"I'll give you a second to talk," Mona mumbles, then hurries out of the office to give my husband and I the space we need.
Edward holds me for a little while longer after she's left, then pulls back a bit to look down at me, his eyes warm with affection.
"I've really missed you, sweetheart."
I smile at him, my heart pounding in my chest at the possessive glint in his eyes.
"I've missed you too. It's been a long six months without you," I whisper, and he smiles at me in return, pleased at my admission.
"Is everything going according to plan?"
I nod, keeping my gaze locked with his. "He trusts me, to an extent. I have access to some of his most confidential information, and I know how to navigate through the new security measures he put in place."
"Yes, Mona told me about all of that. Fortunately, I was able to prepare well in advance so we could meet in private," he says. "I was going to just leave, but the thought of not seeing your lovely face was entirely too depressing. And I needed to see how you were holding up with everything you've had to endure."
He traces the large hickey on my collarbone, his eyes narrowing with anger at the bruise on my skin. Memories of Aldine's mouth on my neck flash through my mind and I reach up to cover the bruise with my hand.
"I'm fine, Edward, I promise. I'm just glad you're here now."
But he ignores me, pushing my hand away. "Did he do this to you?"
The last thing I wanted now was for Edward to get pissed off and start asking Mona questions about what Aldine and I actually got up to.
I didn't want him to know that side of me. I didn't want him to know how different I was with Aldine. Feral, insatiable, free...
Things I couldn't be with him.
Working this job had loosened me up in more ways than one, and I'd had to strip away my rigid inhibitions and give in to what my body wanted.
What it needed, in Aldine's case.
"Has he been hurting you? I should have never-"
"I'm fine, Edward. It's okay. It's just the one bruise."
That last part was a lie.
I had hickeys all over my body. Bruises from Aldine's rough handling adorned my skin. I liked them, but I knew Edward would probably lose his shit if he saw them.
I try for a smirk, and pull it off. My hands reach for the lapels of his jacket, and I run my fingers over the fine material, eyes widening with feigned curiosity.
"Are you jealous, darling?"
"Of course I'm jealous! Do you think this is easy for me?" he snaps, dropping his hands to his sides. "You're
wife, after all. You're mine. The idea of anyone else touching you drives me insane."
He shakes his head, getting his temper under control before he takes my hands in his.
"This will be over soon. Then you'll head back home to take care of things while I stay here and get settled."
I nod, familiar with the plan. He leans in closer, kissing each hand softly, his eyes warming with affection and love.
"I know you've probably had to do things you're uncomfortable with, but I need your help tonight. You have to keep him busy for me while I make a few arrangements."
"What arrangements? I thought we'd already discussed what would happen after your arrival."
I was nervous, because I wasn't sure I could look at Aldine and not immediately betray myself to him. He had this way of looking at me that made me want to bare myself to him. Or maybe, there was a part of me that genuinely wanted to tell him the truth.
Edward leans in closer to kiss the bridge of my nose, then my forehead. His pale blue eyes have that familiar spark of excitement, and I just know he's about to tell me something I'm not going to like. I frowned at that, and he smiled softly at me, as if trying to ease my concerns.
"I had to... adjust a few things. I won't bore you with the details now, since it won't change anything you have to do. Which is a good thing, since I don't want you around Aldine longer than necessary."
There's a tinge of jealousy and anger there, both emotions evident on his face for a bit before he schools his features.
"I don't want him near you after tonight. Even now, I'm anxious to get you as far away from him as possible, but you stalling him is very important," he explains.
I didn't understand why he was so upset, since this whole thing had been his idea to begin with. I hadn't wanted to be a part of it, but Edward had reminded me, very kindly, that I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. So I'd been forced to go along with it.
Mona was one of Edward's many spies, and had 'hired' me to work here, giving me clients that she knew I could handle, at Edward's insistence. The plan had been to infiltrate Aldine's security using my hacking skills, so Edward would have access to everything. Things had been going fairly well until the night Mona offered me up to Aldine on a silver platter, making the plan easier and harder all at once.
I needed to stay anonymous, unimportant, so that I could work without anyone paying me much attention. But after Aldine took an interest in me, I had to tell him about the breach in his security. It had been the only thing to come to mind at the time, and I was lucky to have escaped his wrath that night.
