"It doesn't matter." Do I care if she's fucking me over with a con? Sure, but what does it change in the big picture? Nothing because Truly will remain my wife, and if she finds enjoyment in running cons, so be it.
I'll have to show her that it's her parents that are fucked in the head or more fucked in the head than me. I don't have an issue with that. If this is all true, which I highly doubt. Truly can't lie to save her life, and she's too sweet to run a con on anyone else; it's for the greater good.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Have you lost your mind?"
"When it comes to his wife, he lost that long, long ago." Lauren laughs and takes a sip of her champagne.
"I don't understand." Emily's face scrunches. I don't believe her remark is to us, but more to herself. "All she has is a last name." Again, she’s talking to herself like she's trying to solve a problem that she was sure she already knew the answer to.
"Her last name means nothing to me."
"He means maiden," Lauren chimes in.
Fair point. I want to share a last name with her, for our family that we're building. That thought has me smiling until Emily starts rambling again, almost manic. It has the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
Why is she doing this here and now?
"What?" Lauren asks, sensing my shift.
"Don't let her go anywhere. I'm going to find my wife." This time I pick up the pace, a bad feeling settling over me. A fear that I didn’t think I was possible of feeling creeps in.
I make it to the ladies’ room in record time. “Truly?” I bang on the door, but there’s no response. “I’m coming in.” I know I shouldn’t enter, but this is an emergency. I push the door open into what looks like a lounge area, but it’s empty. “Truly?” I shout her name again, but I’m met with silence. I continue into the restroom, but it’s vacant.
Panic begins to fill me, but I know that it’s not going to help my cause right now. I scan my surroundings, looking for any trace of my wife. There is no way she would have left without saying anything.
Truly is still the sweet girl that she has always been. She wants to see the best in people, and trust. She’s not one to push back, or at least she used to be. My wife still has all the soft sweetness to her, but when push comes to shove and she’s backed into a corner, she’ll come out swinging.
That was made loud and clear the day she came marching into my office. I’d never been so pissed, turned on, and proud all in one moment. That’s true, though. She’s always been able to pull out emotions from me that no one ever could before. I realized this even when I was younger.
My grandfather had seen it too. He only met her a couple of times, but he’d seen the way I watched her and how I talked about her to him. He knew one day I’d marry her. I did too. I wish he'd lived long enough to see her with that ring on her finger, but he knew. He was one of the reasons I knew Truly was different.
I always loved my grandfather. He'd been the only one I ever cared about growing up. Except I knew Truly was differentbecause what I'd felt for her ran even deeper than any love I'd ever felt before.
I stand in the empty bathroom, about to lose my mind. She hadn't run. If she had run, she would have gone straight to me to either confront me or explain what was happening. That means a person took her, and that list is short.
Anger fills me. Those motherfuckers think they can take her from me. They'd done it before, and now they're trying again. I can already foresee their plan to fill her head with ideas. My guess would be they want her to now divorce me, then she could take part in the investment firm.
"She's not here?" Lauren asks, pushing open the bathroom door. I see Emily behind her along with a security guard. My eyes stay trained on Emily.
"You."
Emily's eyes widen.
"What?" Lauren asks.
"The fuck did you do?" I grit out. "And don't fucking lie to me. I'll spend the rest of my life devoted to ruining you like it's my motherfucking job." Emily stands there looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"Now!" Lauren barks at her, making the security guard and Emily stand up straighter.
"Her parents—I told them she'd be here tonight." As much as I want to lay into this cunt, that will be for later. She's not going anywhere.
"Move." I push past them back into the hallway. They wouldn't have taken her back toward the event. So I head down the hallway in the opposite direction.
When I push out a side emergency exit, I am momentarily relieved to see my wife, but as all the details around her snap into place for me, I feel utter rage take over. I lose my ever-loving mind.
Chapter Twenty-One
TRULY
