When she sat up, her gaze flickered to a chair by the window occupied by Chrysander’s sleeping form. He was slouched against the arm, his clothing rumpled and the stubble of over a day’s beard shadowing his jaw.
She waited for the rush of anger, of fury, but again, she felt nothing but overwhelming numbness and a need to escape.
She got out of bed, not paying attention to her own rumpled clothing. It occurred to her that maybe she should change, but she couldn’t risk waking Chrysander. No, she needed to be away. She couldn’t look him in the eye knowing that he’d made such horrible accusations and then left her to the mercy of her kidnappers.
Her thumb brushed across the thin band of her engagement ring, and she wrenched it off. It felt cold in her hand. She gently laid it on the nightstand beside the bed then turned and walked away.
On bare feet, she walked out of the bedroom and to the elevator. Her stomach churned as she relived the night she’d gotten on this elevator as her world crumbled around her, Chrysander’s accusation ringing in her ears. How could he? It was the only thought that played over and over in her mind until she wanted to scream at it to stop.
When she reached the lobby, she paused, realizing that not only would Chrysander’s security people likely be manning the front entrance but that also the doorman would never let her walk out as she was.
She turned and hurried for the back entrance. To her dismay, one of the men she recognized from Chrysander’s detail was standing at the door. She quickly ducked into a service entrance and made her way down the hallway that housed rooms for laundry and building maintenance. A few minutes later, she opened the door and walked out into the pale, predawn light.
Chrysander woke with a monster catch in his neck and shifted in the too-small chair to alleviate his discomfort. He’d wanted to spend the night with Marley tucked into his arms, but she’d resisted his touch at every turn, becoming so distraught that he’d had no choice but to retreat.
He’d taken the doctor’s advice and phoned a therapist as soon as he’d returned to the apartment with Marley. The therapist was due to arrive this morning to speak with her. Chrysander just hoped she would be able to.
His gaze moved to the bed, and when he saw it empty, he shot to his feet. He started to bolt from the room, but a glimmer of something on the nightstand caught his eye. When he saw her engagement ring lying there, dread tightened his chest. He ran from the room in search of her. As he went from room to room, his panic grew. She wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Even as he hurled himself into the elevator, he dug out his cellular phone. As soon as the doors opened in the lobby, he ran out and nearly collided with Stavros.
He grasped the man’s shirt in his hands and pulled him up close. “Where is she?”
Stavros blinked in surprise. “We haven’t seen her, sir. No one has. She was with you.”
Chrysander pushed him away with a violent curse. “She’s gone. Call your men in. I want her found immediately.”
He strode to the entrance to question the doorman, but he seemed as baffled as the security man. He turned around to see several of his detail gather in the lobby as they were questioned by an angry Stavros.
Theos!Where could she have gone? She was in no state to be wandering around New York, and the people who had abducted her were still at large.
Worry settled hard into his chest. He turned to go out the door in search of her himself when he saw Theron walk in.
“Chrysander,” he said in greeting. “I was on my way up to see you. How is Marley?”
“She’s gone,” he said grimly.
Theron raised one brow. “Gone? But how?”
“I don’t know,” he said in frustration. “She’s disappeared. I have to find her.”
Theron put a firm hand on Chrysander’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, Chrysander.”
“There is something about this situation,” Chrysander said in a hollow voice. “Something that doesn’t add up. I saw no guilt in her face when she remembered everything. All I saw was complete devastation, as if she were the one who was betrayed. She was so distraught that she had to be sedated, and she becomes extremely upset when I get close to her. She isn’t herself right now. I fear where she may have gone. Her frame of mind is not good.”
“I will help you, Chrysander,” Theron said quietly. “Do not worry. We will find her.”
Marley shivered as she eased down onto the cold stone bench and clutched her arms around her trembling body. She glanced down at her feet but couldn’t summon any rebuke for having gone out in the chill without shoes or a coat. The only thought she’d had was to get away as quickly as possible. She couldn’t face Chrysander now.
Now she knew why she’d been drawn to this place. Her thinking spot, indeed. Just hours before that last night, she’d sat here, afraid of how Chrysander would react to her pregnancy. She’d been right to be afraid. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t love her. And he’d left her to her fate with the kidnappers.
She refused to allow the memories to roll back in her mind. They simply hurt too much. At least now she realized why she’d chosen to forget. All those weeks of living in fear as her kidnappers waited for their demands to be met had paled next to the betrayal Chrysander had handed her when he’d refused.
How could anyone be so cold? Wouldn’t he have been willing to pay such a meager amount of money to free anyone? Even a complete stranger? She’d never imagined him to be so heartless. But he’d cast her aside with little regard for her. She’d been his mistress, someone to slake his lust and nothing more. The fool was her for falling in love with him, not once, but twice.
A small moan escaped her lips, and she closed her eyes as the ache built within her once more. Never had she felt so hurt, so utterly lost.
Her hands closed around the bulge of her stomach, and the tears that she’d thought locked under the ice began to well to the surface.
