“Alex!” Kari caught herself from losing her cool, and she placed fingers to her temple to stave off the headache she was developing. It was the first time any of them had seen her crack. “I can’t do this,” she said over the phone.
She heard Alex exhale, as if he was just realizing he wasn’t helping the situation by clouding it with meaningless drivel. And then he got on with it. “I take it you’ve heard the news.”
Kari didn’t respond to that. What did he think?
“Kari?”
“Yes! I heard the news.”
“I’m on my way there now. I’m on the plane. You’re at Faye and Benny’s, correct?”
Thanks to his security people, he knew her every move. Kari never knew shit about where he was. He was supposed to be in New York. But he knew her every move. “Yes,” she said. “I’m at Faye and Benny’s house.”
“Stay there. I’m sure the media will be camping out at yours. We’ll talk when I get there.”
“Will she be with you?” Kari asked that pertinent question, and everybody stared at her. They would have wanted to ask it themselves, but they weren’t sure if they’d have the nerve. They weren’t surprised, though, that Kari did.
And there was a hesitation in Alex’s reply which, Kari knew, was never good. “Yes,” he finally said. “She’ll be with me.”
The pained look on Kari’s face let all of them know what the answer to that question was.
“I’ll see you soon,” Alex said. “We’ll talk.”
Kari wanted to say why? What was there to talk about if he and that woman had reconnected? But she couldn’t discard him as easily as he, apparently, could discard her. “Okay,” she said, and abruptly ended the call.
It was Faye who couldn’t resist. “I know better than that, Kari. Did we hear it right? That woman is coming to Apple Valley with Alex?” she asked.
Kari exhaled. Then nodded her head. “Yep.”
“But why, Kare?” Lucinda asked. “If he’s going to break up with you, why would he bring her along? To rub it in? To make you feel like shit as if you didn’t already feel like shit?”
“What do you want me to do about it, Lou?” Kari asked. Her frustration, her anger, her pain was no longer being contained. “He’s coming to talk. And yes, he’s bringing her with him. Would I prefer he come alone? Yes! But he’s not coming alone. He’s bringing her. I don’t know why.”
“What do you mean you don’t know why?” Faye asked her. “I’m with Lucinda on this. Why else would he bring that woman with him if his ass wasn’t leaving you for her?”
“That’s what I’m saying!” said Lucinda. “Think about it Kari. He’s bringing that bitch with him. To meet you! This woman who’s supposedly the love of his life is coming here. Damn, girl. That’s messed up. Does he care that little about your feelings?”
“I don’t know why he’s bringing her,” said Benny, “but I know Alex loves Kari. Nobody’s going to tell me that man doesn’t love Kari. And Jordan too. Look how he ran to their rescue in Virginia. Look how he bought her that Rolls Royce. That ring!”
“But he loved them before this supposedly love of his life came back on the scene,” said Faye. “That changes everything.”
And nobody, not even Kari and Jordan, given what they were seeing in the news, and as they glanced at each other, could argue with that.
But when Alex ended the call, too, Narnia was as concerned as they were. “What do you mean I am coming with you?” she asked. “I am not going to America!”
“Yes, you are,” Alex said.
“But why, Oleksiy? Why do I need to go there?”
“You need to have a conversation with my lady.”
Narnia stared at him. She’d seen press reports about this relationship he had with that Florida woman. About their engagement and how he proudly announced it. All those years, he’d never referred to her as his lady. She referred to him as her man. She spoke about him glowingly. And the press ran with the fairytale. But he never once showed her the kind of affection he was showing that maid! “Why do I need to talk to her?” she asked him.
“Because.”
“You do not answer me. Because why, Oleksiy?”
“Because I don’t want to lose her,” Alex said bluntly.
And it was enough, beyond enough, to silence Narnia.
