Twisted Affair Vol. 4 (6 page)

Nothing.

I knocked again and listened for the sound of her moving. Maybe she was asleep, though it was a little early for her to turn in.

Still, a minute passed, then another, and there was nothing.

Now I was getting concerned. She could be in the shower. Sometimes it was hard to hear with both doors closed. I supposed I could wait until she got out, but my gut was telling me that Livie wasn't in the shower. Something wasn't right.

I knocked a third time. “Livie, I'm coming in.”

I opened the door and stepped inside. The bathroom door was open and I couldn't hear water, so she wasn't in there. I frowned. Livie usually told me if she was going to be out so I'd know in case my father stopped by. I supposed there was a chance she'd forgotten, but that wasn't really like her. Livie didn't forget things.

The frown turned into a scowl as I noticed what I hadn't before. Livie's things were gone. She didn't have a lot of them, but what she had brought with her was gone. I walked over to the closet, the ice in my stomach twisting into an even more painful knot. There was no way this was happening. It couldn't be. Not when Katka had just left for the sole purpose of keeping Livie and me together.

I opened the closet and all the air was sucked out of the room.

It was empty. No clothes. No suitcases.

I staggered over to the bed and sank down on it. I buried my head in my hands. There had to be another explanation. She'd moved to another room. There was a third bedroom at the end of the hall. Maybe she'd decided she preferred the smaller room. Without a private bathroom. That had to be it.

I shifted on the bed and heard the sound of paper crinkling. I looked down and saw a folded piece of stationary with my name on it.

Fuck.

I didn't want to open it or see what was inside, but I knew I needed to do just that. If I didn't read the note, it wouldn't be real and if it wasn't real, then I wouldn't know how to find Livie who was my only way of getting back with Katka.

I opened it and began to read. It was as bad as I'd feared.

Blayne, I am sorry to do this through a letter, but I feel that speaking to you would make things too awkward. This arrangement between us is no longer working for me as it is set up. I feel that we would do better apart. I will maintain the appearance of our marriage, participate in whatever family events you require, though I suspect there are other arrangements that you might find more pleasing. Tell your family that I am on a business trip for two weeks. After that time, you may contact me for any family events where I am needed. Thank you for all you have done. I hope our future interactions will be pleasant. Sincerely, Livie
.

I read it again, as if it would change the words or the meaning somehow. It didn't, of course, but this time I caught something. She said “other arrangements,” like she knew something had happened. Something that would've allowed it to appear like nothing had changed in my marriage.

I ran my hand through my hair.

I didn't know how, but she knew about Katka and me.

I laughed, a bark of a sound that held no humor. Of course she knew. Livie was a smart woman. Between me telling her that we'd slept together when she knew we hadn't and then me stopping the comments right after she'd told me she had a twin sister, it would've taken someone a lot less intelligent to not figure it out.

What I couldn't figure out was why it had taken her so long to leave me. It had been a couple weeks since Livie told me about Katka. Things had been good between the two of us since then. Or at least I'd thought they had. I knew she was good at closing herself off, but for everything to have been an act, she would've needed to be a better actress than I'd thought. Besides, I thought I knew her well enough to know that she hadn't been pretending. We really had been okay.

What had changed? I wondered. Had she been waiting for us to come to her with the truth? Had we taken too long? Or was there something more to it than what it appeared? After all, she'd written a note instead of talking to me, which didn't really seem like the kind of thing she'd do. She was more of a “let's have it out” kind of person rather than someone who'd hide. Then there was her asking for two weeks before we spoke. I didn't understand that.

I looked down at the note. Livie's handwriting was pristine, almost clipped, like she didn't want to waste any extra effort writing. It was so like her. Perfection was sort of her thing. I had no doubt she'd spent quite a bit of time on this note, choosing each word carefully until it said no more, no less, than what she'd wanted. Now I had a choice. I could spend my time analyzing everything, trying to read between the lines, or I could disregard Livie's request to wait for two weeks and contact her.

That choice was easy to make. The other one, however, wasn't so easy. When I called Livie, I could make it all about Katka, claiming that the only reason I called was to get Livie's help with her sister. I hated myself the moment I had the thought. How could I use Livie like that? Call just to ask for her help getting her sister back and then walk away?

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. I felt sick and my head was starting to pound. I'd lost the two women I cared about the most in a space of a couple hours. They might be together right now, both having realized the other had left. I didn't know if that meant they would decide to both come back, only one come back, or both decide I wasn't worth the trouble.

I stood. I couldn't sit around and wait. I'd go nuts. I had to find them. I walked back out into the living room and picked up my phone. I scrolled down in the contacts and looked at the two names for a moment before tapping on Livie's name. While I doubted Katka would answer if I called, I hadn't selected Livie's name for that reason. I picked her because it was the right thing to do. Katka had left because of what we'd done, together. Livie had left because of what her sister and I had done. We had wronged her.
I
had wronged her.

The pain in my heart I'd had from the moment I realized what Katka was going to do doubled at the thought of what we'd done to Livie. It wasn't like I'd hurt some stranger. This was Livie. I loved Katka but, in a way, I supposed I loved Livie too. Not the same way, of course. Livie was something else. It wasn't the way I felt about my siblings or any other family members. It was something different, stronger than that, but not romantic, of course. I couldn't understand it, let alone describe it, but that wasn't my primary concern at the moment. My concern was the fact that Livie wasn't picking up her phone. It wasn't a big surprise since she had caller ID and probably didn't want to talk to me. I had just been hoping that her practical side would be stronger than any emotions she was feeling.

