Chapter 6

Caleb Kensington was in turmoil. His usually suave look was distorted, his curly, black hair ruffled by his long, strong fingers, and his shirt was untucked and half-unbuttoned.

“If my wife could see me now, she would surely faint from shock,” he mused. “If only I knew where she was,” he muttered, dragging his hand through his hair for the umpteenth time that night.

The past hour had been quite confusing when the alarm had sounded, drawing him out from the depths of his slumber just minutes after he had slept off after returning from work. Everyone had dashed around, thinking it was a break-in, but the guard’s thorough search had yielded nothing. There was no intruder in the house. Fury had swamped him at the thought that someone had played a prank on him.

“Could it be that the false alarm had been to distract them from the true purpose?” He pondered, a thunderous scowl on his handsome, chiselled face, as a thought occurred to him.

Where was his wife? Despite all the panic, Natalia had not stepped out of her room. Was she scared? Or did she—

He cut short this thought and dashed down the hallway, three doors away from his room, and forcefully pushed open the door, already dreading what he would see. The bed was unoccupied, and as he stepped into the room to examine the bathroom, even underneath the mattress, he knew she was gone. Natalia had run off to be with her lover.

“Fuuuck!” He yelled angrily, fists clenched as he breathed heavily.

“You had better run far, wife. Because when I catch you, you will regret the day you decided to run off with your wretched lover,” he vowed lowly as he stepped out.

“Jacob!” He called, and at once, a man dressed in a black suit, tie, and white shirt rushed up to stand before him.”

“Yes, sir?” Jacob said.

“Gather the men and search the grounds again. I want no stone left unturned until you bring Natalia back into this home,” he ordered coldly.

“Mrs. Kensington, sir? Is she missing?” Jacob asked, his impersonal mask slipping for a second to reveal his astonishment.

The lady of the house, Natalia Kensington, was not only his employer’s wife but also a friend. He was shocked to hear her uncaring husband declare her missing. Jacob wondered uneasily whether Caleb had done something to her, seeing as he was just coming out of her room. He wouldn’t put it past him with how cruelly he had been treating Natalia since they got married.

“Did I stutter?” Caleb questioned impatiently, narrowing his gaze at his trusted security guard. Jacob was the best employee of one of the most capable security outfits in the country. Nothing got past his careful scrutiny, so Caleb was forced to consider the possibility that he had something to do with Natalia’s disappearance.

He had noticed that she was somewhat close to everyone in his household, including the maids and guards. Once or twice, he had even caught her taking food to the security house, and her kindness and softness had disgusted him.

It was all a ploy to gain everyone’s trust because Natalia was nothing but a two-faced liar who had played the innocent game so well until they had been forced to get married.

He had never believed her false act anyway, but others might. So, could Jacob or anyone else have helped his wife escape the house? Not that she was a prisoner, but she had to be accompanied by a guard whenever she had to leave the house for her own safety and to ensure that something like this never happened.

“Yes, sir!” Jacob snapped to attention, his efficient, impersonal mask back in place. He pressed the black earpiece attached to his ear and delivered sharp orders to his men.

He bowed slightly and turned around to go and oversee the search for his employer’s missing wife, hoping nothing bad had happened to the poor young lady.

Caleb watched him go and swore softly in frustration, his eyes glinting angrily. Jacob was too loyal to betray his trust in such a way. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to go after them and ensure nothing was hidden from him.

“Run, Natalia. Run,” he whispered, and he set off after his men.

*******

For what seemed like the hundredth time that night, Caleb swore furiously, frustrated by the uselessness of their search for the past two hours. It was starting to look like his wife had truly escaped the house and its surroundings. No doubt she was with her useless boyfriend, Keith. If only she knew his true intentions towards her.

“Fuck!” He swore again, hating the thought of Natalia in danger despite his dislike for her. He also deeply disliked the idea of someone else taking what belonged to him. He might not love Natalia, but she was his wife—and no one else.

“And when I get hold of you and your boy toy, you will beg for mercy and receive none from me,” he said, his formidable face a mix of light and shadow from the light cast by the lantern he held.

