“Only in your head! Sure, your leg isn’t one hundred per cent, and never will be. But you’re here and living. Instead of embracing that and being grateful, you’ve turned into the most miserable motherfucker alive. The kids and I don’t consider you disabled. Fuck, we were just happy you lived,” I hissed andleaned back against the counter. “You’ve given up, it’s already like you didn’t survive. I don’t recognise the man in front of me.”
Adam’s face twisted, and he swept the remains of breakfast, bowls, mugs, and food off the table. “Rina, I’m a gimp! Useless! Can’t protect James or look after you. Every day, I try to bite the bullet, but I’m too much of a coward to pull the trigger. Do you think I don’t see how everyone looks at me?”
“Like what, Adam? Like what?” I demanded.
“With pity and sympathy, they know I’m worthless now.”
“You’re right, you are, and not for the reasons you believe, Adam,” James said from the doorway. He looked at Adam and shook his head.
“Your fighting can be heard throughout the house. Kate and Tammy have the children in the garden.”
“You agree with me,” Adam spat, shock in his voice and on his face.
“Yeah. Because I can’t use someone full of self-pity, that’s just a waste of space. There was more to you than being a bodyguard, Adam. You forgot that. We didn’t. May I suggest that before you lose everything, listen to what Rina has planned? And I strongly urge you to take it up. Otherwise, you were never the man I believed you to be,” James said sternly.
With that direct statement, James turned and walked off.
Adam faced me. “What have you plotted? A divorce?”
“No. I booked a vacation. It’s in England, away from everything here that reminds you of what happened. We’ll be staying there over Christmas. James is lending us the plane, and we’ll buy presents out there. I’ve arranged a four-week stay at an inn called The Black Cat, situated in a quaint English village.”
Adam stared, shocked. “You did what?”
“You heard me. We have to get away from here. Leave your hate and self-pity behind. Because when I married you, Adam, Isaid in sickness and in health, and I meant that. Now, I’m going to fight for you, but I need you to fight with me!”
Adam shook his head. “Nothing to fight for. Maybe we should get a divorce.”
My breath caught in my throat. Panic welled, and I gaped. “What?” I gasped in a strangled voice. My hands began to shake. Adam surely hadn’t said that?
“Divorce,” Adam repeated.
My anger melted instantly, and a cry like a wounded animal left me. My scream rattled around the room, and I clutched my chest as pain seared me. Adam’s eyes stared blankly, with no emotion at all.
Someone gripped me, and I gazed into the concerned face of James. “Rina?”
“Adam wants a divorce,” I forced out.
Pure anger crossed James’s face, and he released me, spinning on Adam with a fierceness that took him aback.
“Get out!” James snarled. “I’m ordering you to the mausoleum!”
“You aren’t my boss anymore! Got replaced, remember?” Adam sneered.
James leaned forward, fury in every line of his body. “Go talk to the man who believed in you. Tell Frank he made a mistake. Ask Frank if he’d rather have a bad leg than be dead and unable to watch his kids and grandkids grow up.”
Adam still didn’t flinch. Angrily, he held our gazes as I struggled to breathe, and then he limped away without a word.
Another cry escaped me as Adam didn’t even glance back, and my legs gave out as I crashed onto the ground. James came with me, anger and sorrow pouring from him. He wrapped his arms around me as I wondered why I wasn’t crying. Had Adam hollowed me out so much that there were no more tears left? Kate entered and sat beside me.
“Shit, I heard. Tammy and Frankie took the kids for ice cream. Is there anything I can do?” she asked softly. Numb, I shook my head until finally I began to weep.
“I’ll deal with Adam,” James snapped, and I nodded. James didn’t move, though, and sat there, sandwiching me between him and Kate. At least somebody cared.
Adam
Had I really just hit Rina for a divorce? I couldn’t believe that had left my mouth. What a damned fool I was. Rina wanted me gone? Said I’d have been better off if I’d died, fuck her! That had hurt. How the hell did you want somebody dead if you loved them?
I sat and stared at Frank’s tomb. What would he say about this? James’s words had hit home—mainly because I knew Frank would have chosen a gimpy leg over missing out. That man had lived for family. Frank would definitely have even taken a double amputation if he’d been given the choice. Why couldn’t I be grateful for being alive? What was so fucked up in me that I couldn’t accept that life changed, but love surrounded me? Nobody wanted to see me in pain or watch me fail. Yet, I kept lashing out and hating everyone.
