Page 62 of His Wife

Maybe Alexius will come with me next time I’m here.

I’m pacing up and down in the foyer of the medical center, waiting for Mira. I’ve already been to the kiosk searching for her, but the cashier confirmed that a woman matching Mira’s description was already there earlier. The Audi is still parked outside, so I guess she must have gone to the ladies’ room while waiting for me, touching up her make-up and giving her lips a fresh layer of red.

It’s twenty minutes later and I’ve checked the ladies’ room, tried her phone six times, only to get her voicemail. I also noticed the missed calls from Alexius, but I just can’t bring myself to call him back, knowing I’ll have to tell him the truth sooner or later. Right now, I’m choosing later.

Unease starts to creep along the back of my neck. The patter of feet on the smooth floors and the muffled conversations of people eating lunch at the kiosk’s coffee shop all work together to drive this unsettled feeling down my spine. Mira wouldn’t wander off somewhere without at least sending me a text, so I walk back to the Audi and try her phone again while keeping an eye out. “Mira, where the hell are you? I’m worried,” I say into the receiver when I get her voicemail again. There is no sign of her anywhere, and I’m about to call Alexius when Maximo’s Hummer and Nicoli’s LaFerrari screech to a stop behind the Audi.

Alexius is out of the car before Nicoli can cut the engine, his eyes alert and face painted with worry. “Jesus. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I glance from his wild eyes to Maximo’s worried expression. “What’s going on?”

Worry lines form grooves on his forehead, and storm clouds gather in the depths of his irises. The overcast sky traces his outline, and I don’t think I’ve seen Alexius look so anxious before.

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. Really, I’m fine. I just can’t find Mira.” I scan the area around us, and Alexius grabs my wrist.

“What do you mean, you can’t find Mira?”

“I just…I can’t find her. She was supposed to wait for me in the foyer, but she’s not there.”

“She’s gone?” Nicoli slams the door of his car. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know. I tried calling her, but I’m only getting her voicemail.”

“Leandra,” he storms toward me, “where the fuck is Mira?” His voice booms through the parking lot, his anger seemingly aimed at me and sending chills up my arms. “Where is she?”

“Hey, lay off.” Alexius shoves Nicoli back. “She said she doesn’t know.”

“Fuck!” Nicoli kicks at the Audi’s tires, steaming, his breaths coming out in short pants between curses. I’ve never seen him this enraged, this unhinged before, and it’s stirring up a panic that’s slowly starting to squeeze my lungs, robbing me of air.

Maximo is on his phone, pacing and cursing for Mira to pick up, and the more I look at the three of them, the more I can feel that something is very, very wrong.

“Alexius.” I inch closer to him, still keeping my eyes on Maximo. “You’re all scaring me. What’s going on?”

“Voicemail. Fuck!” Maximo curses, and Nicoli drops an entire alphabet of f-bombs as he plucks out his phone and tries calling her as if he might have better luck. But he doesn’t, and his cell phone pays the price by getting catapulted to the sidewalk, scattering in a thousand pieces against the curb. “Where the fuck is she?”

“It’s not Leandra.” Alexius crouches, and I watch him pick up a stick of gum from the ground, straightening. “It’s Mira,” he mutters—Nicoli and Maximo turning their attention to him as he glances at them. “He has Mirabella.”

ChapterTwenty-Three

ALEXIUS

“What is going on?” Leandra’s knuckles turn white as she clutches the bar on the passenger side door. I take a sharp turn, the tires of the Audi skidding across the asphalt, screaming as I take the corner. “You’re scaring me, Alexius.”

“I just need to get you home. Make sure you’re safe.”

“Safe from what?”

I ram the brakes and take another turn, then floor the gas pedal, speeding down the streets, weaving in and out of traffic. “He’s taken Mirabella.”

“Who? Who’s taken her?”

“This fucking psychopath.”

“What psychopath? Alexius, you’re not making any sense.”

“None of this makes fucking sense!” I slam my hand against the steering wheel, anger liquifying in my veins, poisoning me to want to destroy fucking everything in my path. “I don’t know who he is, how he’s managed to do everything he’s done.”

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