Chapter 23 - Katie

What happened? What went so horribly wrong?

After Aleks stormed off, it took me a long time to get off the couch. My legs were weak from the shock, and my heart ached from how angry he had acted. Whatever I did the rest of the day was a lost cause. I was in too much of a fog to remember it.

Now I was curled up in bed alone and still numb, because he never returned home. My phone was on his pillow next to me, and I kept picking it up to call him but always put it down again. He needed the time to cool off. Whatever had set him off in the first place couldn't have been all aimed at me. He'd been a wild man from the moment he crashed through the door.

Something serious was definitely bothering him, but if he refused to tell me what was going on, I had no way of knowing how to help. The fact he might not want my help, or think I was incapable, hurt too much to think about, so I pushed it away, once again picking up my phone and setting it back on the pillow. Another five minutes wasn't enough time for him to cool off.

But I longed to talk to him. Our six weeks of marriage had been the best time of my life. While I was exhausted at the end of each day, I got a fresh burst of energy the moment I saw him. Sometimes, he'd urge me to put on something fancy, and we'd go to his brother Max's restaurant or his club. Sometimes, we'd watch a movie in his private theater or go for a starlit swim. Most of the time, we had quiet dinners at home, where he asked me what I had done all day and hung on to every word, like I was the most riveting conversationalist in the world.

He shared funny stories with me about his childhood, or the details of a business meeting he'd warn me in advance would make my eyes cross with boredom. But nothing he said or did bored me.

Those dinners were my favorite—well, my second favorite. I thumped his empty pillow, wishing he could take me in his arms.

Maybe I should ask for that honeymoon we never got to take. The thought of spending entire days and nights with his full attention, on a secluded mountaintop or sunny beach, had me picking up the phone again.

My finger was about to press the call button, but a glance at the time showed me it was three in the morning. He had to be doing something important if he still wasn't home. Better not rile him up again.

But what about me? I was riled up, too. What did I do to deserve being treated so harshly? If he was so worried because I didn't answer my phone once, he should tell me why.

Completely unable to sleep, I wandered the house, finally ending up on the front balcony to get some fresh air. There was movement out by the gate, at least four men were marching back and forth along the wall. The small ground lights that illuminated the long drive and the closed gate were all lit, making it almost as bright as if it were daytime. I shuddered to see they all had guns of one sort or another, either strapped to their backs or hips or both.

Normally, there was only one bored man sitting out in the gatehouse. This was practically an armed militia. Hurrying to the back of the house, I went out on the balcony again, squinting into the darker back garden and past the pool. Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of more men staking out the walls back there.

Was this an invasion, or had Aleks ordered all those men to prowl around on the property? Pulling on the nearest robe, I could grab, which belonged to Aleks, I wrapped it around me and scurried downstairs. The scent of his cologne was a small comfort, but I would have rathered if he was actually there with me.

A man I vaguely recognized stood at the foot of the stairs, his back straight and arms crossed. Like the men outside, he had a long gun strapped across his back.

"Where's Sergei?" I asked, not yet freaking out because I did recognize this guy. I just wanted someone I actually knew and trusted to tell me what was going on. If Aleks was going to be stubborn, Sergei was a good second choice.

"I'm Drago, on night duty. Sergei will be back tomorrow morning. Is there something you require?"

Drago was huge and built like a brick wall. He seemed to be on my side, but there was no way I'd risk trying to charge past him. For all I knew, Aleks had ordered all those men to keep me inside. For my own safety, of course, but from what?

"I want to know what's going on," I demanded, putting the full force of my position as lady of the manor in my voice. "Why are there armed men crawling all over the place outside?"

"It's just a regularly scheduled monthly security drill, ma'am," he said mildly. "Sorry, we woke you."

Could this have happened before, and I missed it? Or was this the first one since we got married? If I called Aleks to ask him about it, that would do nothing to lessen his foul mood. There was nothing I could do but accept Drago's word and go back upstairs.

I scowled at the empty bed, and my phone where Aleks's head should have been, but a yawn made me crawl in and pull the sheets up to my chin. It had been a long day, with a huge shock and lots of roiling emotions. I was beat. After tossing and turning, I finally fell into a restless sleep.

When I woke up and saw that I'd missed my alarm, I barely had time to be upset that there were no messages from Aleks. If I didn't hurry, I couldn't get the lunch boxes out on time. I was glad it was almost the end of the week because I was going to do nothing the entire weekend. And I'd make sure that Aleks got over whatever was bugging him and spend every minute of it with me.

I just had the last box closed when one of my delivery men arrived, looking like he was just as cloudy of a mood as Aleks had been yesterday. I was too proud to ask him if he'd seen my husband at all that morning, but asked if the other guy was running late.

He scowled, quickly covering it with a polite smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Sorry, ma'am. It looks like it's just going to be me today. I'll try to cover as much of his area as I can."

I tried to hide my own irritation but did as poor of a job as him. "There's no way you can do all that."

I sighed and looked at the extra lunches I was now saddled with. I could take them myself with Sergei, but making the deliveries had been something that Aleks was always firmly against. I found it silly, but I wanted to mend whatever rift was between us, not make it wider.

"Let me take half of them at least," he said, packing them up in an extra insulated bag. "It's not a problem, really."

"Okay," I agreed, thanking him.

As soon as he was gone, I decided to take the extra lunches to the charity center. It wasn't my scheduled day, but it would be a nice surprise for them. And it would be nice for me to see a genuinely smiling face after the last twenty-four hours I'd been through.