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I go upstairs and get into the shower, wanting to wash the stinky smoke off me. I find it ironic that I hate the smell of smoke, but I do smoke myself, not enough to leave a lingering odor, but still. The jacket smells like cheap cigarettes, not the kind I smoke.
I get into the hot shower and let the water run over me for the longest moment before I pick up the sponge and soap it up. I run it over my body, remembering how Asher washed me. You can’t fake that. You can’t fake-touch someone that tenderly, with that much care. I know she has feelings for me—she can’t deny it forever. But… if she did betray us, it won’t matter anymore. I curse.
I get out of the shower and change into more comfortable clothes. I glance at the time: four-thirty.
Asher has been acting weird; I mean, the whole tantrum. Maybe she’s been planning this for some time. What could the Italians give her, though, that she could want? She has access to my money. She has power being married to me. Is this simply revenge? Is she really that petty? I can’t believe that. I won’t believe that.
Five o’clock ticks by, and Asher still isn’t home. I try calling her again, but there’s still no answer. I try calling the gallery.
Leanne answers, “Hello?”
“Leanne. Has Asher left to come home yet?” I ask. “It’s Danil.”
“Let me check,” she pauses. “Her Mustang is still outside, but she’s not here, Danil. She must have taken a taxi or something.”
“Thanks.” I hang up.
Fuck.
Now, my wife is not only unaccounted for, but she’s missing on the day that someone sold me and my brothers out.
I glance at Renat and finally ask him. “Do you think she could do it?”
“Asher? She’s got the brains to,” he says. “Whether or not she would is really the question?”
“Did I trust her too much?” I ask him.
“Can I speak candidly?” he asks.
“Go ahead.”
His whole posture changes into that of my best friend from high school. “Danil, I do think she has feelings for you. I don’t think there’s any way of denying that, but how you went about this might have caused some resentment. Maybe she doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into. Maybe they approached her, and she felt like she had no choice. You need to find her and ask her that.”
“I can’t find her. I don’t know where she is, Renat. I can only hope the Italians haven’t hurt her and that she is coming home. Otherwise, I’ll be down a wife and have to declare war on those fucking Pacheco assholes.”
“I think Kervyn is going to declare war on them regardless,” Renat says. “But if she does come back. Listen to her. If it was her, she might have a valid reason for doing what she did.”
“What if she lies to me?” I ask. “I don’t think I could throw her under the bus.”
“She won’t. She can’t lie to you. You’ll know.”
Fuck.
What a day this turned out to be.
Chapter 22 - Asher
He stops me at the end of the row. “Wait here,” Romano orders.
“Where is she?” I ask immediately as I look around.
“She’s being brought here by my brothers,” Romano says. “She’s safe, don’t worry.”
“You kidnapped and did God knows what to her. How can I not worry.” I glare at him. “If the Milovs find out about this.”
“They won’t. You worry too much for someone your age. Perhaps if you weren’t married to this Danil, you could have come to our side.” He reaches a hand out to me, and I withdraw from the greasy slimeball with his slicked-back hair.
“I would never,” I hiss. “I know where my loyalties lie.”
