Page 37 of Pervade London
I’d also walked out on Kitty, which was the kind of thing only crap friends did. It wasn’t like me to let people down. Now, I had an evening of texting apologies and trying to explain away my strange behavior—if I was willing to break the rules and use my frickin’ phone. Later, when Xander got to The Biltmore and discovered I wasn’t there, I’d have to face his wrath. That thought had my stomach twisted in knots.
Entering the deafening silence of the dark living room, I waited for my eyes to adjust. I knew well enough not to turn on the lights yet. Scanning the place for any evidence someone had been here, I couldn’t believe how unsettled I felt in my own home.
Tonight, I’d let Xander down monumentally by allowing him to return to that room with that threatening man and his sinister innuendoes. If my fiancé wasn’t back soon, I was going to back to The Savoy to find him.
A shiver of uncertainty made my skin crawl. This was meant to be our safe place, our sanctuary. Xander’s one-time bachelor pad had morphed into a cozy home for two after he’d asked me to move in with him six months ago. I’d left that rented room on Gloucester Street, grateful to be swapping it out to live with my dream man in Marylebone. Xander made life close to perfect. Though, like anything that resembled perfection, it had apparently all been an illusion.Until now I’d seen no end to our contentment.
I wanted to climb into bed and not get out until I knew all this was behind us.
The ten carefully spaced chessboards remained in place. But the pieces could have been moved and I wouldn’t have a clue. The furniture was untouched, as were the black and white prints Xander had taken from his travels that hung artfully on the brick walls, including photos from Paris, Milan, and New York. A constant reminder of his worldliness and the fact he’d traveled extensively, unlike me.
But now I realized there were so many things I still didn’t know about him. Perhaps I didn’t know him at all.
Walking from room to room, using only the dusky moonlight flooding in through the windows to guide my way, I checked each room with an unhealthy dose of paranoia.
I peered under our bed and poked around in the cupboards, then quickly moved on to the spare room to check in there, too.
Xander’s office was secure and his three computer screens were still there. How he worked on all three at the same time was mind-boggling, but I’d watched him do it, swiveling in his desk chair as his focus jumped from one screen to the other. This was why he loved playing chess, he’d told me, so he could unwind from the intensity of what he did in here.
I only had a vague sense of what that was. Something tech-related, something about networks and conversations and translations and all the other things he’d told me that had my eyes glazing over. I tried to show an interest but his tech-speak was beyond me.
Finishing my walkthrough, I tossed my handbag onto one of the chairs and plopped down on the couch, dragging a throw over my legs and resting my feet on the coffee table. I didn’t want to go to bed yet. I wasn’t sleeping until Xander got home.
I pulled out my phone and sent him a text to let him know I’d bailed on The Biltmore. Then I rested my phone face up on the coffee table so I’d see his reply.
With heavy eyelids, I fought sleepiness, getting up only once to pee and grab a glass of water before returning to my spot on the couch. My head pounded with the stress of waiting as I replayed my interaction with James.
Half in a daze, I set the tumbler on a coaster and watched the condensation on my glass of water evaporate.
The front door slammed.
I sprang up, my heart pounding as those haunting hours at The Savoy slithered back into focus.
“Xander?” Staring toward the foyer, I waited for him to appear while mentally counting the seconds it took to walk the distance.
The wall clock showed it was eleven-thirty.
The only noise I could hear was my own breathing.
A shadow fell over the tall man’s face as he appeared and a scream tore from me…
“I went to The Biltmore,” Xander snapped. “That was a waste of time I don’t have.”
I put a hand to my throat. “You scared me.” My heart was pounding. “I texted you and told you I was here.”
“What did I tell you, Emily?”
I blinked in confusion. “I thought you meant not to call or text anyone else. You didn’t say anything about messaging you.”
“I told you not to use your phone.” Xander ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Tell me they didn’t hurt you?” I said softly.
He shook his head. “That will only happen if they don’t get what they want.”
“What do they want?”
His pale blue eyes stared into mine. “Me.”
