Chapter 59

#Chapter 59 – Anniversary Victor and Amelia sit quietly at a little table that the Betas have moved into their bedroom for this special occasion. The room is filled with candle light and white roses, soft music plays in the background.

Amelia twirls her fork absently in her linguini noodles, staring at the wall.

“Are you…enjoying the meal?” Victor asks, feeling awkward even as the words leave his mouth.

“They’re fine,” she says, continuing to stir.

“I’m sorry, Amelia,” Victor sighs. “I know this isn’t what you imagined.”

Amelia turns her head to glare at him. “It’s our anniversary, Victor.”

“I know, but –“

“We’re sitting in our bedroom, eating something the chef whipped up. We were supposed to go to Bali.”

Downstairs, they can hear the boys laughing and running. Then, Evelyn’s own laugh drifts up the stairs.

Amelia blows out a breath when she hears it and stabs at her noodles.

Victor shakes his head and likewise exhales. “I know, Amelia. I’m very, very sorry. Everything got tossed up into the air these past couple months, and I recognize that you’re taking the brunt of it.”

Though if you hadn’t gone to John Walsh…The thought pops into Victor’s head unbidden and he shakes it away. It’s neither the time nor the place for that sort of thing.

“Couldn’t we even go out on the balcony?” Amelia says, leaning back in her chair, her full lips in a pout.

“It’s at least a little romantic out there.”

“You know we can’t,” Victor murmurs. “The paparazzi are everywhere. We don’t need to give them any ammo.”

“Even pictures of us in love?” she insists, “Can’t that only be good?”

Victor shakes his head sharply at her. “We’re on lock down, Amelia. No news, no action, no leaving the house until this all passes. Nothing.”

Amelia raises her eyebrows and bites her lower lip, a nasty expression on her face.

“I mean it, Amelia,” Victor says, his voice low with threat. “No one leaves.”

“What you don’t trust me?” She looks into his eyes as she challenges him.

“Do you really want to bring up trust right now, Amelia? Do you think you’ve got a lot of credit in that area?”

She shakes her head at him slowly. “So you’re allowed to take all the actions you want without consulting me – things you say are in my best interest – but I talk to one man to see if I can work out a plan that’s good for both of us and you’re –“

Victor slams his fist on the table. “I won’t discuss this again, Amelia. What you did was a betrayal, and we’ve barely discussed it –“

“Because you’ve been too busy,” she says, leaning forward to laugh ironically in his face, “claiming your little hussy as part of my pack, making decisions for our best interest that f*****g destroy my life.”

Victor bares his teeth at her, truly starting to lose his temper. “She is the mother of my children –“

“The mother of my children,” Amelia throws back at him, mocking his tone of voice as well as his words. “I’ve heard that a thousand times these past couple of months. I’m supposed to be the mother of your children!” She yells, banging her own fist on the table. “That’s my role!”

“Then where are the kids, Amelia!” Victor says, spreading out his arms to encompass the total lack of children in the room, looking around as if he might find them behind the bed or under the table.

“Our future children,” she growls.

“Well until then,” Victor says, returning her threat, “looks like Evelyn is the only one who takes that title.”

“Evelyn,” Amelia says, her eyes turning to mean little slits in her beautiful face. “Your perfect little girlfriend who you keep in the cottage out back, like Snow White with her two little dwarves. Do you know what the media has been calling her? Your little s*x kitten, who you keep close by because I don’t satisfy you.”

Victor scoffs and balls up his napkin preparing to stand up. “That’s just ridiculous, Amelia, I don’t know why you’re even listening to that nonsense –“

“Because they’re attacking me, Victor,” Amelia shouts, frustrated, angry tears filling her eyes. “You get to be the big bad Alpha, with his wife and his side piece, but I’m the one who everyone is laughing at!”

“Don’t pretend you’re so innocent, Amelia,” Victor says, standing up from the table and leaving his napkin on his plate. “You’re no Jacklyn Kennedy in this situation. To begin with, you’re not even my wife.”

With that, Victor strides away to the bathroom and slams the door behind him. He immediately strips himself of his suit – god, why did he even bother to put it on? – and turns the shower on hot. Probably a little too hot.

As he steps into the steaming jets, he’s a little surprised, actually, that Amelia hasn’t followed him in here. Usually at this point, after a big fight, he will find her sidling up to his side, wrapping her arms around him, looking up at him with her eyes half-lidded.

God, even six months ago the thought of her pressed up against him would get him hard. But today…

Victor shakes his head, letting the water drip down his back as he leans against the wall under the shower head. God, today he’s glad – for the first time – that she hasn’t followed him in, worked to make it better first with her body, and then with soft words and apologies in bed.

Bed. They had always been able to come together in bed. But the more Victor thinks about it, he wonders…Did they really come together as a couple, through s*x? Or did Amelia just pick fights to get him riled up and then use s*x to bring him to her side, to get what she wants?

f**k. Victor slides down so that he’s sitting in the shower, stunned at the realization. All this time, he thought he was the Alpha not only of his world, but of his relationship as well. But, really, how much did Amelia control?

It’s only since Evelyn came into the picture that he started to realize…

But no. Victor runs his hand over his face, wiping away the water. He won’t think of her here, not now.

Victor stays at the bottom of the shower for a long time, until the hot water runs out and he starts to shiver in the cold drops. Then he turns it off, wraps himself in a towel, and heads out to bed.

Amelia is waiting for him there, dressed in a slippery silk robe, her hair loose and tousled. Victor takes a moment to study her, kneeling on the bed. How much of this is practiced, artful seduction? He has to admit – she’s good, and she knows his type.

“Are you coming to bed, baby?” She asks.

Victor pauses a moment. That’s precisely what he had intended, but…he turns towards their closet instead. “I’m going to go downstairs and get some work done.”

She pauses a moment, and then says a quiet “okay.” This is the first time, Victor thinks, perhaps, that he’s ever said no. It’s a new experience for both of them. Victor pulls on a set of workout clothes, pulls them on, and then heads for the bedroom door.

“Victor?” Amelia calls after him as he opens it. He turns to look at her and finds that she’s no longer the beautiful nymph who was kneeling on his bed a few minutes ago. Instead, she’s standing with her hands on her hips, demand written in every line of her posture.

“I want something.”

He nods, encouraging her to speak.

“Now that you’ve claimed the boys, and Evelyn, I’m the only one here without an official tie to this family. So I want to move up the wedding.”

“Wha – “ they had already put out thousands of dollars, ordered the invitations –

“I want to get married at Christmas,” she says, lifting her chin, daring him to say no.

Victor shakes his head slowly and then sighs, looking down at his feet. One month. One f*****g month.

Well, it certainly would stop any rumors that the gossip columns had about him and Evelyn. “Fine.” He says, and leaves the room without another word.