Chapter 206

“Mommyyyy,” Leo says, looking anxiously towards the kitchen door, shifting from foot to floor. “Hurry up! Aunt Bianca says we have to go!”

I laugh, glancing down at my little boy, who looks so adorable in the private school uniform he wears to Kindergarten – crisp white shirt, navy blazer, his dark hair neatly combed. I mean, every day he comes home with this same uniform streaked with paint and dirt but…well, Christian can handle the dry-cleaning costs, can’t he?

“Oh, calm down, Leo boy,” I say, laughing. “It’s not like she’s going to leave without you.” Daisy laughs from her spot at the kitchen table, standing on a chair and coloring happily in one of her many coloring books. I hasten my pace regardless, wrapping up Leo’s sandwich and popping it into his lunchbox, zipping it shut and then moving my hands to do the same with Daisy’s.

It's been two months since I agreed to try, to be Christian’s wife again, to return to this world world. The initial shock of being back in his life has faded, as has the awkward and difficult process of introducing Leo and Daisy to their new life. But now a delicate routine has formed and things seem to be…okay.

“Um, the car is running!” Bianca calls, storming in through the kitchen door with her hands on her hips, glaring.

Leo groans, looking at me like he told me so. I burst out laughing and swing the lunch boxes off the kitchen table, pressing one in to his hand and the other into Daisy’s as she hops off her chair and comes running for me.

“Honestly, Iris,” Bianca says, rolling her eyes at me in a way that’s become more habitual than offensive. “I say it every day, but you can just pay for their lunch –“

“Yes yes,” I sigh, kissing my kids hastily on the head and murmuring to them that I love them before swatting their little rumps and sending them off to school. “Thanks, Bianca! You’re the best!”

She waves to me without a response as my critters run towards her, heading out the door.

I laugh, watching them go, loving them a great deal. But my laughter fades when I hear a familiar set of footsteps on the stair.

Lucy descends slowly, the air around her icy. Our eyes lock, and I can feel the tension crackling between us.

“Hi, Lucy,” I say, cold, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Morning,” she replies coolly, giving me a little sneer as she moves for the coffee pot, pouring herself some as well.

The sight of her stirs something deep within me—a reminder of the past, of our friendship that has been shattered. Despite my vehement protests, Christian has kept her here all this time, a constant reminder of his betrayal and punishment for my own. After all, as much as he wants to be my family and start anew, he still thinks I need to be punished for my transgressions, even if he did the same.

Yes, he’s keeping Lucy as a way to show me my place in this world. I’m his wife, but he still calls the shots.

The only thing I can’t figure out is why the hell Lucy consents to it. I mean, after all, no one is making her stay.

As I move to the sink and begin to scrub up the breakfast dishes, I feel Lucy’s eyes burning into my back. I ignore her – or pretend to – my lips drawn into a thin line.

But Lucy’s feeling feisty today.

“Do you enjoy it? Playing house and pretty little wife like this?” she asks, a bitter edge to her voice. “Especially when you know that I’m the one taking your husband to bed every night?”

I take a deep breath, willing myself to remain calm, my hands pausing in the sink. “What do you want, Lucy?”

“Nothing,” she sighs, clearly pleased to get a rise out of me. “I just find it amusing, how easily go you through your little wifely duties and just pretend that I’m a ghost.”

“Amusing?” I echo, my temper flaring. “Is that what you call it? Let me ask you, Lucy – is it fun for you, fucking my husband every night and getting none of the respect due to a wife.”

She laughs a little, leaning against the counter and glaring at me with her bitter little cat’s eyes over the edge of her coffee cup. “Fun is precisely what I’d call it. After all, you know exactly what Christian is like in bed.”

“Is that what you want this to be?” I hiss, leaning towards her, hating her a little bit. “Us to be some kind of like, buddy sister wives who swap stories and tips!?”

“Well it would be better than living in a house with someone who just pretends I don’t exist!” she nearly shouts.

The coldness and hurt in her words sends a shiver down my spine. “No one’s stopping you, Lucy. If you want to leave, go! At least I had the courage to run.”

“Run?” she snaps, her voice rising. “When you run, Iris, you get people killed in your wake, don’t they?”

