Page 102 of Midnight Wedding

My husband paces across the library and brushes dust from his hair. He seems like this is no big deal, and it’s really pissing me off.

I’mvibrating. I’m buzzing with frustration. All this time, it’s been him.

“I was watching you,” he says simply and sits down with his legs crossed. He tosses one elbow lazily over the back of the chair.

“Right. You were watching me.” I rub my eyes and struggle to keep myself under control. “Butwhywere you watching me?”

“I’ve been watching you since you came here.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

“When you first moved in, you didn’t want anything to do with me. But I couldn’t just leave you alone. I had to know.”

“Had to know, what?” A creeping, uncomfortable feeling runs down my spine.

“That you were safe.”

I shiver slightly. I knew that was coming. And for some reason, it doesn’t help soften the blow at all.

My husband’s been stalking me in the walls of our house.

“I thought this place was haunted,” I say quietly. When he grins at me, I can’t help it anymore. I explode at him. “It’s not fucking funny, Arsen. I thought someone was stalking me. It was scaring the shit out of me.”

“Nothing’s haunting this house. Only me.”

“I told you I knew about the passages. I told you I chased someone.” My heart’s racing so hard I feel dizzy. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Like I said, you didn’t need to worry about it.”

“My god. You’re fucking insane.” I back away from him, stomach twisting into knots. “The killing. The bodies in your office. And now this. Arsen, this isa lotfor me to process right now.”

He leans forward, hands pressed together like he’s praying. But I can’t imagine he’s ever spoken to God once in his life. I’m guessing even murmuring the Lord’s name would set his tongue on fire.

That man’s a devil. He’s a monster.

“I was watching you because I couldn’t help myself.” He sounds so calm. It’s driving me insane. “I needed to be with you, but I didn’t want to smother you,either. It seemed like you were just starting to come around to the idea of us being together.”

“You thought creeping on me in the walls was a better plan?”

“It was the best I had.”

“I can’t process this.”

“What’s changed? Really, what’s changed? You know what I am. Does this really surprise you?”

I laugh, unable to help myself. That’s just some crazy, sick logic right there, and I don’t even know how to respond.

“Just because I’ve given you passes on everything else doesn’t mean this isn’t the last straw.”

“I’m exactly the person I was yesterday,” he says stubbornly.

“You don’t get it. You’ve been hiding this from me. When you had the perfect chance to come clean, you didn’t.”

“I was dealing with Aunt Sona.”

“Yeah, I get that, but still. You could’ve just… told me. That’s all. Just told me.”

“And then what?” He stares, expression cooling. “Then you react just like this? Like I’m some fucking psychopath?”

---