Page 3 of With Wine Comes War

“She told us about your family history with them or rather your father and their father’s situation. However, I’d like to hear it from you.”

This is insane, and I don’t have time for this bullshit.

“Mr. King, are you alright? Would you like to do this at another time?”

I squeezed my eyes tight, shutting them against the light in the room— I could barely hear her. I felt horrible but delaying this was not going to help. I wanted this over with now.

I told the detective everything I could about what my father told me and all the recent events we shared with the Ellington brothers. That it was just a disgruntled ex-employee. I couldn’t believe Alex was taking all this guilt on herself. What did she do, cut ties so they wouldn’t try and hurt me? What if they did go after her to get her off the project? My mind was wandering down a very dangerous path. One that would be hard for me to handle if they were still planning to come after her over this project.

“Officer Lewis, why did Tanner say he was me?”

“Roman, I’m going to talk to the DA, and he’ll be giving you a call. Tanner isn’t talking about anything that happened. He’s saying he found her on the ground, passed out. You may need to go on the witness list if they decide to use this information for her case.”

“I’d be happy to help.”If it means putting that asshole away.“By the way, how is Alex?” maybe she knew more than the others did.

“Doing the best she can…” she said forcing a smile only for my benefit. “She’s been through a lot. I check on her weekly with updates on the case. She’s still unclear about the details. She has good legal counsel as well as the DA on her side."

“Thanks for that information, I appreciate it.” I hoped that’s all she needed. I stood up and walked around the desk.

“Of course.”

I shook her hand, walking her to the door. Now I need to get the hell out of here myself.

Amelia came in and asked, “Is everything okay?”

No, no it’s not.

“I wish I fucking knew.” But right now, I’m just not in the mood to talk. I had one hand on the wall and one hand propping up my head.

“Would you like me to order you lunch?”

I actually feel like I’m going to be sick.

“No, I’m gonna go upstairs for lunch. I’ve got to get out of here for a bit.” I checked my pocket for my phone, brushing past Amelia on my way out.

I quickly passed Harrison and just held my hand up in protest of anything he might say. “Not now,” I whispered harshly because the sound of my own voice was too painful at normal levels.

Harrison threw his hands up in surrender as he backed away.

“Okay,” he huffed, moving out of my way.

I heard Amelia utter to Harrison, “I don’t think your brother’s feeling well, can you be prepared to take over his meetings if he doesn’t come back today?”

Harrison let out an irritated sigh, responding, “I’ll do what I need to.”

I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I just needed to rest for an hour. I got in the elevator, laying my head against the cool glass as it delivered me to my penthouse.

Chapter 2

ALEX

Monday’s self-defense classes felt pointless. I’ll probably quit that class and sign up for a personal one-on-one training instead. As long as I can fight someone, that’ll be good enough to keep me focused on this case. Plus, it would mean one less day of the awkward silence with Abby and Maggie. Hopefully I’m more capable of fighting in real life then I am in my dreams. I just don’t feel like my life is going to ever be the way it was before—I needed to get used to my“new normal.” What a fucking joke. Like I've ever been any kind of normal— unless normal is a trainwreck, then maybe.

I turned the radio up in the car to try and drown out the noise in my head. I noticed the ambient mood lighting was also on the wrong color for today. Tuesday is red, but today is Wednesday. I swiped over, changing it to green. My mother’s color therapy was the only thing I felt I had left of what we’d shared. When I looked up at the road again, I had to jerk the wheel from veering off the road. I had to find some way to get my head together again.

The doctors wanted to put me back on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication rather than helping me get to the root of what’s wrong. I needed to figure out why I thought it was Roman that night when it was Tanner. Roman wasn’t even there. Those damn drugs the doctors prescribed did nothing but mask the problem and make me feel useless. They kept my head so foggy that I couldn’t think about anything, much less what happened that night. At least alcohol is readily available and doesn't require a prescription from a doctor. I can always name the bar in my apartment, “The Doctor’s Office.” That way, when people ask me if I’ve been to the doctor, I can say yes without lying.

I pulled into Bruce’s studio, noticing Abby’s car was already there, parked in its usual spot closest to the door. I know I’m going to have to talk to the girls at some point. I mean they are my best friends. I know they’ll bring up Roman and I just can’t deal with all those emotions. I also can’t handle the pity smiles the girls have whenever I see them. Time to pull myself together and face the music.