“Alexei?” This time my voice did shake.
He barely glanced at me. “It wasn’t like that, Amy. Violet just meant we had spent the evening talking.”
Violet made a show of looking shocked. “Oh, goodness, I didn’t mean that,” she stressed the word theatrically. “You mustn’t think such silly things, little dove.”
Under the table, my hands balled into fists. She was mocking me, and Alexei was letting her. Not only had he told her about my inexperience, but now he was letting her make fun of me because of it.
“Alexei, I was hoping to talk to you in private about some things,” I said quietly.
He lifted an eyebrow. “About?”
Us, I wanted to scream, but I knew that wouldn’t do. It would just give Violet more fuel. “My sister’s care,” I said instead.
“You can order whatever she needs, Amy. You don’t need my permission for that.”
“I was hoping you would come with me to discuss things with the doctor.” Please, I begged silently. Please come with me and hold my hand. I needed him next to me, so I had someone to lean on.
“I can’t today. Violet needs me to take her shopping. She has got nothing, and I want her to be comfortable here.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Did he just say here?
“She’s staying here?”
“Of course. A hotel isn’t safe, and anyway, it’s much easier for herto stay. We have lots of room. You don’t mind, do you?” he eyed me, and his look seemed to dare me to say something.
It was like he had reverted back to the man I had first married. The one who was always angry and thought I couldn’t do anything right.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to smile at them both. “Of course not. Excuse me, I want to go and see my sister early. Have a fantastic day.”
I didn’t bother with makeup, so it didn’t take long for me to get dressed and leave. Alessia wouldn’t care if I was bare-faced. The only person I had ever wanted to wear makeup for was too busy making puppy dog eyes at a woman who didn’t need it.
And then there was the fact that it was hard to hide your tears if your mascara was running down your face. So, I left, casually dressed with my hair tied back severely. Alexei had been too busy laughing at something Violet was saying to even lift his head when I said goodbye.
“Are you OK, Mrs. Petrovov?”
I shook myself, lifting my eyes to meet Micah’s in the rearview mirror. In all the months since he had become my driver and bodyguard, I had never seen him look so kindly at me. Usually, it was wary indifference.
I averted my eyes quickly so that he didn’t see the anguish in them.
His sigh was loud. “Amy—”
My eyes snapped back to his. If he was calling me Amy, then things were worse than I thought. And last night, Mrs. Coles had called me Amy as well. It was like the staff knew that bad things were beginning to happen.
“I’m OK, Micah,” I said with a sigh. I didn’t need the staff to know how bad things were getting or how worried I was. “Honestly,” I added because he kept looking at me, “actually—” My head shot up. “Youve been with Alexei for a while, haven’t you?”
“I’ve known him since school, and I came to work with him a little over ten years ago.” A look of apprehension tightened his features. “Why?”
Sighing, I weighed up my options, and really, there were none. I needed to know about Violet. Gabriella had said I had nothing toworry about, but clearly I did, and Alexei wouldn’t give me the time of day, so really I had no choice.
“So you met Violet before?” I asked quietly.
“I knew them when they started dating in school, yes. They are older than me, but everyone knows them. They were kind of the it couple back then.”
They had been together since high school. The news hit me like a punch in the stomach. No wonder they had seemed so familiar with each other. They had literally spent all of their adult lives together.
“I see.”
And I did see. I couldn’t compete with that kind of history.
