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I pulled my hand away from his.
Axel took a slow breath at my rejection.
My arms folded over my chest, and I sat against the back of the chair. My phone was in my back pocket, and I’d expected it to vibrate and ring nonstop, but my father hadn’t tried to contact me. He was probably plotting his next move, a trick I wouldn’t fall for.
“What can I do?”
My eyes returned to his. “Nothing. There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“Did you eat dinner?”
I shook my head. “We barely had a sip of wine.”
“I can take you out for pizza.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Want to take a bath?”
“No. I think I just want to go to sleep.” That was what I did when I was depressed. My mind turned off, and all I did was rest. I’d been down so low just a week ago, and now I was in a new era of sadness. Could I just be happy…for a little while?
Axel looked like he wanted to argue, to make me eat dinner or relax in his arms, but he let me be. “Then let’s go to bed.”
I went into the bathroom and did my nighttime routine, washing my face and brushing my teeth, but I barely looked in the mirror, like I didn’t want to see my own features. I pulled my hair back in a bun, and then I returned to the bedroom.
Axel was in bed, the sheets to his waist, one arm propped under his head.
I pulled back the covers and got in bed beside him. My back was to him, and I stared at the curtains that were closed over the window.
He moved against me, his chest against my back, and he tightened his arm around my waist and pulled me close, his face pressed into the back of my hair. It was only eight thirty, far too early for bed, but I didn’t have the energy to do anything but lie there. My phone was left in the other room, so if it rang, I wouldn’t have to hear it.
“I love you, baby.”
Despite my heartache, I still melted at those words. “I love you too.”
Chapter 15
Axel
Scarlett wanted to be alone, to mope in the bedroom by herself, sometimes on the couch and sometimes in the tub. There was nothing I could do for her, so I went back to my routine, working out in the morning and then overseeing my businesses throughout the day. Now that Scarlett and Dante weren’t speaking, I didn’t involve myself in the business at all because I wasn’t sure where I stood anymore.
I should be happy that Scarlett was my wife again, that she’d seen her father for the snake that he was, but I actually felt like shit. It was the kind of pain that she would never conquer, a mark that would blemish her skin for the rest of her life, and I hated that. What had happened with my parents…I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else.
In the evening, I was on the couch in the living room, and she was in the tub with a bottle of wine. We hadn’t said much to each other all day. It ruined me to hold my silence, but my comfort would only suffocate her.
My phone vibrated, and I saw a text from Aldo.Dante is here to see Scarlett.
I’d known Dante would make his move at some point, and I’d asked Aldo to be quiet about it, rather than coming straight to the bedroom door.
How would you like me to handle this?
Escort him to the parlor. I’ll be there shortly.I walked into the bedroom and saw the cracked door to the bathroom, the candlelight shifting and moving on the ceiling. I pulled on a shirt and left the bedroom, closing the door so quietly she wouldn’t know I’d left. Then I headed downstairs to the parlor, seeing the fire in the hearth, the tray of cigars and scotch, and the man sitting in the armchair, looking pale as a ghost.
I stared at him for a moment before I moved to the opposite armchair.
He wouldn’t look at me. Not in disdain…but something else.
I sat there and waited for him to ask for Scarlett.