CHAPTER THIRTY
When Alex entered Faye and Benny’s home with Narnia at his side, it felt like a gut punch to Kari. It looked out of order. That woman was with her man! That beautiful woman looked relaxed and dignified and was even smiling as she stood beside Alex, while Kari’s very stomach was all in knots. Why did this have to happen, she wondered. She was experiencing the kind of happiness she’d never experienced before when Alex asked her to marry him. They’d had hard times before. Some dangerous times too. But Alex never promised her a rose garden. She wasn’t expecting an easy ride being with a man like him. But she never expected this!
If Kari thought she was hiding her true feelings, she wasn’t. Alex saw right through her. And his heart was all in knots. Even Jordan looked as if he’d lost his best friend too. All because of him. All because of his stupid ass!
He left Narnia’s side and went over to where Kari sat on the sofa. Oz and Jordan had her sandwiched in, but that didn’t stop him from leaning down to her and kissing her on the lips. Everybody in the room, including Oz, were surprised she allowed it. Any self-respecting woman would slap his face. They all knew Kari was self-respecting to a fault. Why wasn’t she slapping him too?
Kari had promised herself not to escalate this mess. She wasn’t going to show her behind for anybody. She still had a son to raise. She still had a business to run. Alex could leave her life within minutes, but she still, for her son’s sake, for her own sake, had to carry on. It was going to be like a death. But she didn’t see what other choice she had. She had to carry on!
Kissing her, however, wasn’t in the bargain. The main reason she didn’t slap his face was because she didn’t expect him to lean in and kiss her. Especially not in front of the woman who had supposedly been the love of his life. A woman he never discussed with Kari not one time.
When their lips parted, Alex wanted to ask her if she was okay, but he refused to minimize the situation with a question that was too obvious to ask. No, she was not okay. Her big, expressive, troubled eyes proved it. He had hurt her. This drama with Narnia had hurt her to her core.
Benny saw it too. Especially after Alex kissed Kari. And he knew the drill. “This is a family affair,” he said. “Faye, Lou,” he said, “let’s give them some space.”
Faye and Lucinda normally didn’t take direction that easily, but they listened to Benny that night. Because they saw their friend’s pain too, and Jordan’s hurt. They went into the back of the big, beautiful home: into the family room.
Alex stepped back after Benny and the ladies left, and then introduced Narnia by her actual name: Ninochka Kobalinski. Oz stood on his feet. Kari, with Jordan following her every move, leaned back on the sofa and remained seated. Those were the two that had Alex’s undivided attention.
“Nice to see you again, Odysseus,” Narnia said to Alex’s brother.
Oz was immediately put off by her smile. What? Did she think this was cute? All the pain her back-to-life bullshit was causing? “Can’t say the same back to you,” he said to her. “You’ve been alive for years and didn’t bother to mention it to my brother? Or am I missing something?”
Narnia continued to smile, but even Kari could see the anger behind her fake smile. This woman didn’t want to be there any more than Kari wanted her there. It almost seemed as if she was Alex’s prisoner rather than his guest.
Alex sat down, on the cocktail table in front of the sofa, and leaned forward. He was so close to Kari their knees were almost touching. Oz sat back down, sandwiching Kari once again. Since nobody bothered to offer her a seat, Narnia took one anyway. She sat in the chair that flanked the sofa.
“Ninochka
and I met about ten years ago, in the Ukraine,” he said.
Kari, Jordan, and even Oz were riveted on his every word.
“We dated, more off than on, for a lot of that time,” he continued.
“She’s the love of your life,” Jordan said. “We get it.”
But Alex was shaking his head. “You don’t get shit if you believe that,” he responded. “There was never any love involved.”
That surprised Kari and Jordan. They stared at Alex. “No love, only sex,” Narnia said, echoing him, and everybody, except Alex, looked at her. Alex was staring at Kari.
But Jordan was still perplexed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“He didn’t love me. He enjoyed loving me, if you get my meaning. But he never loved me. If you get my meaning.”
“No, we don’t get it,” Jordan said, speaking up for his mother. There was a bitter edge to his voice.