Her accusation strikes deep. The guilt surges within me, a heavy weight pressing down on my heart. I think of Frankie, of the life stolen from him because he ran with me. The very real truth that I’m responsible for his death turns my stomach. I feel my resolve crumbling, anger twisting into sadness.

“You don’t know anything about my life,” I whisper, my voice barely audible, turning my eyes back down to the dishes. “I had no choice.”

“You think you’re the only one who suffered?” Lucy whispers. “You think I wanted to be in this position? We were friends once, Iris. We were good to each other. But then I got placed into a shitty situation and you had no empathy for me. And how you’re just a bitch.”

I whip my head to stare at Lucy, shocked, but before I can respond, Christian pushes through the kitchen door, entering Nico. Both men go quiet, their steps slowing as they surveying the tension in the room.

“What’s going on here?” Christian asks, his brow furrowing.

Lucy turns her mega-wat smile on Christian, taking a casual sip from her coffee. “Nothing, Christ. Just a little catch-up between girls.”

I just turn, leaning against the sink and glaring at Christian, letting him know without words that it’s absolutely not just a little catch-up. That this is becoming intolerable.

“Iris,” Christian says, his voice a little scolding. He stands straight, slipping his hands into his pockets, taking his usual I’m-in-charge-and-you-listen-to-me posture.

I just roll my eyes, tossing the sponge back into the sink and storming past Nico and Christian, pushing through the door even though I can feel all of their eyes on my back. I hear my husband call after me, but I don’t stop.

The door to the kitchen opens again when I’m halfway down the hall.

“Iris!” Christian’s footsteps follow me down the hallway. “Come on, Iris! We need to talk about this!”

“Talk about what?!” I snap, whirling around to face him. “You continuing to keep her here all this time!? You still want her in your life while I’m supposed to play happy wife? How do you expect me to just pretend everything is fine!?”

Christian steps closer, his voice lowering. “Iris, you won’t touch me. Why shouldn’t I have someone who serves my needs when my loving wife,” he says these last two worlds on an ironic growl, “won’t?”

My heart races as I look up into his face, still appalled at this logic. “So what, you want me to just…start sleeping with you while she’s still around? And if I serve you appropriately, master, you’ll send her away?”

An angry rumble sounds in Christian’s chest as he reaches out, wrapping his hand around my arm. “It would be a start.”

I pull my arm out of his grasp. “You’ve asked me to lower myself enough, Chris,” I snap, glaring hard up into his face. “I’m not going to lose every piece of dignity.”

I turn, starting down the hall again, livid.

“I expect you to be my wife, Iris!” He calls after me, his anger matching my own. “In all respects!”

My feet carry me to the front door as I hear him head in the other direction, back into the kitchen. My body instinctually falling into routines, one of which is getting the household’s daily mail – which comes quite early – and sorting it, marking any that need Christian’s immediate attention.

But when I get to the front door, I frown to find that…the mailbox is empty. I sigh, confused, looking around for it.

“Looking for this?”

I turn to see Nico standing there, offering me a stack of envelopes.

I sigh heavily even as I glare at him. “You can just leave it in the box, Nico,” I snap. He shrugs and hands it to me.

“I was just trying to do you a favor this morning, Iris. Save you the trip to the front door.”

I maintain my glare and then give him a sharp nod, dismissing him. I haven’t forgiven Nico after all – not a moment of it. Frankie was his best friend – his partner in literal crime. And he could come to Portugal and kill him in cold blood like that?

No, I can never forgive it, even if he did it at Christian’s order. Nico – he should have found a way.

I sort quickly through the mail as Nico walks away. Most of it is junk, but then my fingers brush against something small and unusual. It’s a little envelope, addressed to me in elegant script. I frown as I study it, my eyes moving to the elaborate postage, realizing that it’s…from Greece. I frown, my curiosity pulling me in, and I put the rest of the letters aside.

I glance around to ensure no one is watching before I tear the letter open, my breath catching in my throat as I pull out the contents. Inside is a piece of paper, and as I unfold it, my eyes widen at what I see.

It’s just a single sheet of paper with a message hastily scrawled across it. But what it says…

My hand trembles as it drifts to my mouth.

The world around me blurs as shock washes over me, and I drop the letter onto the counter, my heart racing.