Committed (Betrothed 4)

A moment later, heavy footsteps announced his presence. They thudded against the hard wood before he turned the corner and stepped into my office. Tall, muscular, and with a brooding stare, he was a magnetic force that practically shook all the paintings off the walls with just his presence. He was in a t-shirt and jeans, his physique stronger than it used to be. He was clearly working out more than he used to, lifting weights and increasing his size. He gave me a stony look as if he didn’t want to be there. He stopped in front of my desk and stared at me with an arctic gaze. Heartbeats passed, and nothing was said. His brown eyes were hot but not warm. His jaw was clean like he’d just shaved before he left to join me. His powerful arms rested by his sides as he waited for me to stand.

I watched him for a full minute before I rose to my feet and grabbed my purse. The silence wasn’t full of comfortable camaraderie. It was tense, uncomfortable, raw. We were both bleeding from invisible wounds.

His eyes glanced down to my stomach because I was much bigger than I used to be. The stare only lasted a couple seconds before he met my gaze once again.

I came around the desk and prepared to leave. There would be no chitchat or stupid conversation about the weather. We were both fine suffering in mutual silence.

Before I could step out, Antonio entered my office with a couple folders under his arm. He halted when he realized I was about to leave with company. “Should I just drop these on your desk?” He glanced at Hades, but instead of being polite and introducing himself, he turned his gaze back to me.

“I got it.” I grabbed the folders and tossed them on my desk.

Hades stared at Antonio with silent hatred.

It was noticeably awkward, so I tried to break the discomfort. “Antonio, this is my husband…I mean ex-husband.” I should’ve chosen better words altogether, but now the damage was done. I looked at the floor because I didn’t want to see Hades’s face. But when I lifted up my gaze again, I kept talking. “We have a doctor’s appointment today.”

Antonio gave a subtle nod before he shook Hades’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you, and congratulations on the baby. I’m the hotel manager, so I spend a lot of time with Sofia.”

Hades reciprocated the gesture but didn’t say a word.

Antonio picked up on the tension and excused himself. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sofia. I hope everything goes well today.”

“Thanks, Antonio.” I watched him walk out and wondered why Hades was being so cold to one of my employees. I understood he was in a bad mood, but that was unnecessary. I wanted to tell him off, but I didn’t want to ruin the day before it even started. “Let’s go…”

We sat in the doctor’s office. I was in my gown, but I didn’t want to sit on the examining table, so I sat in the chair directly across from Hades. With my legs crossed and my hand on my large stomach, I sat there and suffered the silence.

Hades sat with his knees wide apart and his hands on his thighs. His face was slightly tilted toward the window, and his eyes were focused on the closed blinds. He couldn’t see outside, but he continued to stare like there was nothing else for him to look at. The watch I gave him was on his wrist, but his wedding ring was still gone.

I glared at him, my anger slowly building as he continued to ignore me. We hadn’t said more than a few words to each other, and he was clearly fine with the animosity between us. We were about to have a baby, but it seemed like we were just doing business.

It made me hate him a little bit.

I didn’t care how handsome he was. I didn’t care how much I missed him. I hated him. “Is this how it’s going to be? We’re just never going to talk to each other?”

He kept his eyes on the window. “We’re talking now, aren’t we?”

I actually rolled my eyes at the smartass comment. “Is this really how you want to have our son?”

A sarcastic chuckle escaped his closed lips.

“What?”

He shook his head slightly. “I don’t need to answer that.”

“Well, you need to say something. I’m getting sick of this little act, and I’m getting tired of waiting for an apology.”

His eyes shifted to mine, finally. His gaze was cold like freshly fallen snow. The look was actually a bit scary. “You’ll be waiting a long time, then.”

I felt the rage and sadness as I looked at him. “We used to be so different… I can’t believe this happened to us. We were in love when we made our son. Now you hate me…”