But it was Dimitri’s reaction that really had me riveted to the screen. He stood frozen on the sidewalk, staring after the car, looking stunned.
At first.
Then his face morphed into a menacing sneer, as if the shackles of his patience had just snapped. His chest heaved, his hands balled at his sides. When he stormed down the sidewalk and out of frame moments later, he acted like a man in a rage.
What the hell had she said to him?
Had she refused to help him anymore?
Stop hoping for unicorns and rainbows, you dumbass. She betrayed you. None of what you felt happening between you was real. It was all just as fake as your marriage vows.
The velvet box in my pocket had been burning a hole in my pants ever since I made the pathetically naïve purchase the other day.
Now, it was singeing my skin with its white-hot cruelty.
“What are you going to do?” Ace asked.
“Get to the fucking bottom of this,” I blurted out without thinking.
“Maybe we should play this cool, Nico. Try to subtly pull some information out of her. Question her, but don’t be too obvious about it, you know? Maybe she’ll fess up on her own. Or maybe the whole thing is a misunderstanding that she can clear up.”
I snorted. Watching that footage sealed the deal for me.
Luka was right.
“She’s working for them, Ace,” I grated. “That’s all I need to know. I’m going to go deal with her. Then I’m going to call her father and boyfriend and tell them to come get their little spy out of my goddamn house.”
“Wait, Nic—”
I hung up.
Time to go have a little chat with my wife.
Our cold dinner sat untouched on the table in front of me. Rising nausea had prevented me from eating mine. I’d heard that some women can’t even stand the smell of red meat while pregnant, and it looked like I was one of them.
Nico had been in his office for a while, which had given me more time to muster up the courage to bring up my…condition. Initially, my plan had been to just blurt it out ten seconds after he walked through the door. Ripping off the Band-Aid and all that.
But then I’d seen the dark look in his eyes. The one that promised some rigorous rutting and multiple O’s. I’d been helpless after that.
I glanced up from my plate and jolted.
Nico leaned against the door frame to the dining room, watching me with cold eyes and blown pupils. His hair was fucked to Sunday and back, haphazardly hanging out of his bun. He seemed to be considering something as his tongue slid along his teeth. I hadn’t even heard him leave his office, let alone enter the room.
Did pregnancy affect your hearing, too? I needed Val’s number on speed dial for all the questions I was going to have.
“Hi.” I waved down at his plate. “I can go heat yours up for you.”
He said nothing. Just kept staring.
I cautiously met his eyes, growing uneasy. “Everything okay? Who was on the phone?”
Still nothing. Just unnerving silence.
Then, “You’re good, you know.”
I had never heard that voice before. It was like another person had moved inside his body and was claiming residency.
I licked my dry lips. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head to the side, expression one of calculation. “I used to think that no one could read women better than I could. Not necessarily their emotions, so much as their behavior in general. I could tell when they were annoyed, or being caddy, sarcastic, evasive, deceptive, or feigning passion. I thought I could always sniff out liars.”
“Nico, what are you talking about?”
He slowly shook his head. “But you slipped past my radar somehow. I admit your looks distracted me a lot. I couldn’t always think rationally when you got me good and pissed off and had the nerve to look sexy while doing it. And after we started fucking, well, I’m sure there were tons of signs that went right over my head.”
I carefully rose to my feet, my heartbeat taking off at a sprint. But his expression warned me to stay right where I was. Don’t even think of approaching me, legs, was written all over his face.
“I don’t understand. You’re not making any sense.”
His gaze held mine prisoner as he crossed the room with a leisurely stride. He slid his phone across the wooden table until it bumped against my hand. Too afraid to ask the