107

107
ALEXANDER 

I loved her. I fucking move her with everything in me. But God! She was the most stubborn and annoying woman I had ever met in my entire life. 

She acted like she knew better and that stubbornness she had was just too much for my liking.

I sat in the car and my hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as I rested my head against the leather wrapping. I had not realized how long I had been sitting there, parked right in front of the house. I was angry and also too guilt ridden to drive off because I didn’t even know where I wanted to go. All I needed was just some air, space and silence. I wanted to stay away from her for as long as I could because I didn’t want to argue with her but it seemed like she wanted to counter every word that came out of my mouth. 

Why the heck had she done this? What had Raina gone behind my back and all the plans we had made? Why had she involved Carter of all people?

And she had the nerve to be screaming at me when I confronted her like I was the villain. Like I was the one that betrayed her trust and still lied to her face. All I had ever done was try to protect her. Not only had she accused me of trying to use her as bait, she had called me selfish and careless like I hadn’t spent every day of my life since Nathan came up planning and figuring out how to keep not only her but our children safe. 

I had walked out of the house after freshening up only because I didn’t want to say something I would regret to her. I was still trying to process all it, I was still trying to make sense of why she had risked everything.

The night air was cool against my skin when I eventually decided to get out of the car again. The lights in the house glowed warmly behind the curtain and a part of me really wanted to go back into the house, sit with her, hold her and just be in her presence. But I couldn’t, I was still mad at her and I wasn’t going to pretend like everything was fine or what she did was okay. I wasn’t ready to talk to her and I didn’t know when I would be. 

Instead, I pulled out my phone and called Dominic. He didn’t want to come with me but after some convincing he came down to meet me and we headed to my company. 

Thankfully it was doing okay and it was the only let of my life that wasn’t falling apart. The logs were balanced, the staff were hardworking and loyal to the company as much as they could, and the shareholders hadn’t started turning on us. At least not yet. 

Dominic and I checked on things and made sure they were working out smoothly and they nothing was going to slow down work. 

As we wrapped up and my mind dreading the fact that we—I had to return back to the house, my phone suddenly started vibrating. 

I pulled it to see that it was a call from faith. 

“Alex,” she said, her voice filled with panic the moment I accepted the call and placed the phone to my ear. “Something’s wrong with Raina.”

“What’s wrong with her!?” 

“She… she passed out,” she said, her voice cracking. 

My blood turned into ice. 

“She what?” I asked, wanting to make sure I had heard her right. 

“She was walking to the kitchen after you left… and then she staggered and fainted,” she explained, her voice barely audible. “But, the doctor’s here now and you need to come home as fast as you can. Please… hurry.”

I didn’t say another word, I had already gotten up from my chair and started making my way to the car when I ended the call. 

I drove faster than I ever have and when I got to the house, I didn’t wait for the engine to turn off before I alighted the car and made my way to the house. 

When I walked into the house, the air was heavy and pulled with tension. The minute I stepped my feet into the room, the doctor turned to me with a glare.

“You are her husband, yes?” The older man asked as he turned away from me and started checking her vitals. 

“Yes I am,” I replied quickly. “How is she? What happened to her? Would she be fine?” I asked in one breath. 

“Why the heck aren’t you taking care of her?” He asked, his voice strained like he was trying to control his anger. “She’s a pregnant woman and you’re neglecting her.”

Guilt hit me hard like a punch to the gut.

“Is it serious?” I asked solemnly.

“It’s nothing serious, she’s just exhausted,” he replied with a sigh. “Her blood pressure is way too high for a woman this early in her pregnancy and it could affect not only her but also the baby.”

“High blood pressure?” I repeated, stunned by the revelation. 

“Yes,” he replied with a nod. “She fainted because of the high level of stress, dehydration and from what her vitals are telling me… she hasn’t been eating well.”

My heart fell and I swallowed knots formed in my throat. 

“She’s been… going through a lot,” I said quietly as I walked closer to the bed. Raina looked pale and her eyes were still closed but her lips were slightly parted as she was breathing slowly but evenly. She looked so small and tired lying there. So fragile too. 

“Look,” the doctors spoke up again, his voice stern, “you need to figure things out fast. You can’t let your wife stress herself physically or meanly because if she keeps it up, she could lose the baby. And given how delicate and risky things already are, she might not recover easily if anything happens to her.”

I remained mute but I nodded in response. 

“I’ll take my leave now but please make sure you bring her to the hospital for a checkup,” the doctor finished as he started packing his things into his bag. 

“Thank you, I’ll make sure to follow all your instructions,” I said, my voice quiet and filled with the guilt that had eaten deep into me. 

As soon as those words left my mouth, the doctor finished picking and was about to take his leave when Raina stirred slightly before her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes moved everywhere and I could see the look of confusion on her face. She closed her eyes before she opened it, blinking rapidly before her eyes settled on the doctor. 

