Belongs To Him

45 | Nice to Meet You

Alina Romano

My fingers felt cold. The sensation left me uncomfortable, a wet coldness I wasn't used to. The darkness around me felt warm, but my fingers were cold.

"Alina," Townes's voice echoes in my mind. It's the tone she gives when she's seen me spiral with a packet of saltines on the couch. Leaving a crumbly mess to pick up later was getting harder recently.

"Lina, please," Kingston calls out to me.

A gasp escapes me as I sit up. My wet fingers clutch my chest as my back lays against the couch. A blanket was draped over me as my fingers were in small pools of ice held by Nicholas. Nicholas, why was Nicholas here?

Then I find him in the door again, hovering over me. Perplexed as he stared at my face, "You killed someone." The words slip out in fear, fear of my own husband. He wouldn't kill me. No matter how much he hated me, I knew a man who truly loved could never bring himself to kill the one he loved. I still hoped that person was me.

"Alina, I need to explain," He spits out.

"We should get you to a hospital now," Townes urges. But I remained still, staring at him heartbroken; there wasn't much empathy on his face. It was just from me. The only thing in his life he couldn't control.

"You killed that man. I watched him stare at you right in the eye, and then the life go out of his," my fingers clutched my face in disbelief as I felt sick.

"Get her trashcan," Townes quickly ordered, causing people to move left and right as I felt the bile come up. I felt tense and numb all at once.

The babies, the stress that this must be. I clutch my stomach in fear, and a moment later, my head is turned into a trash can as all the contents leave my stomach. A burning sensation in the back of my throat as well as my eyelids.

"Would you give me a second with my wife!" Kingston orders in the room. Townes remains glued to me as everyone agrees. However, I can't fully care. My hand remains close to my stomach, anxiety filling my chest.

Townes' fight with Finn and Antony only lasts a couple of seconds until she's detained. I'm left with him alone in our home, which feels quieter than ever. After weeks of nothing, he stands here trying to act like he cares.

"You killed him; he's dead," I repeat in shock. He stares at me with anger, as if I've done something so wrong, so foul.

"I did; I killed him, Alina. What you wanted to know so bad about this part of me, what I do. I kill the bad guys and sometimes the good guys to, all to protect you, my wife. To protect myself and hell, even to protect Nicholas. I'll do it til I die for your sake and mine," his voice curses at me as I remain still shaken in my space.

"A man wanted to kill you! God, don't you see, he put two bullets in you, and I will put as many bullets in anyone I see involved until I get to him," He stands shaken as the harshness from his tone relinquishes over me. "You wouldn't understand how that felt. Feeling your body below me cooling as you lost blood. I felt fear, something I've never felt, vulnerability."

"Well, I'm sorry you chose a wife-"

"Stop it, just stop it!" A glass falls with his yelling. The bowl of ice Nicholas carried shattered to pieces on the ground. "You must understand why I do what I do. Don't be an idiot; you are highly educated. I saw the diploma from Chappell Hill myself." He sighs and steps away, "Fucking pathetic."