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“Not until you explain to me why I—yourwife, in case you’ve forgotten—didn’t know you were in the hospital! What happened?”
“I told you: I’m handling it.” His phone buzzes from the chair, and he drags a hand through his hair. Now that I know what’s going on under his clothes, I can see how he’s moving more cautiously than usual. His breathing is shallow and he’s holding himself stiffly. “But there’s a lot to do. I wanted to come see you and explain. Now that I have, I?—”
“Except you haven’t!” I snap. “You haven’t actually told me anything. Who did this to you?”
He shakes his head. “All that matters is that I’m going to keep you and Nina safe. No one is going to get close to you.”
“I’m not worried about me, Arsen; I’m worried aboutyou.” I gesture to the bruise creeping out of the collar of his shirt and the scrape across his forehead. He’s like a human hidden object game. The longer I look at him, the more injuries I see. “I should have left with you. We shouldn’t have separated. Where you go, I go. That’s what marriage is, right?”
“No,” he spits, interrupting me before I can even finish. His green eyes are almost black. “You shouldn’t— If you’d been in that car…” He squeezes his eyes closed for a second, like he’s blinking away some vile memory. “You and Nina wouldn’t have made it out. I would have put you in that car, and we would have…”
“Would have what?” I reach for him, but he retreats from me.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m handling it.”
God, what I’d give to banish those words from existence.
But as he plucks his phone off the chair and fires off a furious text to someone, I see what is happening. I know him well enough to understand what’s going on under the surface.
So I step closer and wrap my arms around his waist. I feel the bulky bandages over his ribs and try not to think about them. “I’m right here, Arsen. I’m safe. So is Nina. No one hurt us.”
He sighs and brings his hand to my cheek. “But he could have. Easily. I put you within his reach.”
“Whose?”
I feel him trying to pull away, but I hold him tighter. I don’t give him even an inch.
And slowly, little by little, he softens. He kisses the top of my head and rests his cheek there. “It was Jasper. The brake line on my car was cut, and I think he knew. He would’ve let me put you and Nina in that car. He tried to kill us all.”
“Oh my God.” My heart lodges in my throat, but I can’t let him see my fear. Especially since I trust Arsen to keep us safe. I need him to know how much I trust him. “How are you… handling it? Is he dead?”
He disentangles my arms from his body and strides away from me, once again putting his desk between us. “No, which is why you need to stay inside. Until Jasper is gone for good, you can’t leave. No going out, no classes, no lunches with Guilia?—”
“No.”
His brows pinch together, and he’s so tired. There are dark circles under his eyes. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I know I’m making it harder.
“No,” I repeat. “I can be your wife or your prisoner, Arsen, but I won’t be both.”
I can practically hear Guilia cheering me on.Give him hell, girl.
It’s just a shame that, when I finally take the advice, it looks like he’s already been through hell.
“Did you not hear what I said, Laila? He tried to kill me. And he damn near succeeded.” He lifts his shirt again, finally acknowledging his injuries. And the fact that Arsen thinks he could’ve died brings it all home.
I almost lost him.
Maybe it would be easier to do as he says. To stay inside.
But…
“I heard you. And I told you the options. So choose what you want.”
“I’m not choosing a goddamn thing!” he bellows. “What you’re asking is whether I want you alive or dead, and I’ll choose your life over everything, every time. There is no choice.”
My heart breaks for him. Instead of being angry, tears well in my eyes. Slowly, I walk around his desk until I’m standing in front of him. His chest is heaving and his hands are in tight fists at his side, but he lets me step into his embrace.
“You hold so many lives in your hands, and I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be,” I whisper. “The pressure you’re under never ends, so many people depend on you. It must be lonely.”
