Belongs To Him

47 | Come Hell or High Water

Kingston Romano

She was pregnant. After all this time and worry, my wife was pregnant and with twins. I was overjoyed, hopeful, and guilty. I wasn't there when she needed me when I should've been there. Now that I'm here, I already fear that I screwed up. Because the man who was after her should be dead.

Instead, he walks freely. I have his pinpoints; I know where he hides and lurks. Yet I can't make a move without setting off the pressure points. It could compromise everything, and Carina planned this diligently. But maybe I needed to stop following her lead. That could be why his head isn't on a spike yet.

Her breathing shutters slightly as I watch her on the couch. Her cheek is smooshed against a pillow as she breathes heavily, clinging to it like a koala.

Alina was the color in my life, the only brightness and warmth that filled me. She was the only woman I'd ever love. Well, that is unless one of our children is a girl. Then, I would stand corrected because Alina was the only person I wanted to be alone with.

Where the world could fade away, and I'd be left with her. My wife is, fortunately, all I need. However, it's been two days now, and she's avoiding work. As well as me, I know she's punishing me slightly. She's mad for falling back into my arms so swiftly, hormones, that's what she blamed it on. Now, I sleep on the floor beside our bed, giving her that emotional space she needs. It almost kills me slightly because I felt more hormonal than her with the ideas I had of what I wanted to do to my wife.

I understood her need for distance, but I know she doesn't want to pull away fully. Because we already had space for a few weeks and it almost destroyed us. I thought giving her a bigger position at work would make her feel better. Seeing her in that board meeting made my own throat close, that idiot whose boss screwed me over. I don't get how Lina possibly tolerates her; she seemed like a huge bitch. But Antony and Finn haven't reported anything to me that strikes alarm. Still, her face looked so sour when she realized who Alina was.

Sometimes, I wish I lived a simpler life with her. The one I try to maintain for her, where she gets to stay here and live her life with her friends, where she can peacefully carry on with her work and be a mother, seems to slip farther and farther away, with Clark attempting to reign hell on our lives.

I'd sacrifice mine without hesitation if it meant keeping her alive. Hell, if anyone attempted to touch her, they were already dead.  Somehow, I felt dead as well with the way she stared at me sometimes. The way that reminds me I broke her heart, my wife's heart.

She warms up to me about the twins when I ask questions. I could sense her insecurities about her rapidly changing body, but she'll always be beautiful to me, and creating two lives seemed insane. I couldn't love her any more than I do now. She's so brave and wise, protective in the best ways. If anyone in this world was fit to be a mother it was her, because she was already such a leader in her own way, she takes care of those around her. Especially me and the way she loves is like no other.

She's snoring slightly on the couch now; she's been immensely tired today. I knew it probably was due to the stress of everything. That was the last thing she ever needed, pregnant or not.

I step toward her tentatively. She breathes loudly as her hand is draped carefully over her blooming swell of a stomach. I move forward to pick her up and bring her upstairs. However, a throat clears behind me before I can even touch her.

"Kingston, Carina is here," Marcello's voice halts me, and I glance back to Alina. Let her rest; you can take her upstairs afterward. She's had a long week, and you know it." He glances back down at her and signals me to go to the office—the cave I stuck myself in for an insufferable amount of time. He was right, though, and I hated it.