MATTHIAS
I
t takes about five minutes before I realize the banging is at the door, and not just in my head. I roll over to see Clarissa rubbing her eyes, just as confused.
“Is that the door?” she asks, her voice adorably sleepy.
“No idea. I’ll go have a look.”
She grabs my arm. “No! It might not to be safe, you don’t know what her neighbors are like.”
I give her a gentle kiss as I roll out of Leanne’s bed. “Actually, I do. I always make sure I double check my tenants before I let them rent one of my properties.”
The banging becomes more insistent just as I reach the door. “It’s the police. Open the door, Mr.
Baxter,” someone calls through the door.
Fuck.
The police?
“Matthias!” Clarissa hisses in a whisper behind me. “Don’t open the door!” “I have to Rissie, it’s the police.”
“But-”
I give her a reassuring nod. “It’s okay, darling. What happens, we’re going to work it out, okay?”
I reach for the handle and even before the door is fully open, the police barge into the apartment, pinning me around, slipping a pair of cuffs on my wrists.
“Matthias Baxter, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…”
“No!” Clarissa yells, trying to surge forward, but they hold her back. She cries trying to fight them. Her fear spears me all the way through, and I hate that she has to be here for this.
“It’s okay, darling. Go to the office and call Hannah, tell her to call Kylian and Paula. They’ll know what to do. And then go back to the apartment or the office. You’ll be safe there. I can’t worry about you, okay?” Someone swings me around and almost bangs my head against the door frame. “Hey, easy! I’m not fighting this. And I’d prefer it if my fiancee didn’t have to watch me get hurt.” “Matthias!” she sobs.
I call over my shoulder trying to calm her. “I’m going to be alright, darling. Do what I told you to!
I’ll see you soon, hellion.”
As I get led down the stairs, the sound of her tears follows me. And the last thing I see when I’m pushed into the cop car at the curb is her tear-stained face on the third-floor window.
And I can only hope it’s not the last time I’ll see it.
CLARISSA
M
atthias’s three brothers, along with Kiara and My-Linh, arrive as fast as their planes can bring them.
But nobody has any answers either.
“Tell me again what happened,” Kingsley says when we all congregate in Matthias’s office in Baxter Tower.
“She’s told you everything, man,” Kylian says, with a look of understanding. “You know as much as she does at this point.”
My hands come up to run through my hair. I’m exhausted and I haven’t had a shower in who the hell knows how long. “I’m sorry. I wish I knew more, but I don’t. Matthias is currently being held at the jail, but it’s a weekend, and there’s been no word except for a short phone call with his lawyer when he was first taken.”
I’m going crazy. It’s been almost eighteen hours, and we’ve heard nothing more. Every breath feels like I’m swallowing broken glass, and everything everyone says just grates on me.
My-Linh pats me on the shoulder and I turn around to see she’s holding out a cup of tea. It smells familiar; it’s the first tea Matthias made me that night. The smell instantly pulls the tears from my eyes.
She looks alarmed. “Oh, um. I can make you a different kind. It’s just that this one is good for…”
I take it from her, trying not to seem like an ungrateful bitch. “No, no. Thank you. It’s just that Matthias made it for me once when… Erm, once when I wasn’t feeling well.” Fuck that, there’s no reason to hide from them what Patrick did to me, and almost did again. I square my jaw. “He made it for me after Patrick hit me. I had some bad injuries and I fainted once.”
Kiara stands up and goes over to the far side of the living room and launched a cushion at the window. They all know the back story, and why Matthias was so violent with Patrick, but I guess giving them the details really hammers it home.
“I hope he dies,” Damien says. Kylian shushes him, but it doesn’t matter. “I do. I hope he fucking dies. Not just because of what he’s doing to Matthias, but because of what he’s done to Clarissa.” The room descends into complete silence.
Despite being at his wedding, and now here, Damien has never actually looked me in the eye or said a word to me. I don’t know what it means that he just said what he said, but when My-Linh goes over and pats him gently on the arm, I wonder if he and I can make some progress after all.
“Is this going to affect the upcoming Kids and Care IPO?” I ask.
“It’s doesn’t matter, Clarissa,” Kylian replies with a shake of his head.
But it does.
Aside from each other and the women they love, these men love their company. It is their flesh and blood, sweat and tears that have been poured into this business, and when something goes wrong, they take it to heart. Blaming themselves.
“I don’t want him to blame himself for this. He’s worked so hard on it for the last few months. This whole thing with us was because he was trying to do the right thing.”
Kiara comes back, her face angry. Kylian hugs her to him, winking at me over the top of her head.
“Kiara’s pet peeve, what she hates most, is when men take advantage of women.”
The two sisters-in-law are like sunshine and shadow. My-Linh’s gentleness against Kiara’s fiery protectiveness. I don’t know if I deserve to be the recipient, but it gives me the first sense of family in a long time.
Matthias’s phone on the coffee table rings and we all turn towards it. I nod to Kingsley who answers it. He has a short conversation and then replaces the phone on the table, rubbing his forehead as he thinks.
“Well?” Damien speaks.
“His arraignment is in an hour, they’re going to charge him with grievous bodily harm.”
“What?” Kylian and Damien shout at once. “Is he going to be okay though? He doesn’t have any priors for violence? He only has two for-” They stop glancing at me.
“Let me guess – reckless driving,” I finish for them. “But that shouldn’t affect this charge, should it?”
Kingsley sighs and shakes his head. “It shouldn’t. But who knows?” I wish, just once, that someone had the answers.