Who would've guessed that he'd end up trusting me enough to help set up an entirely new security system? And nobody could've predicted his sudden, unpredictable interest in me.
It might be fake, for all I knew. Maybe Aldine knew exactly who I was and what I was doing. Maybe he knew all about Edward and his plan too.
But there was absolutely no way he could fake that heat in his eyes, the lustful glare he fixed me with whenever I was in his presence. He couldn't fake the way he reacted to my touch, my body, my scent. He was just as addicted to me as I was to him, and I couldn't bear for Edward to find out just how intense our attraction was to each other.
It would ruin everything.
"I understand. I'll do whatever I can to keep him busy tonight," I agree, earning a wide grin from my husband.
He kisses me on the lips this time, his hands dropping mine to circle my waist and pull me closer towards him. I respond as expected, though this doesn't come close to the hot, passionate kisses I shared with Mr. Aldine.
Edward pulls away, spares me one last affectionate peck before he releases me entirely.
"Good. Mona will come up to your apartment in the morning to get you for your flight. Make sure you're ready by five, so you'll be wheels up before eight."
He turns away then, his large, powerful body moving quietly. Edward stops with his hand on the door, then turns back to look at me.
"Don't forget who you belong to, love."
He stares at me for a very long time, his pale blue eyes glaring into the depths of my soul, seeing past my defences and the lies.
"You are mine. Nobody else's."
I nod, the familiar feelings rushing back at his words at the same time that my gut clenches at the silent threat in his eyes. I blink a few times, force a small smile and respond with the only words Edward wants to hear.
"I am yours."
***
After he leaves, Mona comes back into the office to unpack the rest of my cash. She hands it to me in a bag with a neutral expression, and I mumble a thank you before leaving her office.
I'm grateful it's still relatively early. None of the girls are around and the guards on duty don't even look twice at me as I hurry to the elevator.
I push the loose strands of hair behind my ear, trying my best to get a hold of myself before pushing the button to call the elevator down. I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't even notice Hunter until he places a hand on my shoulder.
I flinch, and take an alarmed step away from him, eyes wide with sudden fear and apprehension. He frowns at me in concern, but doesn't say anything until we're both in the elevator.
"Are you... okay?"
I close my eyes, and wipe my sweaty palms on my sweats, inhaling deeply in an effort to get my emotions in order.
"Y-Yes... I'm fine."
But I'm not.
I feel the dread clutching at my gut just as my ears begin to ring, low at first, until it's literally all I can hear. My grip on the bag tightens, until the material crunches up in my hand.
I can no longer draw breath, no longer control the frantic pounding of my heart in my chest. My knees soon give way beneath me, and I almost collapse onto the floor of the elevator, but I'm caught by thick, muscular arms.
Hunter carefully holds me up, turning me so I'm looking at him. His green eyes stare at me with worry now, and he presses a large hand to my face even as his mouth moves.
Maybe he's speaking to me, I'm not sure.
I look away, blink, then refocus on trying to breathe.
Hunter, in his impatience, grabs both of my shoulders and shakes me furiously, until my teeth rattle and my brain is mush. But somehow, it works.
I inhale sharply, brought back to reality so harshly that it makes my stomach churn. I stand on unsteady legs, and push the button for my floor in a panic. I am fortunate to have the doors open a few seconds later, and I tear myself away from Hunter in a hurry to get to my apartment. I run to my door as fast as my legs will allow, bursting through with a hand over my mouth.
I run to the bathroom, and bend over the toilet just in time to empty the contents of my stomach.
I kneel on the floor for a few minutes, failing to fight off the nausea. It is only when my stomach has nothing to give that I lower the lid and flush. I stand on wobbly legs and freshen up as best I can with trembling hands and mild dizziness.
Hunter stands in the doorway, watching me curiously. He blinks down at me when I turn towards the door, but he doesn't say anything. He just steps aside to let me pass, then follows me out of the bathroom. I throw myself onto the couch, and bury my face in my hands.
"That answers my first question."
I ignore him.
Hunter walks towards me, pauses, then takes a seat beside me. I don't need to look at him to know that he's uncomfortable being this close to me. He reaches out, tentatively, to rub my back in awkward circles.
