At this point, I don’t care how much Ava blames me. “He’ll never hurt anyone again.”
Rachel turns away from me, leaving me wondering what I’ve said wrong, wondering if, maybe, she blames me too.
“When are we leaving?” she asks.
“As soon as you’re ready.”
She leaves the room, getting ready to go while I make the arrangements for our trip. We barely talk through the journey to the plane and during the flight. I soon succumb to exhaustion, waking up when we arrive in New York.
I know there’s something wrong, but I have no idea what it is, and Rachel makes no attempt to talk to me.
After an early dinner, she goes to bed. I work for a while, and when I finally join her in bed, I dream she’s somewhere beyond my reach, hurting, and I can do nothing to save her.
Chapter 35
The silence continues over the next few days. Rachel barely talks to me. I know I should ask her again what the matter is, but I’m afraid of hearing the answer.
I feel like I’m watching her slip away, and it’s killing me.
I bury myself in work and wait for my people or the police to find Evans Sinclair. At night, my sleep is filled with nightmares.
Every night when my nightmares wake me up, the sight of the quiet pity in Rachel’s eyes leaves me feeling more helpless. I start to spend the nights in my study.
I finally arrange to see a new therapist. When I tell Rachel about it over breakfast one morning, her only reply is a quiet nod. It feels like I have lost her already.
That day, I spend only a few hours at work before going to find Aidan in his office at the theater. After the opening, his role in the play is winding down, and he’s already looking at other projects, trying to decide what his next job will be.
He’s also in love.
“Everybody loves her.” He’s talking about Liz. “The reviews are out of this world. She’ll b
e one of the biggest things Broadway has ever seen.”
“I’m glad.”
He gives me a puzzled look. “You sound grouchy.”
“Do I?” I shake my head. “I just needed to get out of my world for a while.”
“Hotels aren’t doing it for you anymore?” He laughs. “I could wrangle you a bit part in a musical.”
I chuckle. “I’d steal the show, you know.”
He laughs again, and in his eyes I see the respect and admiration I’ve tried to deserve all my life. “I’m sure you could,” he says.
I let out a deep breath. “I can’t focus on work.”
“Is it this thing with Evans?”
The thing with Evans affected Aidan too. He protested when I hired someone one to protect him. Even though his new bodyguard is an unobtrusive guy whose job is to keep an eye on him during his journeys to and from the theater, he still finds it humiliating, but he’s accepted it for my sake.
“Some. Yes.” I grimace. “It’s not been the same, with Rachel…since we got back.”
“Since you dragged her halfway across the country to Ava’s bedside, you mean.”
“I didn’t…” I shake my head. “I didn’t drag her…and I had to go to see Ava. She was asking for me. Rachel wanted me to go.”
“Maybe.” Aidan shrugs. His dislike for Ava has always been clear. “I’ve never liked her, nor that little gremlin she calls her brother.”