Page 104 of Pretend
I can’t look him in the eyes; it’ll only hurt more that those very eyes I’ve fallen hard for are more forbidden than I thought. His monitor starts to beat erratically and thunderously.
“Tell me it isn’t true,” I murmur softly. I tense up my throat before it can crack from agony.
I dare to look at him. The doctor and nurse look rigid. Doctor Diaz holds onto his device firmly while Lori looks around the room inconspicuously and rocks on her heels. They’re uncomfortable. I don’t care if they can read the room. I need to know.
But the operator, who is known for silence, is doing what he’s good at.
I nod sarcastically when he doesn’t deny it. Tears are blurring my vision.
Kane turns into stone and moves us out of the room before I fall apart in public. Lori and Doctor Diaz act oblivious to what is transpiring, and I’m grateful for that.
If he wants a different outcome, I need him to say, ‘You’re wrong, Doctor Diaz. I don’t have a wife. I’m single. You’re confusing me with another sailor.’ But no, as Doctor Diaz continues, he just sits there, shocked and wounded.
“Your wife, Stella Hannibal? We told her and?—”
“Ms. Valentin.” Daegan roars behind me. He stands and tries to rip out every single wire that’s attached to him. He stands up and towers over Lori, but I don’t stop walking. Two security personnel rush into the room, bumping into Kane’s and I’s shoulders.
I can’t hear anymore; I’m too far gone from the room, and I’m moving in slow motion. My body is moving, but my brain is elsewhere, lost in thought. Kane wants to put his arm around me in a friendly manner, but I push it away and rush forward, beating him to the exit of the hospital.
“Alessia, do you want to talk?” Kane calls for me, but I ignore him as I return to work. If our short affair isn’t out now with Guerra, it sure is now.
Daegan once promised me he would ruin me for anyone else…and he has. But in the end…he just ruined me.
41
DAEGAN
It’s beena week since I last saw Alessia. A week without her is worse than the nightmares I succumb to every time my mind goes to rest for the night. She left to go back to the States, as ordered by her boss, and Admiral Ravenmore made sure to stamp the final okay for her to leave her deployment early with consequences.
She knows I’m married. She doesn’t need me anymore.
She doesn’t want me anymore.
But I need her. I want her. Even though she’s across an ocean from me, she will never be too far away. Her magnetic pull is detrimental and fatal; I will never be able to stay away from her. The overwhelming urge to make sure she’s okay is an obsession I can’t shake.
I tried to fight my way out of the hospital bed. It took five security officers to take me down. If it weren’t for my weak health, I would have been able to breakfree and see Alessia again. I could have grabbed her and made her listen to me before she left.
But my blood loss was too much. I ended up fainting again after being strapped down. I tore out the IV, making blood drip everywhere, and I needed more medication and blood to be pumped back in.
Kane hasn’t updated me at all. After numerous text messages, I wanted to know how she was doing. He informed me he had to take her back to the States. Her boss and my boss found out because of Guerra, and it created a significant problem.
They sent her back home, and I know she hates me for not only lying to her about being married, but now her job is at risk.
It’s good that she despises me.
I deserve it.
“Close the door, Creature!” Ravenmore roars as he sits at his desk. He takes off his reading glasses and places them on his desk. He throws them, and they hit a photo frame.
I stand my ground.
“Before you say anything, Sir. Before you decide to throw questions at me or accusations, I need to say something first. Yes, yes, my relationship with your stepdaughter became romantic. I overstepped. But to be fair, she is an adult. She can make her own choices. No, I am not a good man. But for her…I’ve been nothingbutgood to her.”
“I’m disappointed, Hannibal. I want to suspend you. I must suspend you.” He stands up, pissed off. His shoulders tense underneath his clothes, and he walks away from me and stares out his window—a picture of Alessia, and he sits on a shelf to the left.
I’m tempted to take it and steal it from my boss’s office. I want all the pictures of that gorgeous girl who wants nothing to do with me. I don’t give a fuck.
There’s a shift in the Admiral, and I’m prepared to take it on.