Alex decided to be blunt. “I enjoyed fucking her,” he said. “Sex was the only reason I was in the relationship. That was the beginning and the end of it for me. As it always had been with all of my relationships. Until I met your mother.”
“Then why did you bring her here?” Jordan asked. “If she was just your play thing, why did you bring her around my mother?”
It was a fair question, Oz thought. Kari thought so too.
“Because there’s more to it than that,” Narnia said.
“More?” asked Oz. “Like what?”
Alex exhaled. His face was anguished to a point that seemed to go beyond the words he was saying. Why would a woman you claim was not the love of your life, but just a sex toy, cause such consternation in his eyes? Kari was staring at him. “What do you mean by more?” she asked him.
Alex looked at her. “She became pregnant,” he said, “with my child. And the week before she went missing, I married her.”
Kari’s eyes widened, as did Jordan’s and even Oz’s. They were all floored. “Married her?” Oz asked. “You married her?”
“Yes.”
“But you just said you didn’t love her,” Jordan said. He was already small for his age, but he looked downright childlike to Alex in that moment. His world, it seemed, had been shattered.
“I didn’t love her,” Alex said, “and I thought she was taking precautions. But that was my fault. I was having unprotected sex with her.”
“But why did you marry her?”
“Because she was going to have my child, Jordan. I had a duty to marry her. For that child’s sake.”
Jordan couldn’t wrap his brain around what Alex was saying. He’d known many guys who had babies and didn’t give that baby nor that mother the time of day. His best friend’s father was like that. He had many friends whose fathers were like that!
But Kari was in distress for a very different reason. She didn’t give a damn about the why. She would have expected nothing less from Alex. But . . . “Does that mean,” she said, staring at Alex, “that you’re still married to her? That you’re married?”
Oz nor Jordan had even considered such a thing. “No, Kari,” Oz said. “She was declared dead, which would have freed my brother right away. She was declared dead. Wasn’t she, brother? That’s an automatic divorce.”
But Alex didn’t respond so easily. And it only confirmed what Kari had thought.
“We were married in the Ukraine,” Alex said. “And generally, yes. I asked that she be declared dead immediately. But because her father had been associated with the Russian mafia, and because of my family’s mob connections, the Ukrainian courts refused to grant the declaration. They said there was too much evidence to suggest foul play, and since all onboard were blown to bits and very few body parts were ever discovered, they ruled that I would have to wait four years.”
Oz was shocked. Jordan was shocked. But Kari was devastated. “Four years?” she asked.
“That was the court’s ruling,” Alex said. “It could have been seven. But those four years were up two years ago. We were considered divorce-by-fiat then.”
“But now that she’s alive?” Kari asked.
“I checked.” A pained expression appeared on his face. “That ruling is now null and void,” Alex said.
Kari felt defeated.
“But she’s agreed to an uncontested divorce,” he quickly added.
Narnia had not agreed to any such thing. Alex had told her she was going to give him an uncontested divorce whether she wanted to or not. She wanted to speak up and let it be known that this was all Alex’s doing, but she didn’t have the courage.
But Kari was just too stunned to speak. Alex was married. To somebody else! Their engagement. Their wedding planning. Was it all a sham? Why didn’t he mention this woman to her? Why didn’t he tell her about his marriage? Did he know all along she was alive? And . . .
“What about the child?” she asked him.
“He died,” Narnia said. “At birth.”
But Kari wasn’t sure if she believed her. Marriage. A child. And the child supposedly dead? She wasn’t sure if she believed any of it! “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked Alex. Her face was a mask of grief.
Alex leaned forward. He wanted to take her hands, but she pulled them away from him. “I should have told you, Karena. I should have. But I thought it was over. You must understand. It all happened, the marriage, in the Ukraine. We were married for only a week when that plane crashed. One week! She had visited me in New York and was going back to her native land. That was the arrangement. She would return to the Ukraine, I would support her and the baby. That was going to be that. Nobody in the states knew we were even married. Nobody! I thought that was long behind me when I met you. I thought it was over.”
