
Being unreliable and reckless is kind of his thing.
I would hate to see you get hurt because he’s a careless jerk. ”
Stephanie was shocked. She wasn’t sure if it was because Damon was acting human or because he was saying such awful things about Ries.
“How can you say those things about your own brother? You clearly don’t know Ries like I do.
He’s a good man.” But even as Stephanie spoke, doubts crept into her mind.
She remembered how cold he had been. How tyrannical.
How distant. Perhaps he was not so unlike his brother Damon after all.
“Because they’re true,” Damon said simply. “If you want to protect yourself from being mistreated, you need to leave. That would be the best thing for you, and also for Ries. Things are getting dangerous, and the longer you two continue to ignore the obvious…”
“Which is?” Stephanie interrupted him.
“That there is no future between the two of you. My brother is incapable of making long-term plans. The sooner you both realize that, the less it will hurt when you rip the Band-Aid off and go your separate ways. You’re already emotionally invested in him as I believe he is with you.
The longer you prolong things , the more the split will hurt. Best to do it soon and abruptly.”
“I’ll take that under consideration,” she murmured coolly.
“You do that.” Damon’s face told her that he didn’t believe her, yet also expected the inevitable split to come soon. “I’ll call Ries on his cell. Goodbye and have a good life, as I don’t expect we’ll meet again.”
Stephanie stared at the screen as Damon’s face faded away. She couldn’t believe his audacity.
Stephanie sat at the desk, her mind conjuring up how she might feel if Ries was ever to reject her. She would be devastated.
The thought of leaving Ries, even with the distance he kept putting between them, hurt. But she knew it would only hurt more the longer she stuck around. Could any relationship founded on an assassination plot last? Or would they realize they were too different as soon as the threat had passed?
Ries would be angry with her for putting herself in danger if she left, but Damon’s words about how Ries normally started distancing himself from his current woman before dumping her were loud in her head.
Was that what he was doing, and he was only waiting until the danger was over to send her away with a clean conscience
Stephanie decided her heart couldn’t risk that kind of rejection. Not after everything they’d been through. She wandered back toward the bedroom she’d been using and began to pack her belongings, tucking her clothing into a bag she’d found tucked away at the bottom of the closet.
She emptied the dresser drawers and started on the clothes hanging in the closet. Ries had been very thorough when retrieving her belongings, bringing everything she’d owned. He’d also bought her a few new things.
“It is nothing to me,” he’d said. “And you deserve to have more options than this.”
She’d only brought along clothing, toiletries, and a few books when she’d left the States for Greece, tucking everything else that had been worth keeping in a storage unit.
She’d paid for the first year and figured that after a year in Greece, she would have a better idea of what her future plans were.
She took care folding things up and placing them in the bag. Once it was full, she retrieved her suitcase from beneath the bed and began filling it with her shoes and remaining clothing.
She kept one eye on the clock sitting on the bedside table, guessing she still had a few hours before Ries would return.
This is better for both of us. He won’t need to worry about me anymore, and I won’t grow dependent on him.
The only thing she hadn’t figured out was how to get past the guards Ries had protecting her. Carlos was stationed at the ground floor, just outside the elevator. She had not tried leaving the apartment complex after her first attempt when Carlos stood guard outside the penthouse door .
He’d tattled on her, and Ries had looked at her coldly and demanded that she not try anything so foolhardy again. She was being kept inside for her own protection and she needed to stop trying to get herself injured or killed.
She finished packing up her clothing and decided she might as well pack up her bathroom items, just in case an opportunity to leave tonight presented itself.
Perhaps when Carlos was busy talking to Ries in the evening, it would be her chance.
She squatted down to look under the bed, spying the small matching carryon bag pushed back in the far corner.
She ended up having to lie down on her belly to reach the strap, her heart hurting as each moment drew closer to the time she would need to leave.
She paused for a moment, there on the floor, lecturing herself that this had to be done. For the sake of both of their hearts.