Chapter 4 - I never knew

[Asher]

My hand tightened on the steering wheel as I drove into the streets of Boston. I needed to see Vienna. It felt like I was losing it. The men I had placed to watch over her at the hotel where she lodged, had already informed me that she had gone to her parents' house just like I predicted.

My mind was a mess, and I didn't know why she had to shut the door in my face yesterday.

I had to pass the night at my friend's place. The truth was I couldn't face Elena last night. She had prepared all that for me just to make my day and I ended up storming out on her just like that.

I swallowed hard, biting down on my lips as I drove into the busy road, heading straight to her parents' house.

I batted my lashes as Elena's face suddenly flashed right into my head. "I've always loved you, Asher," her words echoed all over my head. My heart skipped, my jaw clenched hard as I swallowed the sudden lump that made its way to my throat.

I never knew she felt something for me. I wouldn't have put her into this mess.

Elena has always been a nice woman. Two years of being with her felt like I was living with a best friend.

She would always send the maids away, insisting on making my meals herself. Whenever I came home bothered, worried because of Vienna. Elena would look me in the eyes and tell me that I should hold on, that Vienna would one day come back.

But why? Why was she encouraging me all those years to hold on to waiting for Vienna? Why did she agree to this if she knew she had a thing for me and also seeing that I loved her sister?

I would never have gone to her for help if I knew from the beginning that she felt this way for me.

I tilted my neck to the side, trying to push her face away from my mind. But the more I tried the more her tear-streaked face slammed back into my head.

I bit down on my lips, swerving my steering to the right. I'm only feeling this way because I've been with her for two years and seeing that hurt on her face had my heart burning in ways I couldn't explain.

She deserves better. She deserves a man who would love and cherish her and I know I'm not the one for that. Just like I said Elena is a beautiful and nice woman and any man who would have her would be a very lucky one.

I can't reciprocate her feelings.

I’m in love with Vienna. I haven’t been able to get her out of my head for two years — and seeing her again yesterday only proved it. Everything I feel for her is still right here… sitting heavy in my heart, exactly where it has always been.

I love that woman so much. So fucking much that it hurt with each passing second as I drove closer to her parents’ house.

I needed to know why she left. I needed to understand why she decided to shatter me. Making me make decisions that had me feeling so guilty. If only she hadn't left, I wouldn't have gone to Elena. We wouldn't have been together for two years and maybe what she felt for me could have died a long time ago.

Just as Vienna's parents' house came into view, my heart clenched. I took a deep breath trying to ground myself as I drove straight into their lot.

My heart was pounding hard. What if she had moved on? What if she didn't want to see me again?

My car came to a halt and I killed my engine, stepping out of the car in one swift move.

My eyes trailed over to the porch. I bit down on my lips, knowing that I hadn't been here since I married their adoptive daughter, Elena.

Vienna's parents had no idea why I married Elena. They practically thought I was moving on, and they hated Elena for it. Thinking she was betraying her sister, not knowing we had made a deal, wanting the news to reach Vienna so she could come back.

I walked over to the porch, my eyes shifted to the door but before I could raise my hand to press the bell, the door swung open from inside, revealing the one person I came to see. The one who left with my heart. The woman I've loved with everything in me. My Vienna.

Vienna flinched, but quickly masked her expression as she stared back at me. Her eyes darkened. I swallowed hard as my eyes trailed all over her form. God, she has changed. So fucking much. She looks leaner, tired, and maybe stressed.

Before I could open my mouth to say a word, she beat me to it. "And what the hell do you think you're doing here?" She snapped, her eyes brimming red.

I blinked back, my jaw clenched and with the way she was reacting, I could only guess she had heard the news of my marriage to Elena from her parents.

"So it's you, Vienna?" I asked. She scoffed, taking a step back as she folded her hands across her chest.

"I'm asking you what the hell you're doing here and you have the guts to question me? Are you here to rub it in my face that you got married to that betrayer who I called a sister?" Vienna's voice dripped with venom.

I took a deep breath trying to calm the way my heart was thumping hard. "Can we at least go inside and talk about this?"

"You must be insane to think I would ever do that. What the fuck are you doing here?" She yelled again and I couldn't hold it anymore.

"You disappeared without a trace Vienna. You fucking left me without a word. It's been two years. Two fucking years and you're asking what I'm doing here? You even shut the door of your hotel room in my face yesterday!" I snapped and she chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"You have some audacity," Vienna growled staring deep into my eyes. "I disappeared for two years and you grabbed my sister like you couldn't wait for me to be gone?"

"It wasn't real," I snapped before I could stop myself. "It wasn't fucking real. I did what I did because I was going insane. I was losing it." I growled and she blinked back, staring right back at me.

"What...what wasn't real?"