“Are you awake now Raina?” The doctor asked, his voice softer than when he had addressed me. 

Raina tried to get up and I tried to reach for her but she fell back to the bed, not having the strength to pull herself up. 

“What happened?” She asked in confusion, her voice sounding weak and tired. 

“Nothing serious,” the doctors replied with a small smile. “I have discussed everything with your husband and told him what and what not to do. You’re just tired and soon you’ll be fine, okay?”

She nodded but didn’t say anything in response. 

Faith got up and mouthed something to me. “I’ll walk him out.”

I nodded and I watched as she led him out of the room, leaving no one else but me and Raina alone in the room.

I walked even closer to the bed, pulled the chair faith had been sitting on closer to me. She finally turned to me when I thought she wouldn’t and I let out a relieved sigh, thinking she wasn’t mad at me anymore. 

“Alex?” She said, her voice barely above a whisper as it sliced through the tense air. 

“Yes, I’m here,” I said softly. “How are you feeling now? Are you okay? Do you need anything? Should I get you water?”

She looked at me for a second but it felt like forever, her eyes were clouded and her expression was unreadable. Then after a painful moment of silence, he shook her head. “No, I’m fine and I don’t need anything,” she replied, flashing me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I just need… some sleep.”

I nodded as I brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. “Okay. I'll remain right here.”

She turned away from me and faced the other side. I could not only see it but also feel the invisible wall that was going up again between us.

I reached for her hand and she flinched but she didn’t pull it out of mine. Her fingers were cold and it sent shivers coursing through my body. 

I shouldn’t have overreacted or even left the house when she was trying to talk to me. I shouldn’t have ignored her like she didn’t matter, I should have listened when she begged me to talk to her but I was stubborn. I thought I was punishing her with my silence, I thought that was enough to get her from being so stubborn but all I had done was leave her to deal with her guilt and everything else alone. 

I didn’t do well and it had to take her fainting from exhaustion for me to realize it. I was blaming her for being stubborn and acting out but I wasn’t any different. 

I let out a sigh as I leaned back into the chair. I needed to do something about all of this and fast. 

Later that night when raina still hadn’t woken up, I decided to get something to drink. I had left the room to get some water when Dominic pulled me to the side and gave me new information. 

“I don’t really blame her for doing what she did,” he said as he folded his arms across his chest. “What she did might have been stupid, but it wasn’t exactly wrong.”

I let out a frustrated sigh, realizing that no one was seeing things from my perspective. “She fucking blew up our plan, Dom. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, we were meant to wait until we had the company back.”

“I know, Alex. But come on, Nathan has been toying with us and playing dirty right from the get go,” he explained, trying to explain things to me. “Maybe we should have taken the evidence to the police the moment we had compiled them together.”

I leaned against the wall as I ran my hand through my hair. “So what now? What do we do now that everything is all messed up?”

“It’s not that messed up,” he replied. “The best thing we can do is to shift our focus. If we were to find dirt on Cale, maybe we can still turn things around in our favor.”

As quickly as Dominic had replied, an idea popped up in my head and I facepalmed myself, wondering how stupid I had been for not thinking of it earlier. 

“Cale,” I muttered. “That bastard must have taken over the company by force. He must have had help.”

“I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he had blackmailed or threatened the board members into voting for him,” Dom added. 

“Give me a list of names,” I said. “I would find the board members and question them while you try to dig up dirt on Cale.”

The next few hours after Dominic had handed the list to me passed by in a blur of calls, meetings and even visits to their homes. Most of them were tight lipped and didn’t have any useful information to give me, some shook their heads as they threw fake smiles at me while lying to my face. 

I was about to give up when one man—Mr Andrew broke down the moment I brought up the sudden switch of his votes. I was in his office and he was sitting opposite me with the table in between us.  

“I didn’t want to do it,” he started, his voice and hands trembling uncontrollably. “But they kidnapped my… wife and kids. I was told to give up my shares and if I followed through with it, they would release them to me.”

My throat tightened, realizing the hold that they had on him. “And have you heard from them since then? Have your family been returned to you?”

He shook his head, tears welling up in his now red eyes. “No, they’re still missing and I have been looking for them. I have hired private investigators but still nothing. It’s like they vanished into thin air.”

“You have to keep this conversation we just had a secret, okay? You can’t tell anyone about it,” I said firmly as I leaned forward. “Not Cale, not Nathan and not even your private investigator. No one should hear of it. I’ll speak to Dominic and we’ll find them. I promise you.”

He nodded, his eyes filled with desperation. I could tell how broken and affected he was by all of this and I knew that I couldn’t go through it. 

The minute I stepped out of his office building, I pulled out my phone and dialed Dominic’s number. I told him everything and I could feel the anger radiating off him through the phone. 

“That’s the dirt we need to find,” he said calmly. “If we can prove that Cale is behind the kidnapping and then we’ll ruin him.”