AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But have you seen the photos of her attack? The ones that weren’t released to the press?” Stepan asked with a downturned voice.
“What?” Confused, I turned around warily, “What attack?”
“Guess you don’t know your perfect little wife well enough then.” Lev quipped, making my hand twitch with an itch to sock him again. “Give me that.” Lev grumbled, tearing some papers and photos from Alexei’s hand aggressively.
Slowly, Lev’s angry twisted face softened to one of regret...? It was hard to tell because it was only for a split second before his expression became angry again as he threw down what he had in his hands and stormed out of the house, slamming the front door when he did exit.
“Derzhu pari, on chuvstvuyet sebya ublyudkom seychas.” Alexei scowled with a scoff. “Serves him right.”
“Yeah, bet he does feel like a bastard. Just hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble because of it.” Arseny sighed with a soft shake of his head.
“I’ll deal with him once he’s had a moment to self-reflect, hopefully that happens before someone ends up with a bullet through them.” Stepan said as he slowly gathered the papers back up into neat piles. “Did she not tell you about what happened to her about a year and a half ago?” Stepan asked, looking at me with pitiful eyes as he held out a copy of a news article.
I knew I shouldn’t, this was her secret to keep until she was ready, but my need to know trumped the thought. Reaching out, I took the papers from Stepan and held them for a moment, not letting my gaze fall down to the bold words of the headline. I could turn back. I haven’t read it yet. I could easily hand it back to Stepan or put it down on the table. Yet, I didn’t.
23 YEAR OLD FEMALE FOUND STABBED AND ALIVE
The crude picture made my upper lip peel back into a harsh scowl. Unfortunately, the headline picture of Angel laying in a blood soaked bed was tame compared to the evidence photos of the unsolved case. I don’t know why I kept flipping through the case file, each page and picture did nothing but fueled the rage I felt towards the man who dared do this to my Angel. She didn’t deserve for this to have happened to her. Hell, no one deserved to have this happen to them.
“Kolya, you should probably go after Angel yourself. I’m pretty sure she was triggered by the sight of the picture earlier and that’s why she decided to go out. She’s not in the right state of mind, she might do something risky or dangerous.” Alexei said with a worried look on his face.
Groaning, I pinch the bridge of my nose, “Fucking hell, how did this night go from shit to shittier. Just... Spend the night, we’ll try this damn meeting again tomorrow once everyone’s got their head on straight.” Me included.
Sighing, I sent my driver a quick message before grabbing my jacket from the back of the armchair and throwing it on. “Alexei, patch Stepan and Lev up whenever he comes back.” Lev was definitely going to need some tending to.
The drive into the city district felt longer than typical, even if we were breaking the speed limit by a good twenty or so miles. I hated it because it gave me more time to stew with my thoughts when all I wanted to do right now was find my little wife, cradle her in my arms, and spoil her with all the affection in the world. I just wanted to hold her, protect her, and kill the son of a bitch who dared scar her.
My thoughts came to a halt when my phone went off. When the caller ID showed to be Angel, I quickly picked up. “Lisichka—”
Hanna’s voice cut me off. “Uhh no, but you do need to come pick your woman up before she starts stripping on stage. Don’t know what happened between you two, but she went at the drinks. Hard. Wasted in record time—hey get down from there! God damn it, just hurry up and get your ass down here.”
“Where are you? Where’s Benjamin?” From the deafening background music, I would wager they were at a club, but that didn’t exactly narrow it down considering how there were nearly seventy clubs in the huge city.
“We’re at White Out, and you see, uhhh Angel got Benjamin kicked out of the club after smashing his phone. She was kinda not happy about him rejecting her advances. Soooo Benjamin is having at it with club security last I checked. Shit! I gotta go before Angel flashes the whole damn club. Just hurry up!” The call ended without another word.
God damn it! She hadn’t even been gone for a full hour! Well, at least I knew the owner of White Out, so one quick call to him and I had Angel and Hanna pulled from the floor to safety along with letting Benjamin have access again. It wasn’t long after my phone call that I arrived at the club and retrieved the girls along with a disgruntled Benjamin.
Once we were in the parking area, I looked at Benjamin, “Benjamin, go home, I got it from here.” Then, I looked at my driver, “Take Hanna home, then you can be off.”
The three of them went their separate ways, leaving me with my drunk wife. With a sigh, I dug through her purse for the car keys. Keys in hand, I led the two of us towards my car—the Aston Martin she took.
“You know, you remind me a lot of my husband. Oh man, he’d be so pissed if he knew where I was right now. You won’t tell him right?” Angel could barely walk as she clung onto my arm for dear life.
“I am your husband.” I sighed heavily with a shake of my head.
God my headache got worse by the minute. Tonight was not the night for her to be pulling this kind of crap, but I couldn’t fault her for it. My bottles of top shelf vodka had been calling my name ever since I simmered down enough to not rip Lev’s head off. If I weren’t so worried about Angel to the point of going out to fetch her myself—per my brother’s advice—then I would be at least ten shots deep.
“You may look like my husband but you ain’t, no sir eeee.” She giggled with a drunk grin. Angel only made it three stumbling steps in before I had to pick her up in my arms and carry her the rest of the way to the car. “Hey, this isn’t how you pick women up!” She protested, smacking my chest lightly. “Put me down or else I’ll shoot you in the knees.” She threatened. As annoying as this was, I couldn’t help but find some amusement to this. I wonder if she’ll even remember any of this tomorrow when she wakes up or if she’s so far gone that none of it will register.
Glad to see she was still feisty in this state, not that it would do her much good with the poor coordination. “Lisichka, as good of a shot you are, you wouldn’t be able to hit a wall right now if it was in front of you.” I retorted with a chuckle.
“I am not your little fox mister, and I am a great shot.” She argued back with a pouting glare. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home.” I answered bluntly as I set her down to open the car door before getting her in and putting her belt on. “Now, behave.”
Crossing her arms with a pout, she stuck her tongue out at me. “No, you can’t make me.” If she wasn’t drunk then I’d be tempted to throw her in the back seat and make her regret those words, but I wasn’t one to engage with an inebriated woman.
Thankfully, the drive home was peaceful, mainly because she passed out the moment I hit the freeway. As I drove, I couldn’t help but glance at her from time to time, the corners of my lips falling down with gravity as the pictures flashed through my mind.
