AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I steel my expression and trudge out of my car with my duffel bag hoisted on my shoulder, looking straight past her as she comes running down the stairs to meet me halfway.
“Harry!” she calls out to me, stumbling a little over her own feet.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I say flatly, marching up the front steps like I’m not affected by the sight of her. I dip my hand into my pocket.
“Are you going to allow me to explain myself?” I hear her call from behind me. “Or are you just going to keep on running from me?”
Fiddling with my keys at the door, I close my eyes, trying to shut out the pain in her voice.
I try to keep my tone neutral but I hear my own pain overflowing. “What’s there to explain? I think it’s pretty self-explanatory what I saw.” I lift both shoulders and let them fall. “It’s simple. You knew I was getting traded and you said nothing. You let me lie there in bed with you in my arms, making plans for our future when you knew all along that those plans would never come true. I feel like a fool.”
She’s silent for a while. Then her voice comes out, cracked like ice on the surface of a lake. “I’m so, so sorry, Harry. I got put in an impossible situation. I didn’t know what to do.”
I scoff. “How about telling me the truth?!”
“I couldn’t,” she insists. “I told you from the beginning that this is what would happen with us. I couldn’t predict in detail how things would play out but I knew that I could eventually get put in an impossible situation because of our relationship conflicting with my job.”
I drop my hand, letting my keys dangle from my fingers. I lean my forehead against the cold wood of the door.
Fuck. Where do I get off playing the victim in all of this? I knew what I was getting into with her. She was honest with me from the beginning.
“We would have saved us both a whole lot of heartache if we’d just stayed away from each other.” My own words are a gunshot through my chest.
Because as angry as I am right now, I wouldn’t go back. If I had the opportunity to do things over, to re-write my story, I’d never erase my chapters with her.
“You know, Mr. Prince, you do a really great job of loving me in the good times. But the minute your perfect fairytale starts going off-script, you’re always ready to run. Pretty sure that’s not the way our marriage vows work.”
My head snaps over my back and I find her regretfully shaking her head, looking as broken as I feel.
Her dull, unsteady footsteps sound in the quiet night as she heads back toward her car. I drop my duffel on my door mat and chase after her.
She slowly turns to face me when I grab her by the arm. “What, Harry? What is it?” she questions softly, her eyes drowning in buckets of tears.
“You’re too upset to drive. I’m taking you home.”
She spits out a laugh. “Oh, you suddenly care about my well-being?”
My eyebrows dip into a frown. “I always cared. Never stopped caring.”
That’s the truth. Because despite all the turmoil that I’m feeling…I love her.
I love her.
And that matters above all else.
She holds my stare and I can tell she’s not sure if she knows what to make of me.
“I’m driving you home, Nadia. I’ll get your car to you tomorrow.”
I brace myself for a fight but her shoulders collapse with exhaustion. “Fine.”
I lay a hand on the small of her back and guide her to the passenger side of my car where I open the door for her. She wordlessly sinks into the seat.
Rounding the car to the driver’s side, I drag a hand through my hair. I have no idea what I’m thinking. I have no idea what I’m feeling. I have no clue how we’ll get through this.
But I get behind the wheel and screech out of my driveway.
47
