Chapter Forty-Seven

Sebastian’s POV

She looked so frail as she laid there in the hospital bed, her head was wrapped up in bandages and her face pale and sickly looking from her blood loss.

After she stormed off at the park, I didn't go after her. I didn't expect her to go far either but soon time passed and there was no sign of Alina.

So I assumed she had gone home but when I got home, she wasn't back. She didn't answer any of my calls or texts. Eventually she returned, her shoulders hung lowly in defeat but still she stood tall with a defiant tilt to her chin and a determined set to her eyes. I could still tell something wasnt right from the way her body stiffened and her gaze avoided mine.

“Where have you been?”

She shrugged noncommittally. “Around.” Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. It was quiet and flat and hollow. But the more her expression changed, the more I realized how much I hated that look on her. It only lasted a second before her facade slipped and tears fell down her cheeks and my heart clenched painfully.

I moved to her but she stepped back clearing her voice and wiped furiously at her face and cheeks trying to compose herself. “I am fine”

“You aren't,” I growled through gritted teeth. I did the know why I was angry. I hated being in the dark, I hated not knowing what was going on in her life. I was scared for her. But now I was furious. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” she snapped. She sounded desperate and tired and upset and all I wanted to do was hold her tight until the pain went away. But instead I kept myself apart from her. “I just...needed some air...to think.” I tried to take another step closer to her but this time she turned away avoiding my touch.

“Fine, have it your way” I said with a sigh, frustrated by this constant avoidance and feeling utterly powerless to reach her.

I returned to the bed, hating myself and hating this woman for turning me into this. How had she managed to make me look desperate and helpless in front of her and then turn her away with one simple look. I felt like a child again, desperately clinging to my mommy even as she brushed me aside.

I noticed how she slept on the bed putting a distance between us and my anger faded away. I couldn't help but notice she slept in her underwear. My chest tightened at the thought of touching her bare skin. Her back curved slightly under her night shirt and I felt my mouth water as I imagined running my hands up and down her naked spine. The sight and smell of her hair brought the memory back to my mind.

“Not now Seb” I subconsciously reminded myself , pushing the intrusive thoughts away and returning to the present. There were other things I had to deal with first. Like how she was still acting distant even if she knew I'd be mad as hell if she kept hiding things from me. That I would be worried she didn't keep her side of the bargain by telling me who hurt, she still lied about falling.

I knew too well that she didn't fall, I knew someone had done it to her. She didn't need to tell me that, not when she was lying to my face anyway. Still, I wondered where she had been.

The next morning was the same, she wouldn't talk to me and my frustration mounted. If I'd known what had been happening I might have been able to find answers, but I couldn't. So I kept my temper under wraps. Watching her go back and forth, cold and withdrawn.

“You said something about the Frenchmen…”

“Don't worry about it” she muttered distractedly.

“What?”

She sighed before turning to me. “I handled it. Clara set a meeting up with them yesterday and I will see them today” there was a note of hope and excitement in her voice and relief flashed through me.

“Where are you going to meet them?” I asked

She shrugged her shoulder. “That's not really your concern, is it?”

Her sarcasm stung. “Yes, it is! You're supposed to tell me stuff!” I threw my hands in the air exasperated

“Like what? You've never told me anything before” She snapped.

I stared hard at her. She was deflecting. And I refused to let her get away with it. This was my chance. “I am going with you”

“Are you kidding me?!” She yelled in frustration “I don't want you to come with me !” Her face flushed a deep red and her jaw clenched tightly before she bit her lip so tightly I almost saw white from the amount of force she applied.

“Okay” I spat out in response “Fuck you”

We stared at each other silently, neither one willing to back down. I was fuming, my fists balled at my sides and her shoulders were squared. After a while she blinked and her eyes softened, like her posture relaxed a fraction and she breathed an exhausted sigh. “Fine” she grabbed her bag and began walking towards the door. “Just don't say anything.” She mumbled and left without so much as looking at me.

I was at the office when I had gotten a call that my wife was involved in an accident . It took every ounce of control I possessed not to run straight there. The doctors told me that she was stable but in no condition to leave the hospital. They had sedated her and warned that she would probably sleep for two days. But I needed to be near her. I had been holding in my fear ever since I heard the news.

What happened? What had possibly gone wrong? But I took her hand into mine and waited for her to wake up. I waited and I prayed and I prayed for a miracle.