Page 47 of Craving Dahlia

“Your mother is worried sick.” His voice cuts coldly across the line, and I press my lips together to force back a retort.

“She could have called me,” I say as calmly as I can manage. “No one has.”

“I told you the consequences, Dahlia. Are you ready to rethink your choices?”

I suck in a slow breath, then let it out again. He clearly doesn’t have anyone watching me. If he did, he’d know that I’m not in the hopeless situation that I think he imagines, since he knows that the joint bank account is frozen and that by now I’ve lost my apartment.

“I told you my decision,” I say coolly, my hand tightening around the phone. My heart is racing, but I manage to not let it show in my voice. I want to be calm with him, to not let him know how much all of this has affected me. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“You can’t be serious.” He sounds annoyed, as if my refusal to comply with his demands is a mild irritation, something easily solved if he swats at it enough. “Where are you even living right now? A hotel? A halfway house? If you would just be reasonable?—”

“A mansion.” I cut him off. “I married my child’s father. So I’m fine. Don’t worry about us.”

Before he can say another word, I hang up the phone, letting it drop onto the bed. My hands are trembling, and I bite my lip hard to keep from bursting into tears.

Some small part of me had been hoping that he was calling to make amends, to say he was sorry, to offer me a way out that was something palatable. But I should have known better. I get my own stubborn streak from my father, and he’s never been a man willing to lose face. He was never going to be the one to give in first.

I manage to choke down a little of my breakfast—yogurt, granola, and seasonal fruit sent up from the kitchen—and decide to go out to the hot tub for a soak afterwards. It’s a chilly dayfor spring, and the thought of the hot water relaxing my muscles sounds incredible. I throw on a bikini, pulling a loose sundress over it in case I run into Alek, and head out to the pool deck at the back of the mansion.

There’s no one in sight, just a cloudy sky and the far-off sound of someone working on the landscaping interspersed with the chirping of birds. I take off my sundress, draping it over one of the lounge chairs, and turn on the jets in the hot tub, stepping down into the blissfully warm water and letting out a sigh. I sink down into it up to my shoulders, laying my head back against the edge, and in a matter of minutes I’m so relaxed that I don’t even hear the sound of footsteps until I feel a shadow fall over me.

I open my eyes, already knowing who I’m going to see. Alek looms over me, his gaze raking down my half-naked body as if I’m something that belongs to him—and I suppose in a way, I do.

I hate the thought, but it sends a flicker of heat curling down my spine too, one that has nothing to do with the temperature of the water. “What are you doing out here?” I snap, and he raises an eyebrow.

“Exploring.” He shrugs, and I let out a sharp, frustrated breath.

“Exploring your own home? How—you know what? Never mind. Just leave me alone, okay?” I look away from him, realizing that I’m too emotionally drained today to engage with the usual verbal sparring. I don’t have the energy for it, or to deal with the chemistry between us, or anything else. I just want to be left alone.

Alek frowns. “Did something happen?”

I blink, my gaze jerking back towards him. “Why the hell would you care?” I stare at him, shocked that he even asked. He’s never given a shit about anything going on with me before, and I don’t know why he would start now.

“Can’t you just answer a question?” he growls, and I pause, still shocked that he hasn’t stalked off yet.

I’m loath to give him even the slightest insight into what’s going on with me. But maybe if I tell him, he’ll leave me alone.

“My father called,” I say flatly. “Which was a surprise, since he was very clear when I left the last time that if I walked out of the house and didn’t do what he said, I was cut off from everyone and everything. So I wasn’t really expecting to hear from him.”

“If you didn’t marry that other guy.” Alek says it gruffly, but I could swear I see a flicker of something that almost looks like jealousy in his eyes at the mention of another man. His gaze drags down the front of me again, and I see the twitch of his cock behind his zipper.

“It was more than that.” I refuse to tell Alek about the frozen account—the last thing I want is his pity, or for him to think I’m chasing his money. I’m not—not really. All I wanted was enough security to come up with a plan, a way to survive on my own. When I can do that, then I have every intention of leaving, and I won’t ever ask him for another thing.

“So, what?” He’s still standing there, looking at me with an expression that’s almost curious, and I sit up abruptly, the water sloshing around me. Too late, I realize that leaves me exposed from the ribs up, only my bright emerald green bikini top covering a few slivers of skin, and I see Alek’s gaze rest on my small breasts.

I blow out a sharp breath. “He wanted my little…problemtaken care of, discreetly.” I touch my stomach, and to my shock, I see a flare of indisputable anger in Alek’s eyes. For one brief second, I see clear rage in those hazel depths, and something stirs in my chest in response.

He’d deny it if I said anything. But for a moment there, he wanted to fight for our baby—forme. And I feel an ache behindmy ribs at the thought of that being true. At the thought that deep down, he might care about something like that.

“You told him no?” There’s still nothing but bored curiosity in Alek’s tone, and I try to hear that anger, that possessiveness in it, but I can’t.

“I told him no,” I confirm quietly. “And he told me not to come home again.”

“And this morning?”

“He asked if I’d changed my mind. I told him no again.” I swallow hard, meeting Alek’s eyes. “I told him that I married my child’s father.”

For the briefest of seconds, I see his eyes widen. His shoulders stiffen, and he looks at me, his expression unreadable. And then, before I can say another word, he spins on his heel and stalks away, vanishing back into the house.

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