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“Did Elena?” The question flies out of my mouth before I can think twice about it. I rush to add, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
He surprises me by sighing. “I thought she had.” He runs a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in forlorn spikes. “I honestly believed that she was ready for life as my wife. But as it turned out, she had no idea what she was signing up for. And she was right to be scared.”
It’s on my tongue: the apology I should have given him already. At the very least, an explanation. I know what happened to Elena and I’m so fucking sorry.
“Dmitri—”
He clears his throat pointedly. “Call if you need anything.” He retreats into his room. The door swings closed.
I stare at it, wishing I could be there for him the way Bee had been. But it’s a naïve thought. I’m not Bee. Nor can I be.
So I head off towards the kitchen as loneliness settles in the pit of my stomach. “Get used to it,” I tell myself softly. “This might be the rest of your life.”
Aleks arrives just after Laura Hanover leaves with her team from the Benne Boutique. I’m pretty sure I disappointed the crap out of her.
I ended up with only a handful of things, a few practical pieces that I plan on re-wearing a lot. She kept pushing expensive silk dresses and white linen pants in my face and I kept telling her that I wasn’t planning on going out much after the baby was born. Hell, I can barely go out before the baby is born. What’s the point in nice things if they’ll just wither and die in the darkness of my closet?
I’m full swing into the pity party when Aleks walks into the living room with a box of doughnuts in his hand. I rush over to him and throw my arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Me?” he balks, setting down the doughnuts the moment I release him. “You’re the one who was kidnapped.”
“Sure, but I get kidnapped all the time. At this rate, I’m used to it.”
He snorts. “Don’t let my brother hear you make that joke.”
“My humor is lost on him.” I give him a thorough onceover, satisfied that he looks mostly good. There is a small scar where he was shot, but all things considered, I was expecting a lot worse. “Glad you didn’t lose the arm.”
“It was touch-and-go there for a while,” he jokes. Then the smile drops off his face. “Speaking of glad, I’m glad Dmitri assigned me here today, actually. I’ve been wanting to apologize to you.”
I blink at him. “Apologize? For what?”
Now, he looks confused. “For God’s sake, Wren, you were under my custody and I let you get captured! I’ve spent the last three weeks wracked with guilt.”
“Aleks, don’t be ridiculous. That wasn’t your fault.”
“It was. I should have stayed with you no matter what.”
“I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. If I hadn’t run away, you wouldn’t have been shot in the first place. My only excuse is that I wanted to make sure Bee was…” I stumble on my own tears. “Shit.” I drop heavily onto the couch and wipe them away. “I still can’t fucking believe she’s gone.”
Aleks stands awkwardly to the side, gazing out at the city’s skyline. “Yeah.”
“Will you sit with me?” I pat the cushion next to me and he joins me, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
“What was her funeral like?” I glance towards the doorway even though I know that Dmitri’s not in the apartment. “I would have asked Dmitri, but he seems keen on avoiding any real conversation about Bee.”
Aleks fixes me with an expression that seems to read, And you thought I’d feel differently? “It was a simple service.”
I can’t help but scowl at him. “Gee, thanks for the details. You really paint a vivid picture.”
He half-sighs, half-laughs. “Sorry. It’s not the easiest thing for me to talk about, either.”
“No, yeah, of course not. I’m the one who should be sorry.” I feel like an idiot for assuming that, just because Bee and Aleksandr weren’t as close as she was with Dmitri, he’d be willing to talk to me.
I’m about to apologize when I hear a strange thumping sound coming from right above us. I jolt, looking up at the ceiling. “What was that?”
“Uh… probably Dmitri?”
“He said he was going to be at work all day.”
