Chapter 95: Watch Your Back

Astrid’s POV

How could I tell Ethan that I had seen his ex-wife on the road ... that she had stopped me just to threaten me?

I couldn’t.

"How was work today?" Ethan asked when I walked in.

"It was fine," I replied.

"You don’t look fine, Astrid. Is everything okay?"

"I’m fine, Ethan. I’m fine." I went upstairs to the room and set my things down.

I knew I was still turning it over in my head ... what had happened, what she had said ... but I couldn’t bring myself to speak it out loud.

How could she possibly want to hurt me? I wasn’t the one who broke up their marriage. They had argued and filed for divorce all on their own. So why was she blaming me and not her own husband?

Ethan came in a few minutes later.

"Astrid, whatever the problem is, I can fix it. Just tell me what’s going on ... I don’t like seeing your face like this."

"You haven’t noticed?" I said.

"Noticed what?"

"I’m on my period, Ethan. You know how painful it gets."

"Oh." He crossed the room and pulled me into a hug. "Sorry, baby." He said it the way you’d soothe a child, soft and careful, like I might break.

I wasn’t in pain. I was on my period, that part was true ... but I had used it to cover up.

"What do you want me to get you?" he asked.

Such a sweet wolf. "Anything, love. Maybe some chocolates and milk?"

"Alright." He pulled on his jacket and headed out.

He was so intentional ... so deliberate with his love ... for someone who had already been married once before. I found myself wondering what his ex-wife had withheld that made him leave.

Sex, he had told me once. He said she couldn’t fuck properly. I had laughed so hard at that ... it was such a ridiculous reason to end a marriage, and yet there it was. But at least I knew I was giving Ethan what she never could. Good sex and everything else she had apparently failed at.

I wandered around the house until he came back. When he walked through the door, he was carrying a full package ... something he’d clearly put thought into.

"This is for you, my love," he said, holding it out.

It was shaped like a pizza box. I opened it and nearly smiled despite myself ... all my favourite junk foods packed neatly inside, like he had memorised the list. Ethan always knew how to pull me back from the edge.

"Thank you, Ethan." I hugged him and kissed him ... really kissed him ... because that was the only language I had for what I felt in that moment.

"You like it?"

"I love it. And I love you."

"I love you too, wifey."

We ate from the box together and went to bed. I curled into his side, my head on his chest, and we stayed like that all night. His arms around me. My breathing eventually slowing to match his.

Ethan was my husband. And I loved him ... even through all the mess I was slowly burying myself in.

In the morning, I had to be up first. Ivy and I had accounts to balance before the rest of the office arrived. I told Ethan, kissed him once, and left.

The road was quiet at 6 a.m. Morning fog sat low over everything and I couldn’t see far ahead. I drove carefully, keeping my eyes forward.

Then it happened again.

A car swung in front of mine. The tyres shrieked the same way they had the day before, and my whole body locked up before my brain could even catch up. I was more scared this time than the last.

She stepped out of her car. I already knew it was Thalia ... or whatever the hell she was calling herself these days.

"Why do you keep harassing me like this?" I asked.

"This is where I can speak to you freely," she said. "And I want you to listen very carefully, because I’m about to give you some very important information."

"Shut the fuck up." I didn’t let her finish. "Don’t ever stop me on this road again. If you do, I will tell my husband, and I will report you to the authorities for stalking. Don’t test me."

I turned back toward my car.

"You’re going to want to see this," she said behind me. "I promise you."

I stopped.

Against every instinct I had, I turned around.

She was holding out her phone.

I walked closer ... slowly, cautiously ... and then my stomach dropped.

It was a video. Me and Raven. In my office. Every single second of it.

She pulled the phone away the moment she was sure I had seen enough.

"Sneaky bitch. How did you get that?" My voice came out sharp, but inside I was unravelling.

"The how doesn’t matter, Astrid. What matters is that I have it ... and this means you have far bigger problems on your hands than you realise."

I stood there, speechless. I had not been thinking that day. I had been reckless and stupid, and somewhere in that office, a camera had captured everything.

"This is not fake," she continued. "It was a live webcam that caught you fucking someone in your own office. And I will use it to ruin you."

She turned and walked back toward her car like she had all the time in the world.

"All of this," I called after her, forcing steadiness into my voice, "is because I married your ex-husband, isn’t it?"

She paused. Smiled.

"You have this little secret," I continued, "but you have no idea what I have. You think you’re sneaky? I’ll show you what sneaky actually looks like."

Thalia’s smile didn’t waver. "We’ll see. Watch your back, Astrid ... because fire and brimstone are coming for it."

She got in her car and sped off.

I stood on the road and stared at the space where her car had been.

She had my sex tape. It was sitting on her phone like a weapon she was just waiting to fire. How the hell had she gotten it?

I had almost forgotten I had work to get to.

I got into my car, hands unsteady, and drove ... too fast, too stiff ... the kind of driving that comes from a mind that won’t slow down. I almost arrived late.

And now there was no way I could tell Ethan any of this. Not a word of it. Even though my marriage ... our marriage ... was sitting directly in the line of fire. How could I have been so careless? So reckless? I had let my guard down completely and now someone had the evidence to destroy everything I had built.

Damn.

I walked into the office and was greeted by the few people already at their desks. I smiled back at none of them. Suddenly everyone felt dangerous. I looked at each face and saw nothing but a possible suspect.

Even Ivy ... sweet, warm Ivy who greeted me like every morning meant something ... felt like a threat I hadn’t assessed yet.

I had no good morning to give anyone.

"Get straight to work," I told her.

"Are you alright, Mrs. Astrid?"

I was standing with my arms folded tight across my chest ... my body’s way of holding itself together when I wanted to put my fist through something.

"I’m fine. Get to work."

She started to move and I stopped her.

"Ivy ... wait."

She turned back.

"Who handles media in this building? Cameras, recordings ... all of that."

"Room 705. Take the elevator down."

"Thank you."

She left and I was still standing there, paranoid and buzzing with it. I needed to get this off my chest ... or at the very least, get ahead of it before it got ahead of me.

I couldn’t even open my own office door without my hands shaking.

Once inside, I stood in the silence and tried to think clearly.

Whoever managed the media in this building had access to that footage. For them to have stayed quiet this long meant one of two things ... either they hadn’t watched it yet, or they were waiting for the right moment to use it. And no moment would ever be the right one for me.

If that video reached the wrong hands, it would destroy everything. My reputation. My marriage. My standing in this company.

Thalia had said she was going to bring me down. And somehow, from the outside, she was already finding a way in.

I had to get to room 705 before this spiralled any further.

I had to kill this before it killed me first.