Page 60 of Taking Adalisa

“Yes, it was. I was the police officer who kept her from actually calling the police. Not that they would have done much. They didn’t the first time, and they weren’t going to after that. They thought it was a harmless secret admirer.” Matthias starts to drive when the gates fully open.

“I was one of those people,” I mumble, leaning back into my seat.

I was wrong. So wrong. Margery wasn’t going mad, and she didn’t need to go to a facility. She wasactuallyseeing her dead ex-boyfriend.

Why didn’t I believe her?

“Margery and Ethan aren’t here right now. They are in a cabin until the end of the week. She is recovering and needs more sleep. She couldn’t sleep with so many guards around her and so much noise.” Matthias unbuckles himself and turns toward me.

I hadn’t realized we have parked in front of the big mansion.

“She doesn’t know you are here yet, and Ethan isn’t going to tell her until they are heading back. When they do get back here, you will be respectful to them. This is their house, and Ethan is graciously letting us stay here while I work so people can watch over you,” Matthias unbuckles me.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” I roll my eyes.

“You do. I won’t have you sneaking off again. You are my wife, and there is nothing you can do about it,” he states.

Maybe I should have really thought through what I was going to do if he caught me.

Matthias gets out of the car before I can say anything and walks to my side and opens the door. He grabs my hand and helps me out, keeping me in his hold as he walks me to the front door. I try to look around, but Matthias doesn’t give me time to.

“Can I not look around?” I ask.

“You’ll have time for that later,” he replies. “Right now, we need to get food into you.”

My whole body locks up. I desperately want food, but I know I won’t be able to eat anything. I hadn’t thought about that when I left my apartment..

“I brought some of your food here from your fridge,” Matthias says, taking me to the kitchen. “Which we will be talking about at a later time..”

I shake my head and take a step back. There is no way I am going to eat that now. Matthias has been in my apartment. He has taken my food out of the fridge. How do I know he hasn’t contaminated the food? I wasn’t here to watch him.

“Adalisa,” he gently says, taking a step toward me. “You need to eat. I bet you haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.”

It was breakfast; I didn’t have any lunch. I am starving. But this has happened to me before. I’ve gone places and haven’t been able to eat. Does it suck? Absolutely, but it is nothing I haven’t dealt with before and won’t deal with again.

“How about this?” He walks back into the kitchen, and I follow him. “You wash a spoon so you know that it’s clean.”

I do as he says and get to washing a spoon, making sure to keep my eye on him as he brings out one of my food containers. As I’m drying the spoon, Matthias sets it down beside me and takes the lid off.

What now?

“I am going to eat a spoonful, and then you’ll see that it’s safe. That you can eat what you need to,” he states.

“That’s not how it works,” I mumble. “One bite isn’t going to hurt you.”

Matthias cups my face with his hands. “And one meal isn’t going to hurt until we can go to the grocery store.”

He’s right, but I don’t the anxiety to hit me.

“I would never give you any food that is contaminated, I promise,” he gently says. “I would never put you in harm's way. You are too precious to me, and the thought of putting something in there makes me physically ill.”

I look down at the food and then back up at him. He gives me a small smile.

“How about this?” he starts. “How about I take a bite and then you take a bite, and we go back and forth. That way, I get the same amount of food. Will that make it better?”

Will it?

It will definitely ease my nerves a little. “Is that okay?” Matthias asks again. “Do you think you can do something like that?”

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