Page 49 of Cruel Vows

As I walk into the living room, I glance around, her overnight bag sitting on the coffee table instead of crumpled on the floor where it was last night when I left.

“Ellie? Come on. We need to talk. I’m tired of this shit.”

Nothing.

No noise. No shoutedfuck youback at me. Nothing to suggest she can hear me or that she cares if she does.

Groaning, I walk into the kitchen and dig through the cupboard to the right of the sink, looking for the white bottle of ibuprofen to kill my headache. I’ll need the little jackhammers going wild in my head to stop before I head up to Ellie’s room.

She might be out on the terrace which would explain her not answering me.

After throwing back a pill and washing it down with water, I head to my room to get changed into something more comfortable. I yank on the joggers and loose shirt before going to knock on Ellie’s door.

She doesn’t answer, but the door opens when I twist the knob.

I stop in my tracks when I step into the room, heart lodging itself in my throat. The duvet is on the ground and there’s a chair stuck beneath the doorknob.

What if she’s dead?

None of my staff told me that someone broke in or that something had happened to Ellie.

I see red as I yank the chair out of the way, tossing it to the other side of the room.

Ripping the door open, I see Kara on the floor, a sheet tied around her.

Her eyes fly open as I grab her by the shoulder and haul her out of the closet. I untie the sheet, ripping it from her, rage flowing through my veins as I look back in the closet, only to find Ellie not there.

As I round on Kara, I’m ready to throw her out the window if she doesn’t have a good answer.

“What the hell happened here? Where the hell is Ellie? You’re supposed to be the one protecting her, so why are you tied up in a closet and where is she?”

Kara tips her chin up, her gaze hardening, dark circles beneath her eyes. “Who do you think tied me up?”

“I’m not in the mood to play games right now,” I say, my voice rising as I pace over to the bathroom, looking inside to make sure Ellie isn’t in there, waiting to screw with my head more.

“She tied me up, and then she took off. She said something about needing a day to clear her head.”

“And you don’t know where she is?”

“I might.” Kara shrugs and tucks her hands in her pockets. She rolls her shoulders back as she glares at me. “I don’t know for sure, though. And to be honest, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

My hands ball into fists as I look around the room, seeing an indent in the drywall. “Whose head went through the fucking drywall?”

Kara winces. “Mine. She kicked me into it.”

There’s a small swell of pride that goes through my chest, but the anger overrides it.

“And why do you think you don’t have to tell me where she is?” I cross my arms, trying to keep my temper in check. “Where the hell is my wife, Kara?”

“She said that she needed a day to think. Do you even know what you’re doing to her? Do you have any idea that you’re tearing her apart on the inside? The woman who stood in front of me last night was not the Ellie I’ve known since we were kids. She’s dying inside and you don’t give a flying fuck about her!”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

I spin away from her, knowing that she isn’t going to say anything to me. She’s loyal to Ellie and while I want to fault her for that, there’s a small part of me that’s glad Ellie has someone on her side.

I know I haven’t been.

As I go back to my bedroom for my phone, I shove Kara’s words to the back of my mind. I don’t have the time to think about all the ways Ellie is hurting inside when I have to deal with tracking down the Rinaldos and making sure that nobody kills her.

---