Page 90 of Vengeful Vows
“You’ll meet the day after tomorrow to review your findings with Dario and Matteo.”
“Of course.”
“I assume you and Bella will be joining us for Christmas dinner?”
“Thank you. Yes.” No doubt she will not want to spend time with me, but I know she likes my family.
Even if I have to exert my will over her, I’ll be sure she doesn’t insult them by not showing up.
After wrapping up, I go to my office.
When I arrive home, it’s close to midnight. Her purse is not in her usual place, nor is her jacket. The door to her suite is ajar, and I nudge it open to find her bed perfectly made up.
She’s not here.
My heart thundering, I open my app to discover she’s at the Sterling Uptown.
Finally I check our calendar. She had no appointments this evening.
With a frown, I press the button on my watch to connect me to Sergio.
“What’s she doing at the Sterling?”
The silence in the background tells me he’s checking, and I pour myself a scotch and pace the floor.
Less than a minute later, he’s back. “Mrs. Moretti dismissed Antonio for the evening around nine p.m. She reportedly had a suitcase with her.”
The glass nearly slips from my hand.
My wife has left me?
And at the Uptown, she’s under Rafe’s protection, such as it is.
“Boss?”
Numb, I shake my head and tell him he’s off duty for the night.
I can’t fucking believe she’s walked out, turned her back on us.
Days pass without any word from her, and she declines every one of my calls.
At eleven on a mid-December night, I arrive home from work. The air is unusually cold, crisp from a brisk northerly wind.
I flip on the fireplace and sink into the chair where I’d been sitting that night Bella confronted me. Then I instruct the whole-house computer to play the same big-band Christmas music that I’d been listening to, and the reminder feeds my melancholy.
I’ve spent almost my entire adult life alone, but until this moment, I’ve never been lonely.
As I sip my whiskey, my mind drifts back to my aunt and uncle and him organizing his day to make her happy and to buy her a dress.
Absently I wonder what my wife will want for Christmas.
Then I sneer.
I already know.
To be rid of me forever.
I hurl my glass against the fireplace.