23. Garrett

Her family were all standing around looking nervous when I walked out of the room. "How is she?" Brian, who always seemed to take the lead when it came to anything to do with his little sister, was the first to ask.

"She wants me to ask you to leave; all of you."

I thought, as the newcomer, I would feel uncomfortable doing that because, contrary to what the world thinks, having money doesn't make you void of human emotion, but I didn't feel any way at all. It's what she wanted, and that's all that mattered.

Brian and her Dad started to walk forward, and I held my hand out to stop them. "We can't leave with things like this." Her brother seemed hurt, and I'm pretty sure he was contemplating trying to get through me to get to her.

Since I wasn't about to brawl while she needed me, I did my best to de-escalate the situation.

"Is that your wife?" I pointed at Daisy which made him look at me questioningly.

"Yes!"

"Does she have a brother? Family?"

"Yes, what're you getting at?"

"If she asked you to do something and one of them tried to stop you, would you let them?" His entire body deflated, and I almost felt sorry for him.

"Can you at least tell us how she is? Is she mad or hurt?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, what is she doing? Did she say anything?" This time, it was Cam who asked.

"She's not doing anything. She just got into bed and pulled the covers over her head." They all grumbled and looked even more panicked. "Fuck!" Brian exclaimed while looking as if he wanted to get by me anyway.

"What?" Now, they were making me nervous.

"She's hurt!"

"How can you tell?"

"If she was mad, she'd be doing her nails or her hair, maybe even humming." Trey looked like he wanted to cry.

"I'll take care of her, don't worry. I give you my word." I tacked on the last bit because they didn't look convinced, and I guess I can see why they were having a hard time with that. They didn't know me, and they were worried about her. Another time, I'll appreciate the fact that they cared so much about her, but right now, she was all I cared about.

"Listen, I gotta get back to her. Someone will see you out." I saw my valet, yes, I still have one, enter the room behind them and nodded my head in his direction. He'd know what to do. I had prepared a going away package for each of them before all of this went down.

It was just a way to thank them for being at my wedding and also enough information on our honeymoon itinerary to put their minds at ease. I'm not so dense that I wouldn't know what was going through their minds, and since she cares about them, I see nothing wrong with going the extra mile to make them comfortable, especially her parents.

I'm a relative stranger who was taking their sister and daughter out of the country, far away from everything and everyone she knows. At the time, I figured the more I could do to put them at ease, the better. Now, I'm not so sure she would approve.

I didn't wait for them to leave before going back to the bedroom, where she was still buried under the covers. I wasn't sure what I should do for her, so I just went with my gut and kicked off my shoes before climbing in beside her.

I didn't pull the covers away from her face; I just dragged her into my arms and held her as close as the bulky duvet would allow. I didn't speak or try to get her to. I was just here when she needed me.

It was she who got closer, she who snuck her hand from under the covers to clutch at me. She wasn't making a sound, and neither did I. She'd talk if and when she wanted to; just as long as she wasn't crying, I was fine with whatever. Then again, given what they said and their reactions, crying might be better?

She maneuvered herself until she was practically on top of me, and now I was the one covered with the hot-ass duvet. I didn't complain, though, even when she moved around until she was settled, using my body like some kind of springboard.

Once she was settled, sprawled all over me with no care for my comfort, which I didn't mind, I decided to test the waters. "Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head no, which was enough for me. I just held her closer, tighter, and kissed her head.

She still didn't speak, but I knew the minute she fell asleep because her body relaxed and her breathing became even. I waited a few minutes more before sliding out from under her and leaving the bed and the room. I was pissed beyond belief and barely holding it in.

I headed to my office and called up my head of security. "Why didn't I know that her parents have been reconciled for ten fucking years?"

"Um, you didn't ask us to look at them."

"Do it now, I want everything by tomorrow morning."

I hung up the phone and sat for a minute more, trying to get my breathing under control. I can't fire my team for something that was my fault, I guess, but I wanted to, which isn't fair. I'm just mad because she's hurt, and I have no experience with this shit.

This isn't something I can throw money at or browbeat my way into, all of which I would have no problem doing. But I don't know what to do about whatever the hell this is. She hasn't spoken one word and now she's asleep, and I have no idea what to expect when she wakes up.

