Page 138 of Hunter's Revenge

I’ve just woken up to this note from Malik lying next to me in an envelope on his pillow. My rings were also back on my finger, feeling as if they always belonged there.

Jeanne brought them up days ago and handed them to Malik. I thought he would give them back to me then, but he didn’t. Not until now.

Seeing them on my finger didn’t surprise me nearly as much as finding the note.

God help me, when I saw it, my silly girly heart skipped through the meadow toThe Hills Are Alivewith theSound of Musicbeat ringing through my head.

The thought of him leaving a note for me touched me in a way I can’t describe.

There’s so much going on around us to worry about, but we’ve been in that sphere of passion for the last week where it’s just been us.

It’s been nice and I’ve selfishly wanted to hold on to those moments for as long as I could. Especially when I’ve attempted to speak to Dru.

She’s been giving me the silent treatment since we last spoke even though I sent her a message days ago letting her know I needed to speak to her. She’s either responded to my follow-up messages with short answers telling me she’s busy at work or told me so herself on the off-chance she answered my calls.

I’m glad I’ve been given the go-ahead to speak to her, but I’m honestly struggling to think of where I’d start spilling the truth. I’d have to tell her about my father, which feels harder than anything else because it would show that I was keeping big secrets from everyone all these years.

Regardless, I am going to speak to her. It’s time to, and perhaps had this thing with Malik not occurred, Dru would never hear the truth from me.

I get off the bed and get ready, then go downstairs to find Jeanne. I catch a glimpse of her in the kitchen, but I also see Kelly in the living room fixing the flowers.

I stop by the door, and she sees me, too, but looks away quickly, avoiding eye contact like she has been since my blowup.

I know I owe her an apology, but I’ve hardly seen her to attempt to offer it.

She doesn’t come into the dining room at breakfast anymore, and when she does, she says nothing to Malik other than good morning and asks him what he wants to eat. In English.

Of course, she’s not exactly difficult to find, and I could have sought her out to tell her I’m sorry, but I haven’t because I still maintain that it was rude for her to carry on her deep conversation with Malik.

I’m also still not overly fond of her closeness with him.

But that’s my jealousy I have to deal with. I guess I just hate whatever relationship she has with him because she’s a part of his life and shares pieces of him I can’t reach.

I no longer think he sees me as an enemy, but there’s an expiry date hanging over our heads that I know will hurt me more than anything else.

Kelly stops what’s she’s doing when I walk in and looks at me. I can already tell from the tension in her shoulders that she’s only addressing me because she believes she has to if she wants to keep her job.

“Mrs. Volkova, is there something I can do for you?” she asks.

Until our falling out, she called me Gwen.

“Please call me Gwen again.”

“I thought it would be more respectful if I addressed you… properly.”

“I know, but you were respectful before. I wanted to apologize for how I spoke to you.”

She looks completely surprised. “That’s okay. It was my fault. Because I grew up with Malik, I tend to forget sometimes that I work for him. I can definitely see where it was disrespectful toward you and I am sorry.”

“How about we start over? I’d hate for us to have this tension between us for the next few months.”

She smiles. “I’d like that.”

“Good.” I dip my head. “I’ll see you later.”

“Sure.”

I leave her and head to the kitchen. There I find Jeanne putting a pie in the oven.

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