“Amaya?”
“Kristo, your sister found the contract,” I told him urgently, the words spilling out of me in a panic. “She has it. She got it out of your desk.”
“No, she couldn’t—” I could hear him fiddling with his desk, and then he cursed under his breath.
“She has it,” he snarled. “Fuck, I’m going to tear her a new one when I get hold of her.”
“What do we do?” I demanded helplessly. “I told her not to tell anyone else, but I don’t know if she’s going to take it from me.”
“I’ll take care of this,” he replied firmly. “I know how to handle Cleo. I know what she’s like. You just get back to work and forget about it, all right?”
“Fuck, I don’t know if I can just go and do it like that,” I groaned. “How am I supposed to forget it?”
“Trust me,” he shot back. “I’ve got this.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose and listened to my husband, and I let myself believe he was right, that he was strong enough and sound enough to sort this out and make sure nothing came of this contract situation. I had to believe it. I had no other choice.
“I’ll see you at home,” I replied, and I hung up the phone, sitting at my desk in silence. I tried to focus on work, but my brain felt as though it was going to melt with the stress of it.
I managed to make my way through the rest of the day at work but only barely, my head hurting as I tried not to focus on what had happened with Cleo. A couple of people tried to ask me about her, but I waved them off, saying she was just my sister-in-law and it was only family drama. Which was all true, of course, but they would never find out exactly what kind of drama was going down with me.
I drove home faster than normal and arrived back at the apartment, and as soon as I was through the door, I felt as though a weight had been lifted. At least I didn’t have to pretend not to be freaking out anymore.
“God, I’m glad to see you.” I went over to Kristo and gave him a hug. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s taken care of,” he promised me. He looked as frazzled as I felt, his hair a little messy from where he’d clearly been running his fingers through it all day long. I bit my lip and eyed him, not quite sure if I believed him yet.
“What happened?” I demanded. “With Cleo?”
“There’s no need for you to get hung up on the details.” He waved his hand. “Really. Just trust me when I say that it’s all dealt with and that you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes. Don’t question his methods if they work, I guess.
“I’ve started running you a bath, and we’re going to order in tonight,” he continued, and I had to admit I liked this side of him, the one that was confident in taking complete and utter control when he needed to, the one that would make sure nothing would get out of hand. Whatever had gone down with Cleo in the last day, he was the only person in the entire world I would have trusted to take care of it. I had a feeling Cleo probably felt the same way about him. He was her big brother, after all, and he was bound to have a little sway over her.
“Thank you,” I replied and let out a long breath. “I feel like I’ve been running about half-mad all day long.”
“Me too,” he sighed. “Beer?”
“Several,” I replied, and he pulled a bottle from the fridge and popped the top. Handing it to me, our fingers connected, and I was reminded of this morning before all of this had started, when we were just a playful married couple stealing some previous time together before the day began. I wished I could go back there, but the thing with Cleo had shaken me up and reminded me that all of this had started as a business deal, nothing more, nothing less.
“I’m going to take that bath.” I slipped out of the room and left him behind.
“You want me to order?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” I called back. “Anything you want.”
I looked down at the hot, steamy bath in front of me and bit my lip. It had been a hell of a day, in every way that was possible, but I was glad I had Kristo to come home to at the end of it.