جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 80

"I had no idea. How could I not know this?" Alexander continues to gape at the showroom seeing it with new eyes, half expecting to find that everything in the room has been inscribed with the works Samantha made this and he was just too blind to see it before now. Samantha shrugs again, maintaining a cool demeanor, "I asked everyone to not say anything. But apparently someone must have spilled.""No. No one told me. We, Ady and I, came here on our own." He hesitates before adding, "But why didn't you want me to know? This place is incredible, Samantha."Samantha looks slightly uncomfortable, "Does it matter?"Alexander regards the woman in front of him, slightly confused and maybe a little wounded that Samantha felt she had to hide her success from him. Alexander tries not to sound hurt, "I suppose not."They stand facing each other. Samantha standing straight, hands behind her back almost like a soldier's stance and Alexander facing her, one hand still in her pocket, the other having

Alexander hugs Ady back and brushes a light kiss to the top of her head, "Let's go girl, we can't keep everyone waiting."A string quartet plays softly in the corner of the plantation's chapel, the gentle patter of rain outside providing a nice accompaniment. Garland of beautiful flowers drapes from the high ceiling and candles flicker in artful arrangements around the intimate space. Jace flits around the room making last-minute adjustments and obsessively checks the list on his ever-present tablet. Alexander mingles among the guests as they enter the venue, greeting old friends, cordially speaking with Moni's family and doing his best to hold the anxiety at bay. For him, everything is happening at an odd distance. Like a wall of glass exists between himself and everything around him. The music a bit muffled in his ears, the floral scents weak to his nose and the grinning faces right in front of him seem yards away. He's internally frustrated with the detachment, not wanting to forge

Before Samantha can do something stupid, Alexander speaks up. "Okay, maybe that's not fair. I should not demand so much from you without first giving you something of myself." He clears his throat. "A little over an hour ago, my lawyer barged into my wedding to tell me I was still married. I was surrounded by important politicians, a few minor celebrities, Moni's entire family and most of people. I felt a lot of things at that moment. Panic. Anger. Annoyance. Humiliation. All of those. But you want to know what I felt most?"Samantha gives a little shake of her head. No, he doesn't."Relief. I was relieved, Samantha" There is a touch of anguish in his confession. Alexander takes several tentative steps forward but remains just out of Samantha's personal space. Samantha's pulse goes up a notch, "Why?"Because it felt like the universe was confirming what I knew but was fervently ignoring."Samantha makes herself breathe, afraid that if she doesn't instruct her lungs to contract, they m

"Not necessarily, no. I mean we argue, and it definitely feels like I'm walking on eggshells around my own lover but fighting, that only happens if one or both of us are stressed or just irritated and we blow a fuse. Normally we know when to back down if it escalates but we've fought ugly in the past." Samantha confessed quietly."And when did you guys' fight?""It happened Friday night."Without missing a beat, Mike shot off another question. "Earlier Samantha said that you both work frequently but explain how much is frequent because it seems both of your jobs are hindering the time you guys lack to spend with each other.""For the most part I get home before Alexander even though I work more days of the week than him. Sunday is basically me only off day. My work is open Monday through Saturday but I'm not the only manager there, so my days of work are Wednesday through Saturday, and I work the rest of the week at my other work. I normally get home the latest by six but the only time

After picking herself after twenty minutes later, Samantha called it a night and left her office feeling incredibly drained with a dull headache. She stumbled through the dark house until she reached their bedroom, flipped on the lights, and locked herself in the master bathroom.Another twenty minutes passed when she pulled open the sheer shower curtain and stepped out on the plush bathroom rug, glowing clean and honey skin beneath a cloud of steam. She airs dried, as she's always done, and finished her nightly ritual cleanses before ambling back inside the bedroom where she tiredly dressed herself in a knee length baby blue button-down.She turned for the bed and was in the midst of pulling back the sheets on her side of the bed when she paused in motion, staring down at her left hand where her ring glinted beneath the lights as if personally reminding him of Mike's assignment, he instructed them to do.Right. Hug each other before bed. With a sigh, the blond let the sheets slip away