I listened to the line go dead.

I didn’t bother calling him back because I knew my brother so well. The phone was already off. He didn’t want to talk to me. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. Even if Pearl approached him, he would blow her off.

Cane’s voice didn’t sound any different than usual, but I could feel the pain in his tone. I could hear the crackle of anger. I could feel his sadness, his brutal pain, over the quiet line. My brother claimed he didn’t love this woman, but if it wasn’t love, I didn’t know what else it could be.

When I turned around, Pearl was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. She searched my face for clues as to what just happened. She wanted confirmation, but she also didn’t want to hear it at the exact same time.

“It’s done.” I repeated my brother’s words to her, finding them short and effective.

Her eyes immediately watered, quicker than I could snap my fingers.

“Button…” She darted around me and left our bedroom, dismissing me without a backward glance. Her light footsteps pounded against the hardwood floor as she practically ran down the hallway.

My initial instinct was to go after her, but she obviously didn’t want me with her. In her eyes, I was somehow responsible for this. Since I wasn’t willing to risk my life as well as hers for this woman, I was somehow evil.

Adelina was a nice woman who deserved better, but I would always put my wife first.

That was how this cruel world worked.

---

When it was late in the evening, I finally left my study and went after her. She’d had enough time to grieve, to let her emotions clean out her tear ducts. Logic would descend once again, and she would understand this wasn’t her fault or mine.

Life just sucked.

I found her sitting outside on the patio, one of my sweaters bundled around her. Instead of making her look bulkier, she seemed even smaller in the oversized clothing. I walked up behind her then took the seat in the armchair beside her.

She stared across the vineyards even though practically nothing could be seen. There was a soft breeze in the air, slightly cold from the approach of fall. Sweet grapes were on the wind, along with the smell of olives from the trees.

I waited for her to say something, to feel out her mood.

But she was dead silent.

“Button.” I watched the side of her face, seeing the anguish in her expression.

“She’s my friend…”

“I know. I liked her too.”

“Right now, as we speak…” She never finished the sentence. She let it die away on the tip of her tongue.

“Don’t think about that. She even told us not to feel guilty. She knows we couldn’t do anything for her.”

“It’s still so horrible. I feel like she died.”

She was dead. In just a matter of days, Tristan’s men would be weighing her corpse down into the sea. She would probably swallow the pills sooner rather than later. I debated telling Pearl the truth. It might give her some comfort, but it also might make her upset again.

It was better not to say anything.

“How’s Cane?”

“He’s okay.”

“How can he be okay?”

“I only talked to him for two seconds. He hung up on me. I can tell he’s hurting.”

“How can he not be hurting? I know how much he cared about her. I saw it every time he looked at her.”

I saw it too. I kept expecting Cane to go back on his word and run off with her. But he obviously couldn’t risk my well-being as well as Button’s, not when Constantine was a potential risk.

Button sniffed then the tears came.

There was nothing I hated more than listening to her cry. The sound was obnoxious from other women, high-pitched and irritable. When Button cried, it wasn’t annoying at all. It was heartbreaking for me to listen to it. Whatever pain she felt, I felt it a million times more. All I wanted was for her to be happy. I worked hard to make sure that would happen. I wanted my wife to be safe from everything, hidden away in my mansion where no one could ever touch her. But pain found a way inside—always.

“Button…” My hand moved to her cheek, and I wiped her tears away.

She sniffed again before she helped herself to my lap. She cuddled into my chest and hung on to me as she allowed herself to break down, to mourn the loss of the woman she’d come to care for as a friend.

I was grateful she didn’t push me away, that she didn’t see me as the bad guy. I rested my chin on her head and rubbed her back, comforting her in silence. Button was a tough woman who didn’t give in to tears, but this was a painful subject for her. I knew she pictured herself in Adelina’s shoes. She understood better than anyone what it was like to be a captive. She knew exactly what Adelina was suffering right at that moment.

That was something Cane and I would never understand.

“You know I would fix this for you if I could.”

She nodded into my chest. “I know…”

---

I went to the base every day to check in on Cane without making it obvious I was only there to look after him.

But he didn’t come into work.

He responded to Bran via email, but he didn’t set foot on the compound. He did everything from home, handling email and clients electronically. He obviously didn’t want to be around people right now.

When I called him, his phone was still off.

Since he wasn’t in immediate danger, I couldn’t stop by his house to pry. He wanted his space right now, and it would be wrong for me not to give it to him.

But that didn’t mean I stopped worrying.

He was my younger brother. Concern was a natural compulsion.

Button was quiet around the house. She wasn’t interested in sex or food. She chose to spend her time reading or walking through the vineyards. She didn’t come to work with me, choosing to stay home.

But as the days passed, she slowly came out of her shell. She talked to me about the book she was reading, ate a little more at dinner, and would at least snuggle with me in bed. I wondered if her lack of sex drive had anything to do with Adelina. Sex probably reminded her of what her friend was going through. It felt wrong to enjoy it when Adelina was obviously in so much pain.

“Have you talked to Cane?” she asked as she lay beside me in bed.

“No.”

“I wonder if he’s okay.” Her face was close to mine, and her hand rested against my chest. Her makeup had been washed off, and her hair was pulled into a loose bun. I liked the way she looked right before bed, when everything was removed, and it was just her natural features underneath. When we woke up the following morning, she would look even more beautiful after a long night of rest.

“He’s working with the men through emails. He’s fine.”

“Maybe physically….”

“His phone is still off. I don’t think he wants to talk to anyone right now.”

“Do you think I should stop by?”

I shook my head. “No. Leave him alone.”

“What if you stop by?”

“He doesn’t want to talk to me either. When he’s ready, he’ll let us know.”

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.”

It’d been three days since the last time we’d made love. Our schedules were centered around our sex lives. We always got busy in the morning before I went to work, when I came home from work, and then right before bed. Now there wasn’t any action at all because she was too emotional to be excited about anything. I didn’t want to be insensitive, but I was beginning to become frustrated.

I hugged her into my body and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She kissed me back, but barely.

I wasn’t going to stop, so my hand reached underneath her shirt until I found her panties. I slowly pulled them down her hips.

She grabbed my hand. “Not tonight, Crow.”

I didn’t hold back the snarl that escaped my lips. In any other situation, I would just yank them off and do it anyway. But I took her voice on this matter very seriously. She was obviously distraught, and I wasn’t going to push her if she didn’t want to be pushed. I pulled my hand away. “It’s been three days.”

“Lots of couples don’t have sex for three days.”

“Not us.” I rubbed my nose against hers. “I know you’re upset right now, but shutting me out isn’t accomplishing anything. We should enjoy each other as much as we can. I’m your husband, and I have needs. And let’s not pretend that your needs aren’t the same as mine.” My hand moved up her thigh, and I gripped her ass. I watched the resistance fade in her eyes before I leaned down and kissed her again.

This time she kissed me back, her hand moving across my chest.

My hand moved to her thong, and I pulled it down again, this time making it to her ankles. My thighs parted hers, and within seconds, I was plunged deep inside her. I was balls deep in the pussy I was obsessed with, right where I belonged. She wasn’t as wet as she normally was, but it was definitely enough for us to move together.

I pressed my face to hers as I moved deep and slow, exploring her like I’d never felt her before. The arousal came within minutes, sheathing me to the hilt. Soon enough, she started to rock with me, to moan for me.

And it felt right again.

It was her and me—and no one else.