Page 100 of Invisible Bars
Chapter Thirteen
NAJI
The clink of silverware was the only sound in the dining room. My breakfast sat untouched for longer than it should have. My eggs were getting cold and the toast was going stiff. I stirred my tea, even though I hadn’t taken a sip.
I could feelhiseyes on me.
“You’re sick? Something wrong with the food? Too hot? Too Cold? Needs more seasoning?” Imanio asked, his voice calm but laced with concern.
I shook my head. “Nope! I’m g-good and s-so is the food.”
He raised a brow, not buying it. “You’re quiet.”
I shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. “Just tired.”
He leaned forward slightly, studying me. “You were ‘just tired’ yesterday, too.”
So you noticed. I wanted to say it… scream it, really. But instead, my lips stayed sealed, and my throat tightened. My tics, however, didn’t get the memo.
“You forgot something! Forgot something! Left it like you don’t give a damn—damn—damn!”
I slapped my thigh under the table and bit down hard on my inner cheek. That one came out louder than I meant.
Imanio looked up from his plate, then down at his hand, and I watched it all click.
He wasn’t wearing his ring… for the second day in a row.
Another tic slipped before I could shut it down.
“Keep it! Leave me! Hostage wife! Fake vows—fuuuuuuuck this!”
“Yo’ ass needs to go watch some Paw Patrol or SpongeBob if you gon’ keep blasting out shit you saw or how you really feel.”
“M-Maybe I will!”
I stood up abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor; not out of embarrassment… I was past that. I just didn’t feel like pretending.
He didn’t say anything else… just stared.
“I’m… I’m gonna finish this later,” I said, then turned to leave.
I felt Imanio’s eyes on my back the whole time I walked out.
Heavy. Questioning. Like he wanted to stop me but didn’t know how.
I was tired. Tired of being there. Tired of waking up in a mansion that felt more like a luxury cage. Tired of having to breathe like I needed unspoken permission. I hadn’t been allowed back to work or had a single moment that truly felt like mine.
Sure, Imanio made sure I ate well. He bought me new clothes, kept me protected, and once… kissed me on the forehead like I was some fragile secret he didn’t want to break. But none of that changed the truth. I was a wife on paper but felt like a prisoner in practice.And I didn’t know how much longer I could sit at the table and pretend I was okay being married to a man who only remembered he had a wife when it benefited him.
Somewhere along the way, my heart had started slipping into places my mind never approved of. I didn’t understand it. We hadn’t even been intimate, and yet, something in me keptwanting more from a man who’d already told me he didn’t believe in love.
Chapter Fourteen
IMANIO “GATEZ”
Chi killed the headlights as we eased up the street, stopping three houses down from the beige home with the stone trim and basketball hoop over the garage. A golden porch light hummed over the driveway.
Carter’s block was quiet—too quiet for a man who liked to run his mouth. I scanned the house the way a wolf sizes up a pen of sheep. It looked smaller than the arrogance he carried into my office.
