Mrs. Reddington

Chapter 9

---Red's POV---

Lizzie caught another blacklister, I'm glad to be going back to my hotel. "Dembe, do you know where my wife is?" I ask.

"Last I saw she was heading to the hotel." He says and I nod.

"Any idea what she saw on that flash drive?" I ask and he nods.

"Photos." He says as we pull up, I get out and we head upstairs.

I know as soon as I walk in that it's empty, you can feel it. I walk over to the bed and see a folder with a ring on top and I close my eyes.Opening them again I pick up both and look at the ring. I sigh before opening the folder and seeing photos of me with different women, on the bottom right corner is the date 7/11/15 time: 9:15 PM. A month after I left her to protect her.

Next set is 8/15/15 time: 8:20 PM. And on and on until I get to the last set which is marked 11/5/15 time: 10:30 PM. It's a photo of me and a ginger who is not my wife, two days before she showed up. I put the photos down and stare at the ring again.

"She's gone isn't she?" I ask Dembe.

"Yes, she got scared and said she didn't want you to feel bad, because it wasn't your fault it was hers." He answers and I shake my head.

"I spent 10 years chasing her so I could have her for myself, and another 10 being married to her cherishing every moment. Now it's gone."

"Do you want me to find her?" He asks.

"You can try, she has professionals doing everything." I tell him. "Trust me, I've tried."

---2 years later---

It's been two years, Alex and Scott have long left and I am still beating myself up. I see Lizzie is regretting it. Dembe isn't happy because I keep killing more people on the blacklist, and he's getting worried that I'm out of hand.

"The next target is a man named Archie, no last name just Archie. He is currently trading atomic bombs to Russia. Contacts tell me he's going to strike tonight, at the party he's hosting." I explain.

"So, we're going to another party?" Keen asks and I nod.

"Get ready, I'll pick you up at 7." I tell her and then I leave.

7'o clock rolls around and I pull up in front of Lizzie's house, she comes out in an emerald green gown that goes to her ankles. She looked beautiful, but I could only see one person. She gets in and we start to move.

"Before we get there I want to apologize." She says.

"For what?" I ask.

"What happened between you and Delilah." She says.

"When we get there I want you to distract Archie I'll distract his girlfriend, you're not a cop tonight Lizzie." I explain and she nods, a few moments later we pull up outside of Archie's house and I guide her inside.

"Reddington!" A loud voice booms and I see Archie coming toward me with his girlfriend on his arm.

"Archie, wonderful to see you. And who is this, I don't think you've ever mentioned her before?" I ask looking at his girlfriend, she really is quite beautiful, and I don't know how much this strawberry blonde beauty knows about Archie, but I'm willing to bet it's not much.

"I could ask the same of you old friend." Says Archie staring at Lizzie.

"Then why don't we swap for a dance, we can all get to know each other."

"Wonderful idea, Lana this is Raymond Reddington the man I was telling you about." He introduces us and I nod taking her hand and kissing it lightly.

"Pleasure to meet you." I tell her and she giggles, and it sounds just like Delilah's laugh that I stop breathing for a moment.

"Christa this is Archie." I introduce them when I get my breath back and we go dancing.

"You remind me very much of someone I know." I tell her as we dance and I see her bite her lower lip gently, and that's when I know.

"A good thing or a bad thing?" She asks and even the voice is the same.

"Good very, very good. I miss her." I tell her sadly.

"Oh, what happened?" She asks and I smile sadly.

"I made a mistake, a terrible mistake, that cost me more than I ever want to admit to anyone else." I tell her. "You know the funny part though?" I tell her as we continue to dance.

"What?" She asks.

"You can always tell who they are, no matter where they go or what they do. You always know because no matter how hard you try, you can't really hide you. Your voice, laugh, habits they'll always be part of you." I tell her.

"Que faites-vous ici et avec quelqu'un comme lui?" (What are you doing here and with someone like him?) I ask and her eyes widen a little.

"I'm sorry I don't speak French, I should really be--"

"Elena, please." I whisper in her ear and she looks over at me.

"The same reason you're here is the reason I'm here, but I knew I wouldn't be invited so I had to get close to him somehow." She says quietly.

"Tu l'aime?" (Do you love him?) I ask and her eyes go wide.

"Of course not!" She whisper yells at me. "I only love one person Raymond and it's certainly not a bomb maker." She looks at me and I can see it written all over her face.

"I am so, so sorry. I know you hurt and I'm sorry, that was never my intent. I never meant to hurt you I swear." I tell her and she smiles.

"You never were one for hurting the innocent. That's what I loved most." She says. "However I have to go or he'll get suspicious, be careful he has guards everywhere around that bomb."

"je t'aime." I tell her as she turns around to leave. She stops and turns back around there are tears in her eyes and you can hear it in her voice.

"Peu importe ce que vous faites, je vous aimerai toujours." (No matter what you do I will always love you.) I stop breathing and stare at her in her beautiful strapless blue dress that has a white design in the middle and a slit in the side that goes up the length of her thighs.

She walks off as Lizzie walks up. "Well, she's beautiful."

"She's always been beautiful." I say still staring at where she is.

"You know her?" Lizzie asks.

"What did you learn from your dance?" I ask.

"No idea, you?" She says.

"It's underground but it's heavily armed, you're lucky she still cares." I sigh and walk toward the stairs leading down.

"So you're just going down there?" She asks and I nod.

"Knowing the woman I do she's already fixed the problem downstairs." I say walking down and finding the guards dead.

"What happened?" Lizzie asks and I smile.

"A friend, and I have a feeling the bomb is also gone." I tell her.

"What, why?"

"Cause she's a thief, that's what they do. She's an expert thief." I tell her rounding the corner and finding nothing there. "Time to leave, odds are she'll meet us at the post office."

"She knows about the post office?" Lizzie asks as we get up to the party, I scan it quickly and don't see her anywhere, so I pull Lizzie with me and out the door. Just as we reach the outside the alarm goes off and we duck into the backseat of my car.