CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Three

~HAUNTING DANGEROUS GAMES

>Kate’s Pov

It was two hours after the wedding reception and we were finally home. I stood beside Pierre and watched as the doors to the elevator of his penthouse open. 

A wave of Pierre's cologne hit me as we stepped in. He smelled of coconut and Lemon -cocolemon. The unique scent did something to my body system, causing my heart to flutter against my ribs. 

He leaned against the elevator and closed his eyes. I eyed him with lustful eyes, my fingers itching to reach for him but I fisted them instead. 

Six months was a great duration of longing for him. But, I would not break my resolve now especially when there was so much at stake. 

The elevator came to halt and opened.  I waited for him to step out, but he looked at me and said. "You should go first Kate." The way my name sounded coming from him turned me on.

"Alright," was my reply as I obeyed. He walked behind me as we went to the door. He turned on the facial recognition and the door opened. 

"You should remind me to put your face on the system. This is your home now, Mrs Delacroix." The look in his eyes when he said that was quiet intense. Then, he winced softly in pain and looked away.

"You do not look so well," I pointed out as he braced himself against the wall. His skin had taken on an ashen tone that made my stomach to twist. His forehead was adorned with beads of sweat that had me worried.

"I am fine!" He snapped when I reached out to touch him. I recoiled in shock. His breath was coming in short gasps, betraying his words. Each inhaled breath seemed to cost him more effort than the last.

The fool, I guessed he did not ever want me to see him weak. So despite his resistance, I gripped his hands firmly and led him into the house. He followed obediently, too much in pain to speak I guessed.

He suddenly sagged against me as he clutched his chest. I panicked.

"Pierre! Pierre! Are you alright?!" I snapped at him anxiously as his weight made me unsteady on my feet.

"I am, I just need my medicine."

"Where is it?" I asked instinctively.

"It is in the top cabinet in the master bathroom."

"Take me there." He nodded as he pointed the way to the master bedroom. I struggled with him all the way. I opened the door to the bedroom when we arrived and took him in.

"Leave me. Go get it for me. It's a blue bottle on the top shelf," he instructed. 

"Will you be fine alone?"

"Please listen to me Kate." I rushed into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There were so many prescription bottle. I snatched the blue one and ran back.

"How many pills?" He tried to speak but failed. On instinct, I opened the bottle and gave him two pills. I placed them in his mouth and he swallowed them dry. His body sagged slightly as he breathed through the pain.

The bedroom was heavy with an awkward silence as I crouched by him, watching him.

The pills were effective. He was soon back to normal. He had told me that he suffered from a heart disease. I did not think that it was this bad.

"Thank you," he whispered as he began to stand. I tried to help him but he pushed my hands away. He walked to stand by the window. "Get out of that wedding dress and take a bath," he said to me. I raised a brow at him.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Are you going to sleep in it?" He said turning to me. I shook my head and stood to my feet. I tried to take it off but it was too bulky. I sighed and looked at him. "What?" It was his turn to be confused by my stare. 

"Do you mind lending a hand?" I said with a shrug. He said nothing for a moment and then he came up to me.

"What should I do?" I noticed that he was genuinely confused.

"Try to unbind the ropes, or tear it off me if you can." He tried, tugging at the ropes for what felt like forever.

"I'm going to tear it okay?" He said to me. I was halfway through a nod when the sound of the material ripping stilled me. 

The torn dress slid to the floor, leaving me in my underwear. He had caught me unaware. I had not held unto the dress soon enough. I heard him gasp and turn away from me.

Well, courtesy of my adopted mother I was in the flimsiest of underwear that I could wear under a wedding gown. I stepped out of the cloth puddle and half ran to the bathroom.

After I took a shower, I dried my body with a pink floral towel and slipped into a burgundy robe. It undoubtedly smelled like Pierre. 

When I was out, Pierre was standing at the window with his broad back turned to me. He turned to me at my emergence. He was holding onto a half filled wine glass and there was a bottle of wine on the bedside table. 

"I am done." He nodded as his eyes scanned me, his gaze dark. His white shirt was slightly wrinkled, maybe from when I had been moving him. 

"Get some sleep then." I clenched my fingers around the robe and gazed at the bed which loomed between us. It was a reminder of what this night was supposed to mean. But we were husband and wife in name only.

I cleared my throat. “I will take the couch,” I gestured towards the large couch in the room.

His sharp gaze hardened before he turned away from me. “Do as it pleases you.” I reached for a pillow and blanket on the bed and moved to the couch. I was barely settled in when the sound of shattering glass had me sitting upright.

"Pierre?" I heard him exhale sharply before he groaned. I stood as saw him clutch his chest with his face twisted in pain. His hand trembled as he tried to steady himself with a palm against the window.

Panic instantly gripped me as I ran to him. “Pierre-”

"It will pass," he said in a strained voice as he tried to wave me off. But I held unto him.

“It does not look like it will pass! You need a hospital!”

"I promise you there is no need," he said as I helped him to sit on the couch. "Bring me a different medicine this time. I think the pain killers are in a yellow bottle. They are-"

"I know," I said as I turned away to go and get it.