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I casually pluck the book out of her hand. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“And so are you,” she grumbles as she pulls on my hand to lay behind her. She tucks herself into my arms and nestles in.
Her slippers brush against me, and I slightly lean over to growl into her ear and watch her side profile fall back to sleep. “I don’t know if I want to sleep beside someone who sleeps in slippers. Blasphemy.”
She kicks up a smile. “And I don’t want to sleep beside a prick but here we are.”
My smile mirrors hers as I brush my fingers through her long, blonde hair. “I have to fly to Ithaca tomorrow, but I’ll be back in the early hours of the morning.”
Her eyes reopen. “Are you going to see your mother?”
I’d never gone into great detail about my mother’s condition, but the Lane sisters had met her a handful of times when she visited New York. Though she rarely did these days.
When I was younger, my grandfather tried to return her to high society in New York. She didn’t cope well under the pressure, and so it became public knowledge about her frail condition, and she was sent back to the countryside, which much better catered to her health.
“Yes. Layla will help you swap back tomorrow. I have people watching you. You’ll be safe.”
She tucks herself further into me. “How is she? Your mom?” I notice that she doesn’t comment on her safety. Probably because she hasn’t felt safe for years.
As for my mother, she was in pieces, and I’d learned over the years not all of them were going to fit back into place ever again. No matter how wealthy my grandfather and I became. No matter how much we invested in medical and psychiatric care, we were hopeless against ‘fixing’ her PTSD.
I’d grown up to learn that some things would remain broken.
At best, we could find ways to navigate the wounds and triggers.
I press a kiss on Elanee’s forehead.
I just hoped my woman was strong enough to fight through her demons and return to me whole.
“She’s still very kind,” I say honestly.
The opposite of me.
The only good I had in my life before Elanee.
The only other woman I ever tried to be a better version of. If only to put her mind at ease.
But in return, I knew I reminded her of the demon that chased her away and who she was always fearful would return somehow, someway.
And he was. He’d just hooked his claws into something else in the meantime.
32
DMITRI
“And they’ve approved to bring the release date forward,” Chris, my assistant at Creighton Technologies, says. “You just have to sign off on it.”
I’d already scanned over the contract on my way to the office. It’ll suffice, but I wouldn’t expect any less of the lawyers employed under our name. I sign and date it, then hand it to him. My vision begins to go in and out, and I do everything not to noticeably pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to dilute the headache.
“Will that be all for this morning?” I ask.
“It’s already past midday, sir,” he corrects. I glance at my watch. A tic runs through my jaw, realizing I’d lost my perception of time for the day. “You have one more meeting in twenty minutes. Then another at three. Your jet has been arranged for your trip back home thereafter.”
“Thank you. You can leave.”
He nods and leaves, closing the door behind him. I turn to look out to the hustling city of New York through the floor-to-ceiling windows, standing over them like a king and yet feeling nothing but less than a man today. Although I’d already been updated on Elanee’s movements and the safe exchange between Layla and her, it does nothing to ease the constant tension.
I fish out my phone from my pocket and dial her burner phone.
