Page 13

13

SEAN

My head is pounding as I walk up the driveway, wishing that I hadn’t just spent the night sleeping in a booth at the local dive bar.

There’s a tight knot at the base of my neck, and my entire body is stiff. I’m getting too old to spend nights like that, but after seeing the way Ellie completely shut herself down last night, I didn’t know what else to do or where to go.

I take a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for another battle as I open the door. “Ellie?”

No sound comes from inside the house as I shut the door behind me and kick off my shoes. I’m not surprised, though. It would be just like her to give me the silent treatment.

I’m exhausted after dealing with the tension between us every day. Life would be so much easier if we could just get to the part where we’re finally getting along with each other.

As I walk into the living room, I glance around, her overnight bag sitting on the coffee table instead of crumpled on the floor where it was last night when I left.

“Ellie? Come on. We need to talk. I’m tired of this shit.”

Nothing.

No noise. No shouted fuck you back at me. Nothing to suggest she can hear me or that she cares if she does.

Groaning, I walk into the kitchen and dig through the cupboard to the right of the sink, looking for the white bottle of ibuprofen to kill my headache. I’ll need the little jackhammers going wild in my head to stop before I head up to Ellie’s room.

She might be out on the terrace which would explain her not answering me.

After throwing back a pill and washing it down with water, I head to my room to get changed into something more comfortable. I yank on the joggers and loose shirt before going to knock on Ellie’s door.

She doesn’t answer, but the door opens when I twist the knob.

I stop in my tracks when I step into the room, heart lodging itself in my throat. The duvet is on the ground and there’s a chair stuck beneath the doorknob.

What if she’s dead?

None of my staff told me that someone broke in or that something had happened to Ellie.

I see red as I yank the chair out of the way, tossing it to the other side of the room.

Ripping the door open, I see Kara on the floor, a sheet tied around her.

Her eyes fly open as I grab her by the shoulder and haul her out of the closet. I untie the sheet, ripping it from her, rage flowing through my veins as I look back in the closet, only to find Ellie not there.

As I round on Kara, I’m ready to throw her out the window if she doesn’t have a good answer.

“What the hell happened here? Where the hell is Ellie? You’re supposed to be the one protecting her, so why are you tied up in a closet and where is she?”

Kara tips her chin up, her gaze hardening, dark circles beneath her eyes. “Who do you think tied me up?”

“I’m not in the mood to play games right now,” I say, my voice rising as I pace over to the bathroom, looking inside to make sure Ellie isn’t in there, waiting to screw with my head more.

“She tied me up, and then she took off. She said something about needing a day to clear her head.”

“And you don’t know where she is?”

“I might.” Kara shrugs and tucks her hands in her pockets. She rolls her shoulders back as she glares at me. “I don’t know for sure, though. And to be honest, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

My hands ball into fists as I look around the room, seeing an indent in the drywall. “Whose head went through the fucking drywall?”

Kara winces. “Mine. She kicked me into it.”

There’s a small swell of pride that goes through my chest, but the anger overrides it.

“And why do you think you don’t have to tell me where she is?” I cross my arms, trying to keep my temper in check. “Where the hell is my wife, Kara?”

“She said that she needed a day to think. Do you even know what you’re doing to her? Do you have any idea that you’re tearing her apart on the inside? The woman who stood in front of me last night was not the Ellie I’ve known since we were kids. She’s dying inside and you don’t give a flying fuck about her!”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

I spin away from her, knowing that she isn’t going to say anything to me. She’s loyal to Ellie and while I want to fault her for that, there’s a small part of me that’s glad Ellie has someone on her side.

I know I haven’t been.

As I go back to my bedroom for my phone, I shove Kara’s words to the back of my mind. I don’t have the time to think about all the ways Ellie is hurting inside when I have to deal with tracking down the Rinaldos and making sure that nobody kills her.

I need a damn break.

Yet Ellie thinks that she can go running off whenever the hell things get too hard. Aiden has spent most of his life spoiling her, treating her like she’s going to break if he makes her fall in line.

Her days of being a porcelain doll are over.

The phone rings as I dial Dominic. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that my wife took off last night?”

Dominic yawns. “I tried calling you. You wouldn’t answer. I called Aiden and asked if he knew anything. He said he would call her and let me know what she said.”

“And why the hell didn’t you call her yourself?” I snap, swiping my keys off the dresser where I dropped them and heading for the garage.

“We both know she wouldn’t have answered me even if I tried, if she was running away.” He sighs and something shuts in the background, the noise a dull thud. “Aiden called me back and said that she was spending the night with a friend and the friend’s brother.”

“Start tracking her cell and text me the location when you figure out where she is.” I end the call, jogging down the stairs and to the garage.

She did go out to find another man to sleep with.

