Her eyes met mine for a brief second before she looked away again. “Did I say I was going somewhere?”
“Inna.” I held her gaze until she had no choice but to meet it again. “I need my wife back.”
Something flickered in her expression. It was quick enough to almost miss, but she shut it down before it could settle. She shifted in the hammock, then slid out of it entirely.
“We can have sex if that’s what you want,” she said as she reached for the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it over her head without hesitation. I closed my eyes for a second, not out of impatience but out of control. Her shorts followed. She dropped them and stood in front of me in nothing but underwear. “You want to do it here?” She glanced toward the bedroom. “We can go to bed.”
She walked out without waiting for an answer.
I stayed seated on the edge of the hammock for a moment longer, dragging a hand through my hair once.
This wasn’t her. Not really. It was the old girl who once offered her body as a shortcut. The first time it was leverage. Now it was an escape. She closed the door before anything heavier got in.
I stood and followed her into the bedroom.
She was sitting on the bed, her phone in hand, scrolling as if the last few minutes hadn’t happened at all.
She looked up when I walked in and set the phone down.
“What? You want me to come to you?” She stood and came to me, reaching for my trousers. I caught her wrists before she could go any further. “You don’t want to do it anymore?”
I turned her slowly and pulled her back against me, one arm locking around her waist. Her body went still against my chest. I leaned down, lips brushing her neck once, then closer to her ear. “I’m going to Cuba for business.”
There was no reaction at first.
“Do you want me to come?” she asked.
“No.”
A quick laugh left her mouth. “Then why are you telling me? You don’t need to. It’s not like knowing changes anything.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She shifted slightly, trying to turn, but I kept her in place.
“Seriously.” Her voice tightened. “You can leave whenever you want. You don’t need my permission. People leave all the time. They don’t explain or ask. That’s just how it works.” She paused and let out a shaky breath. “So, just leave. It’s work anyway. It always comes first.”
Those words came from somewhere deeper. It was the accumulated proof of what she had been holding back. Years of people disappearing without warning and calling it normal. A belief built on repetition, not choice. She was speaking out of fear, and she didn’t even realize it.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out without letting go of her. I answered, and Akim spoke. “Boss. The planeis ready.”
Inna slipped out of my arms and walked into the bathroom. I stayed there for a moment, phone pressed to my ear and eyes on the closed door.
Going to Cuba was the start of my plan to destroy Zachary. Choosing Inna over Cuba was not something I had done before. Every operation I ran worked on a simple rule: business first. Work does not bend for comfort. Yet for the first time, I would not follow those rules.
I left the room and went downstairs to my office. Choosing to stay meant I needed plan B. I opened the laptop and sat down.
“We’re not traveling,” I told Akim, who was still on the call. “We send a gift instead. The charity event starts in three hours. That’s enough time to arrange something properly.”
“Should I go myself?” Akim asked.
“No need. We pull it from here. Send a package.” I pulled up Zachary’s schedule and began moving through it. The public speaking engagement was in a week. Seven days were enough time to build the next move properly if nothing slipped. “Work on it.”
“Understood.” Akim knew what sending a package meant. We had done it before on other targets.
“Get me into my wife’s phone.” My attention stayed on the screen even though I wasn’t really processing the numbers anymore. I needed to know what held her attention so completely that she could disappear into her phone while sitting right beside me.
“Yes, boss,” Akim said. “Also, I’ve discovered something. Inna and Caitlin started an online store. There are no security threats so far.”