I looked at the time. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to visit the apartment tonight, especially not with both of them there. I needed to give them time to talk, to try to figure things out. But I needed to see them too. I had a brief internal debate and then went into the bedroom to grab a shirt and my car keys. Twenty minutes later, I was parked outside the apartment. I'd texted them both to let them know that I was coming so they could prepare, but I wasn't going to walk away without having the opportunity to say my peace to them both.

If only I knew what I wanted to say.

I looked up at the window as I got out of my car and paused. The curtains were drawn, but I couldn't see any light behind them. That was strange.

I hadn't gotten a response yet from either Livie or Katka, but I went inside anyway. Ten minutes later, I was back at the car. No one had answered when I'd knocked. The trip had been entirely pointless. Either neither was home or they were purposefully ignoring me. While I supposed the second was a possibility, I doubted it. It wasn't like I was some abusive asshole they had to hide from. All they had to do was tell me they didn't want to talk and I'd go away.

I didn't sleep that night. I didn't even try. I paced and muttered to myself. I wracked my brains trying to figure out what to do next. About three in the morning, I had the brilliant idea to ask the bank for the address of the studio Livie was in the process of buying. I knew the general area where it was located, but that wouldn’t do me any good unless I wanted to walk all around several blocks, knocking on doors and looking like a total idiot. If the bank wouldn't have been open tomorrow at eight, I might've considered the idiot option, but since I could go in for the address first thing, I decided to wait, as much as I hated it.

Unfortunately, when I got to the studio around nine-thirty the next morning, no one was there. If Livie had stayed there last night, she wasn't there now. I was at a loss. I could call hotels in the area, but I had no way of knowing if the people I talked to would report back to my father that I seemed to have misplaced my wife. I could visit in person and try to pay off people to give me information without reporting back to my father, but that was risking it too.

By late afternoon, I'd visited the bar where I'd first met Livie, a couple of restaurants and stores near the girls' apartment and a few places near the penthouse. Nothing. It didn't help that I couldn't be specific and I was almost to the point where I didn't care if word got back to my father, if only I could find either of the Dusek women.

Then a thought came to me. There was one thing I could do. There was a private investigator my father used sometimes, very discreet. He could do things I couldn't. I didn't overthink it. There was nothing to overthink. I had to find them.

Chapter 8

Blayne

The next three days were hell. I had to force myself to shower and eat. Even then, I didn't shave and my clothes were wrinkled because I didn't bother to hang them up or anything like that. I could barely function at work and it took everything I had to keep Samuel from figuring out what was wrong.

I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to last like this, but then, just as I was getting ready to leave for work Wednesday morning, I got a call.

“Max, what's up?” I tried to keep my voice light even though the sight of his name on my phone had made every part of me tense.

“I've found something.” The words were flat, not giving anything away. “You need to come see me.”

“You can tell me over the phone,” I said, confusion and concern dancing as one.

“No, you need to see this.”

That didn't sound very good.

“I'm on my way.” I wasn't about to wait until after work. I'd never be able to concentrate, not when I'd be constantly trying to figure out what was going on. As I headed down to my car, I called my brother and quickly told him that I was taking a personal day. To my relief, he didn't argue or ask for details.

Thanks to morning traffic, it took me a half an hour to get to the PI's office, every one of those thirty minutes a torture. By the time I stepped into the office, my nerves were strung so tight, I was sure they were going to snap.

“Mr. Westmore.” Max stood and held out his hand.

I shook it, repressing the urge to snap at him just to tell me what the hell he had. Instead, I took the seat he pointed to and waited.

“I did some digging into your girls' past,” he started.

“I hired you to find where they were now, not where they came from. I already know all about that.”

Max held up a hand and I stopped.

“When I started the investigation, some questions started coming up pretty quickly. Questions I needed to look into before I could go any further.”

He slid something across the desk towards me. I took it and looked down. It was a newspaper clipping, or more accurately, a copy of one. The language wasn't English, but I didn't need to read it to know what it was about. The picture said enough. Two adults, young and smiling, and two identical little girls with curls.

“That's Livie and Katka,” I said. I smiled as I gently touched each of the faces. I couldn't tell which one was which due to the poor quality, but I didn't need to. They were both special. I looked up at Max. “I'm guessing this is the article about how their parents were murdered, right? Livie told me all about it. What does it have to do with where they are now?”

“Blayne.” A strange expression crossed Max's face, which was weird since he had the best blank face I'd ever seen. “There was only one survivor that night. Katka Dusek died with her parents.”

– End of Vol. 4 –

Twisted Affair concludes in the final Vol. 5, release March 26
th
. To receive an email reminder on release date, click here:
M.S. Parker Newsletter

Connect with me on Facebook:
http://Facebook.com/MsParkerAuthor

FREE BOOKS:
Don’t forget to check out my other book series, Chasing Perfection and Club Prive, featuring Carrie and Krissy from when they lived in New York City. Right now book 1 of both books is free at most vendors online.

Release Schedule

Twisted Affair Vol. 1 – February 26
th

Twisted Affair Vol. 2 – March 5th

Twisted Affair Vol. 3 – March 12th

Twisted Affair Vol. 4 – March 19th

Twisted Affair Vol. 5 – March 26th

Other book series from M. S. Parker

Casual Encounter Vol. 1 to 5

Sinful Desires Vol. 1 to 5

Club Prive Vol. 1 to 5

French Connection (Club Prive) Vol. 1 to 3