Guilt tears at me, going to war with the anger. If I had told her the truth last night, she might not have looked at me like the sex we had was purely transactional. I wouldn’t have left, and she wouldn’t have taken off to find another man.

This is the first and last time she ever does that.

I’m not going to have my wife fooling around with other people behind my back, and I’m sure as hell not going to allow her to do it in front of my face.

As I step into the garage, the first thing I notice is my missing Chevelle.

Her ass is going to pay for that one day, but right now all I really care about is dragging her home and setting her straight about what our marriage is going to look like.

I call Aiden as I sling a leg over my motorcycle, connecting the phone to the speakers and microphone in my helmet.

Aiden groans as the call connects. “It’s like six in the morning. Why the hell are you calling me?”

I grit my teeth, pressing the button to open the garage doors before gunning the bike to life. “Did Ellie tell you where she was going last night? I was at work when she told me and I forgot, but she asked me to bring her a phone charger this morning and I’m going to be called the biggest ass in the world if I have to message her.”

Aiden chuckles. “She didn’t give me an address. She said that she was going to stay with one of the women from the clinic, but it sounded like she was in the city.”

I force a laugh. “Alright. I’ll send her a message. Thanks.”

The call ends as I peel out of the driveway, heading for the city.

When I find her, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to be arguing again. It seems to be all we know how to do, but I don’t want to keep going on this way anymore.

It’s exhausting, and when things are good, I think I might actually like her. At least a little bit.

A message comes through, and I pull over to look at it, groaning when I see Royce’s address.

Of course she would go to him.

I’ve never gotten along well with Royce. He doesn’t like me much and trying to win him over to my side is a lot harder than charming Ellie’s sisters.

After tucking my phone away, I head for Royce’s with no clue of what I’m going to say to her.

The apartment building towers above me, glass-paneled walls reflecting the sunlight and the smaller red brick buildings around it as I park between two cars before striding inside.

I head straight for the penthouse elevator and punch in the code to get to the floor. Aiden gave it to me a couple weeks ago when Royce was throwing a party. I didn’t think I would ever have a reason to use it again, but as the elevator lurches toward the top floor, I’m glad I have it.

As I step off the elevator, the anger is back. I keep a tight leash on it, but I pound on the door a little harder than necessary.

The door swings open and Royce takes one look at me before slamming it shut again.

“For fuck’s sake.” I beat my fist against the white door again, shaking it in the frame until it opens.

Ellie crosses her arms and looks up at me. “I just need one day alone, and you can’t even give that to me? You have me tracked through the city, for what? You don’t give a damn and neither do I.”

I brush past her, heading down the hall to the guest rooms. Her things are spread around the room in the first one, her laptop open on the desk with soft music playing and some sort of medical journal up on the screen.

It’s the first thing I shut and stuff in the tote bag sitting on the armchair.

Ellie enters the room behind me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I should be asking you the same thing.” I turn around and rip open the dresser drawers, pulling out the clothing there and tossing it into her suitcase. “You don’t get to just run away. I don’t give a shit what I did to piss you off.”

She scoffs. “You think that this is because you made me mad?”

“Well, considering you clearly weren’t willing to listen to me tell you that I didn’t cheat on you and I wouldn’t.”

Ellie throws her hands up in the air. “So, what? You weren’t at the strip clubs?”

I grab the last of her clothing from the floor and shove it in the suitcase, zipping it up. “I was, but that’s because Aiden has me going there to find out what rumors Aiden has been spreading around. I meet them in the back office. They’re fully covered up and I stay on the other side of the room. Happy?”

Ellie presses her lips together. “If you had told me about this when it first started, we wouldn’t be doing this right now.”

I throw the suitcase onto the bed, sweeping her phone up from the desk before shoving it into the tote with her laptop. “How the hell am I supposed to know whether or not I can trust you?”

“I think I’ve proven over the years that I can be trusted with the family business.”

“Yeah, well, when you and I are constantly at each other’s throats, I have a hard time believing that.”

She sighs and sits down on the edge of the bed. “I needed the time to think, Sean. I should have sent a message to Dominic or someone, so you didn’t worry, but I was hurt.”

I stand in front of her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes. “I’m tired of this back and forth between us all the time.”

“Me too.” She runs a hand through her hair, turning her gaze to the bright light above us as her eyes water. “I just want to have the happiest life I can, even in a loveless marriage.”

“Let’s start with being friends.” I clear my throat, taking her bags in both my hands. “Let’s go home.”

“I’m serious about the not cheating on me, Sean.”

I nod, meeting her gaze. “Sex with each other. Nobody else. And we work on figuring out how to live with each other without wanting to kill each other.”

“The only way this is going to work is if I’m the only person you’re sleeping with. Otherwise, I will blow this to hell, alliance be damned.”

As I walk out of the apartment with her, I don’t doubt her threat for a moment.