A shout sharply cut into his musings, and he realised they must have found something. He eagerly dashed towards the lakeside, where the sound had come from. Two guards and Jacob were in the middle of the lake, pulling something—someone—out.

“Dear God! No!” He muttered, chilling alarm bells clanging in his head as he ran closer to them.

Jacob was on his knees beside the figure, pumping on their chest as he tried to get air back into their lungs. Caleb blindly pushed through the bodies until he was standing behind Jacob. He staggered as he stared down into the pale, nearly white face with blue lips—a face that no doubt belonged to his wife, Natalia.

He didn’t know when he dropped to his knees and pushed Jacob off her, taking his place as he mechanically tried to perform CPR. He mindlessly pressed down thirty times on her chest and blew air into her water-filled lungs twice, his mind emptied of any thought about his hatred for his wife.

After several minutes of repeating the same desperate action, hoping and praying that she would gasp for breath without any result, despair threatened to overtake him.

Jacob placed his hand on Caleb’s shoulder, trying to pull him away from Natalia’s body, grief in his eyes. But Caleb shrugged off his hand and continued his actions, cursing himself for being so cruel to her that she would try to kill herself.

“Come back, Natalia!” He commanded breathlessly, refusing to admit defeat as he pressed on her chest and breathed into her mouth at intervals.

“Come back!”

Suddenly, with a gasp and a cough, Natalia rolled over to vomit water on the sand before losing consciousness again. Everyone exhaled a breath of relief at the sight, hope returning to their grief-stricken faces.

Caleb sprung into action, pulling Natalia into his arms and setting off for the house at an almost run.

“Send the doctor to her room now!” He ordered over his shoulder without breaking his stride.

Jacob hastened to comply, deeply relieved that Natalia was back to life. It didn’t seem like his boss was guilty of drowning his wife. In fact, he had seemed like a deranged man as he desperately tried to bring his wife back to life. He had acted like a man in love. Jacob shrugged and put a call through to the doctor, a man of advancing years who grumbled about being woken at that time until Jacob explained what had happened.

Ten minutes later, the doctor was in the room with Natalia. He checked her vitals and attached a drip to her arm to stabilize her after declaring her out of the woods.

“She’ll be fine, sir,” he said, addressing the disturbed young man wearing a path into his expensive oriental rugs as he paced back and forth.

“It’s highly fortunate that you performed CPR on her in time. If not, she’d be gone already,” he added, hiding a smile as he watched Caleb visibly relax and finally stopped pacing. His continuous movements made him dizzy, but no one told the Kensington master what to do.

“Thank fuck!” Caleb breathed, relief coursing through his body.

The doctor squirmed in discomfort at the cuss word but couldn’t reprimand him because no one told him what to do without their heads being nearly bit off in anger.

“Can we step outside for a minute?” Caleb asked, a frown on his face.

He glanced at Natalia’s less pale face on her bed as he closed the door behind the doctor when they stepped out of the room. He was happy she was now safe, but something still bothered him.

The doctor waited patiently in the corridor, peering at him expectantly through his moon-shaped glasses.

“I’ll get straight to the point so you can return home,” Caleb began firmly, and the doctor nodded, already imagining spending the little time left till morning in his warm bed.

“I don’t want my grandmother to hear about this,” Caleb said, and the doctor raised startled eyes to his face.

“But why? She would want to know about this,” he started, uneasy about withholding such information from Caleb’s grandmother.

“I have my reasons, doctor,” Caleb replied firmly, glaring at him and daring him to say another word in protest.

The doctor reluctantly agreed and left for home, still uneasy. Caleb stalked out of the living room, where all his guards and maids waited anxiously for news about their beloved mistress.

He assured everyone of Natalia’s safety and gave the same instructions he had given the doctor. Ignoring their questioning gazes, he left and returned to his room. The night’s events were exhausting, but as he dressed for bed, he couldn't help but wonder,

“Will things change when my wife regains consciousness?”