“But it isn’t.”
A stormy look appeared in Alex’s eyes. “No,” he said. “It’s not over yet.”
And suddenly Kari couldn’t bear to hear anymore. She couldn’t bear to hear another word. She jumped up from the sofa and ran upstairs, toward the guest bedroom.
“Kari?” Alex said, jumping up too. “Kari?”
He ran up the stairs behind her. Jordan ran up behind them. Oz wanted to do so, too, but he was keeping his eyes on Narnia. She wasn’t getting away again. Not until she granted his brother that divorce!
Upstairs, Kari ran into the guest room just as Alex was about to overtake her. He was able to grab her arm, and pull her, but she tried with all she had to snatch away from him.
“Leave me alone!” Kari cried.
“Kari, talk to me! Don’t shut me out!”
“Don’t shut you out?” Kari couldn’t believe the nerve he had! “You shut me out!” she cried. “You shut me out! You should have told me about this, Alex. You should have told me!”
Jordan, angrier than Alex had ever seen him, ran up to the room and pushed Alex away from Kari. “Get away from my mother!” he cried. “Get away from my mother! She may not be rich and perfect the way people like you think she should be,” he said, remembering how those commentators on TV had described Kari so dismissively, “but she’s not just some maid. She’s not just a nobody for you to trample on. She’s the best person in this whole world!”
Jordan was devastated. Alex saw it in his big, watery eyes. And Alex was crushed. He wanted to grab him, and hold him, and apologize to him. He wanted to tell him he could never think of his mother as a nobody; as just some maid. He never thought of her that way and never would. But he knew it wasn’t the time nor place.
Benny, who had run up those stairs when he first heard the commotion, knew it too. “You need to leave, Alex,” he said to the man he respected. “You need to give her some space. You need to leave.”
Alex didn’t try to fight it. He could if he wanted to be that kind of selfish bastard. But Jordan was angry. He was broken with disappointment in Alex. And Kari, Alex knew, was beyond angry. He failed them. Not because of his actions, but because of his inactions. He should have told her. He should have told her!
He finally gave up
the fight. Why add to their pain tonight? And he walked away.
Jordan ran to his mother when Alex left the landing, and they fell into each other’s arms.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Alex was so angry that Narnia was concerned for her safety. They were at his house in Apple Valley, surrounded by his bodyguards and his, in her view, nasty aides. It was still late at night. Alex had summoned his entire legal team to tell him what his options were. But what they were saying wasn’t what Alex wanted to hear, or what he planned to accept.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he yelled at his lead attorney. “I want that shit to happen now. Tonight!”
“But it can’t happen tonight, Alex,” said his attorney. “You were married in Ukraine to a Ukrainian citizen. She disappeared under suspicious circumstances, and suddenly reemerged on the world stage. They are not going to grant any quickie divorce.”
“But I was already divorced!”
“By fiat,” the lawyer explained. “That could be revoked if the circumstances for that divorce changed. When Narnia reappeared, the circumstances changed.”
Alex opened his suit coat and placed his hands on his hips. He still couldn’t get that pain he saw on Kari and Jordan’s faces out of his mind. “How long are we talking?” he asked.
“If, and this is a big if, we can bribe everybody who can possibly be bribed, it’s still going to take months.”
Alex was stunned. “Months?”
“Yes.”
“How many months?” Alex asked his lead attorney.
“Four or five if we’re lucky,” the attorney said. “Nine or ten if we aren’t. Otherwise, if we run into a lot of honest bureaucrats, it will take years, Alex. Several years.”
Alex was floored. His one shot at happiness was dying right before his very eyes: slipping away like water through his fingers. And there was nothing he could do about it?
He violently threw everything in sight. He tore up the room. Narnia stayed out of his way, and his aides did too. They knew this side of him. All of them had seen it before.
Alex Drakos: His Dangerous Affair (The Alex Drakos Romantic Suspense Series Book 4) Page 15