“That’s my cue to leave,” Jordan said cheerfully as she grabbed her bag. “Call me later, Nina. I’ll be in prep time right after lunch.”
“Okay. Have a good one filling those kids’ minds with knowledge.”
As Jordan passed Daryl on her way out, her gaze slipped to below his waist and she chuckled. If he had any idea what she was doing, he didn’t show it. Taking the seat she’d just left, he reached into his coat pocket to pull out his little notepad and began flipping through the pages as I sat there stifling my own chuckle.
“We have a few things to deal with today,” he pronounced ominously without looking up from his notes.
“Okay. Hit me with them.”
He continued to flip through the pages of his pad until he reached one covered in scribbles. I was in no mood to try to decipher what he’d written, so I sat back and watched his lips move as he read over his notes.
Daryl stopped reading and looked up at me. Taking a deep breath, he let the air leave his lungs in a slow sigh. “We think Karl is going to start focusing on you. He’s looking for something and we think he’s eventually going to run out of places to look other than this house.”
“Look for what? What could possibly be here that he wants? I thought the problem was the notebook Tristan has.”
“He’s looked through that tablet of your father’s over and over and can’t find anything. If what Karl is looking for is somewhere else, it’s not in Tristan’s penthouse. It’s been ransacked twice already.”
“What?” The word ransacked sent shivers down my spine. That Karl and his goons had turned to breaking into Tristan’s penthouse scared the hell out of me. It also made me feel violated. While the penthouse wasn’t exactly anywhere I’d ever called home, it bothered me that strangers may have gone through our clothes looking for whatever they wanted or trashed the picture I’d picked out for the bedroom.
“It’s okay. They didn’t do too much damage, but it’s obvious that they were looking for something and didn’t find it.”
“So you think Karl and his people are going to come looking here?”
Daryl gave me one of his rare smiles and shook his head. “Don’t worry. The security system Tristan had installed is first rate, and Varo and West are always nearby to make sure you’re safe.”
“Then why are we talking about this, Daryl? I don’t understand what the problem is if I’m safe.” He hesitated, making me nervous. “What? You just said Varo and West keep me safe. I’m not?”
“You are. We just think that might not be enough. Tristan thinks you need to make it seem like you’re, uh, living your life.”
“We think? Tristan thinks? What are you talking about, Daryl? You’re freaking me out.”
He looked away and then turned back to face me. “Tristan thinks it would be best if you made it seem like you’ve moved on.”
Daryl’s words hit my brain and suddenly it felt like the room was swimming around me. Moved on? My hands began to shake at the very thought of moving on without Tristan.
“What the hell does moved on mean?” I asked in a scared voice. “Are you saying Tristan isn’t coming back?”
“No, no, no. Nothing like that. Just that you need to pretend that you’re with someone else now so Karl can think that Tristan’s dead.”
My jaw fell open as I stared at Daryl, who acted like he’d just said something entirely reasonable. Was he saying Tristan wanted me to pretend to date another man? Had I heard him correctly?
“I can see by your face that I might have said that wrong. It’s just that Tristan doesn’t want you to be in danger and if Karl believes you’ve moved on…”
I didn’t let Daryl finish his sentence before I blew up. “I’m not doing it. I don’t care what you and Tristan think is best. I’m not pretending to be with someone else. It’s just ridiculous! I don’t want to be with anyone else, and even if I agreed with this, where would I find someone willing to playact with me? No way. You’ll have to tell him I’m not going to do it.”
Reaching into his coat pocket again, he mumbled, “I thought you’d say something like that.” He handed me an envelope. “This is from Tristan.”
I looked down at the first letter I’d received from Tristan since he’d left and felt the tears well up in my eyes. The first time he’d bothered to write anything to me and it was to tell me to be with someone else. My stomach clenched at the thought.
“I’ll give you some time to read it and be back in a bit,” Daryl said as he stood to leave.
I didn’t want to read it. All I wanted all these months was to hear from Tristan, and now that I had, it was just to tell me to show the world that I’d moved on. The envelope had nothing written on the outside, and when I turned it over, I saw the flap was just tucked in, not sealed. It was like nothing of him was there.
Slipping the letter out, I unfolded it and began to read, prepared to remain angry and unwilling to go with his plan. Just two sentences in and any hopes of that disappeared.
Dear Nina,
By now, Daryl has told you what I need you to do. I know you don’t want to and God knows I hate the idea of you acting like you care about another man almost as much as I hate being away from you, but I need you to do this for us. I know it won’t be easy, but my biggest fear is that it won’t be hard for you since I’ve left you alone for so long. Please know that if there was any other way, I would have done things differently.
Every letter you wrote me, every text you send means more to me than you’ll ever know. They’re my lifelines—the things that keep me going when I feel like I have nothing of any worth left anymore. I can handle losing everything else but not you. Knowing you’re waiting for me is the one thing that makes me go on.
Nina, it tears me up inside to ask you to pretend you’ve moved on to another. Do this for us and at least I can believe you’ll be safe. Think about me and know that I never stop thinking about you. I promise that someday when all of this is over we’ll get to live that life we both dream of. Never doubt that we can make it through this.
I love you and wish we were together. Your love is what I live for. Until we’re together again, keep me in your heart. What we are is worth fighting for, and trust me, I’m fighting with everything I have.
Love,
Tristan