So, all I can do for now is get her as much information on the situation as I can and go from there. Now I sit here wondering how I myself would deal with this if I were in her shoes. Her brothers say she's not mad but hurt. I think I would prefer the former because the way she'd just shut down can't be good.

I don't remember falling asleep the night before. I'd come back to bed and got her and myself undressed so we could at least be comfortable. She hadn't even stirred while I took care of her, but she'd crawled onto my chest as soon as I got back into bed beside her.

I guess it's something that she sought me out in her distress, but I'd still rather she scream and yell at me. My eyes flew open with the morning sun, and I looked down at her immediately.

Her head was still on my chest, and she was still passed out. "Baby?" I kept my voice low and even just in case she wasn't ready but her eyes came open immediately onto mine. "Do you want to postpone our honeymoon?" She just shook her head, fought her way out of the covers, and headed into the bathroom.

I laid there a few seconds more, hoping for the best before heading out of the room for the office, where I expected to find the information I'd asked for the night before. As expected, there was a folder waiting, and it was thick enough to tell me that there was plenty in there.

I scanned it first just to be sure there wouldn't be anything to hurt her even further before putting it aside. I called her brother next, "Brian, you've got five minutes. Tell me what I need to know so I can help her through this."

He didn't even argue; he just jumped right in. The gist of it was that their Mom had suffered some kind of mental break when she realized her main focus was on her youngest child, who she noticed was still suffering four years after the divorce. Then they all just went on what I call Operation Save Alyssa. Only no one thought to tell her.

I get it, she was twelve going on thirteen, way too young to know some things, but that was ten years ago. "What about when she got older."

"It just never seemed like the right time. We didn't know they were dating all this time, though, or whatever the hell they were doing. We only knew that they were on speaking terms. Everything was about healing the family and doing what was best for Alyssa because she was the one who took it the hardest or the only one who showed it at any rate."

"How come you didn't know they were seeing each other or planning to reconcile?"

"They claimed they didn't want to get our hopes up when we were younger, and then later, it was just something those two wanted to handle themselves. It doesn't make sense to us either, but Mom said she didn't want us to think poorly of her for dating a married man."

I couldn't help but snicker at that one. It's a complicated situation, to be sure and who am I to say how they should've handled things after the fact? I just hope she accepts their explanations and comes out of whatever this was she'd gone into.

There was a knock on the door, and Merrick, my valet, peeped around the door. "Her things have arrived, sir." It took me a minute to recall what he was speaking about. Her things from the resort had been brought here already. "Oh, okay, I'll take care of it. Did you have it sent to the bedroom?"

"Yes, sir." He left, and I stood to my feet and grabbed the folder before going to find her. She was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the trunks that had been brought up.

"That's your trousseau."

"My what?" I was almost startled at the sound of her voice; I wasn't expecting it.

"This one has your honeymoon clothes, this one has family heirlooms from Mom, and this one is from Dad's family. It's mostly jewelry and…. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Your family sent me heirlooms?"

"Well, yeah, I'm the only son and the firstborn to boot so it's only right that my wife receive these things. Isn't that what everybody does?"

I know it's not, but the roll of her eyes was worth making myself look stupid. "I've taken out your clothes for the trip; they're hanging in the closet." She went back to being mute, but she did head into the closet to see what I had picked for her to wear while I went to take a shower.

She was back to being quiet and looking sullen by the time we left for the airstrip. "We'll have breakfast on the plane." She barely nodded her head and I decided to hold off on giving her the folder with the information I'd gathered for her.

I was taking it all in for future reference. She'd said five words in the last however many hours since they broke the news to her. She was clingy and sullen and I had to feed her breakfast once we were seated on the plane.

She had no interest in anything, didn't even look around, and she must be the first woman who knew there was a trunk full of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls, among other precious gems, and didn't take a look. She had no interest and I didn't know if to be pleased or worried.

"Do you want me to put you to bed in the back?" She nodded her head, and I unbelted her from her seat and took her hand to walk her to the bedroom. "Should I get in with you?" She nodded her head and tugged on my sleeve until I gave her what she wanted. She was asleep five minutes later.

So, she sleeps when she's hurt. But I wonder what's going through her mind and what the hell I should watch out for. The last time she faced a crisis, she burned a bed and took a baseball bat to her Dad and his new family. There's no one here but me and the flight staff. Hopefully, if she was going to go on the attack, she'd wait until we landed. It's going to be a long ass flight.