Chapter 473

Olivia

“Sorry, Liv. I’ve got to go.”

I furrowed my brow at Nathan’s sudden departure. “Nathan, wait—”

But he was already gone. The line clicked dead, and I was left standing in the middle of the dimly lit kitchen, my eyes wide and my heart sinking. Slowly, I lowered the phone onto the counter.

Just like that? He couldn’t have at least said goodbye, or “I love you”?

Sighing, I typed out a quick text: “That was abrupt. Hope everything is okay.”

I hit send and waited for a few moments, but this time, the three bubbles didn’t appear. My text went unanswered.

With a huff I finally shut off my phone and slapped it down on the counter, blinking away the tears that were threatening to come. “I’m being silly,” I muttered to myself. He was just busy, that was all; and what he was doing, he was doing for the good of our pack. For our futures. For our children’s futures.

But no matter how hard I tried to justify it, I couldn’t deny the way that it made my heart sink into the pits of my stomach. There was just something about the way that the Alpha association was eating up every moment of his free time that made me feel a little… sick.

…

I sank down a little further into the bubbles, letting the steam drift up in tendrils around me as I attempted to relax. A soft, contented sigh escaped my lips as the scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms enveloped me.

One thing was for sure: the alone time was a necessity. Nathan had been right about that, at least.

The hot, fragrant water soothed my nerves and my coiled muscles. Soft classical music played over my phone speaker, and a cup of steaming hot tea sat beside me.

It was well after bedtime; the twins were fast asleep, dinner was over, and I was ready for sleep as soon as this bath was over. But there was still no response from Nathan. I wondered where he was; at dinner with the Alphas, maybe? But it was so late.

Unless he was on another one of his late-night gatherings with them.

As I let the bubbles tickle my lower lip, I couldn’t help but wonder what went on at those gatherings. Nathan had mentioned gambling, and he always smelled like booze and cigars after these late-night ‘meetings’.

It seemed like the quintessential ‘old boys’ club, really. The very thought of it made me cringe a bit.

But then, my mind wandered back to the night of Dan’s dinner party. Back to the prostitutes and the strange looks.

There wasn’t anything more to these late-night gatherings, was there?

Almost out of instinct, I quickly reached for my phone and checked for the millionth time—no texts from Nathan. Just my last message sent after our abruptly-ended phone call, and then… nothing.

Suddenly, as I sat there biting my lip and staring at the screen, unsavory images began filling my mind; images of Nathan sitting in a smoke-filled room, scotch on his tongue and… a pretty woman on his lap. Maybe she was tall and slender, or maybe she was petite and curvy with big breasts and hips. I wondered what she could be wearing…

“No,” I said out loud, shaking my head at the silly notion. “Nathan would never…”

But still, the image nagged me. I don’t know why exactly I did, but—I navigated to my camera and lifted myself slightly out of the water, just enough so that the bubbles settled on the bare skin of my pinkish breasts.

Chewing my lip, I carefully angled the camera and clicked.

A few moments later, a picture of myself stared back at me; my breasts were front and center, my lips pushed out in a slight pout. Just seeing it made me blush. I didn’t normally take pictures like this, but with Nathan away, maybe it was my way of reminding him that I was here. That I was waiting for him.

Before I could think too much about it, I hit send.

Barely even a moment later, three bubbles popped up. I felt my heart begin to race with anticipation as I wondered how he would respond—did he like the picture? Did he want more? It was new to us, but maybe it could be fun to experiment over the phone while he was gone…

But then, the bubbles disappeared.

…

“How are we doing as far as the catering goes?” I asked, glancing up from my clipboard at Vanessa. “Are we all set for Saturday?”

Vanessa hummed to herself for a moment, flipping through her own clipboard, and then nodded. “Yep. There was a minor issue with the liquor license, but it’s all sorted out now. We’ll be fully stocked and ready to serve just in time.”

“Perfect.”

Another task ticked off on my list of last-minute checks. With the Valentine’s Day charity gala in just two days now, we were just pulling together various odds and ends. I couldn’t have been more excited, either; the gala was expected to be a success already, and aside from that, Nathan was supposed to be home tomorrow.

With the gala a day after his return, it would be perfect timing for us to go together. I already had a hair and nails appointment, and I had even picked out a new dress—little red hearts on pink satin, and a matching pink cardigan to go on top.

I hoped to spend the evening of the gala not only as the organizer, but also as my husband’s date.

But the issue was, Nathan had been very quiet lately. I sighed, pulling out my phone for the millionth time already that morning.

Nothing.

Well, nothing except for a smiley face after I sent that nude last night. My face turned red just at the thought of it; I felt as if I had embarrassed myself. Maybe those sorts of things weren’t for us, but it still hurt to not get a response.

For a moment, my finger hovered over the picture. I had been contemplating deleting it from our text chain, a half-assed attempt at tucking my tail between my legs and licking my wounds.

And yet, as I stood there, the images that had been filling my mind floated back in and clouded out the picture in front of me; images of Nathan with a prostitute, or a ‘concubine’, as the women at the party called themselves.

I wondered if her nails had trailed along the back of his neck. He always liked that, especially when I played with his hair there. It always made him shiver.

I shook my head as if to dispel the thought and slipped my phone back into my pocket. No. Nathan would never cheat on me. I was just feeling insecure, not used to being away from my husband.

He had likely been at late meetings all night, and went straight back to his hotel room and passed out before responding. Hell, he was probably even in a meeting right this moment. Not with a concubine.

And besides, he was coming home tomorrow. Then, after that, would be the Valentine’s Day gala.

Surely he would never miss that.