Page 127 of Your Sharpest Edge
Dimitri’s chest rose and fell rapidly.
I stared at him dumbfounded. I thought I would’ve been far more broken when I saw him. I thought our reunion was going to somehow start and end in tears. I thought he was going to make me feel so much worse than I did.
As I looked at Alex, who never stepped ahead of me but stayed by my side as my equal, I knew I was a different person than I was all those years ago. I couldn’t believe we were all casually in a hallway with one man who ripped apart my world, and the other who pieced it back together.
“I was here because I got out early on parole. I didn’t know where the fuck to go, and I heard you got traded. Chicago was the closest big city to the jail. I was out in Indiana, so it was close for me to get on a bus and get here.”
“How did you get my address?” Alex asked calmly.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Dirks walk up, so he was on the other side of us.
“Dimitri. You can’t be here,” Dirks chimed in.
Dimitri ignored them and looked at me while he responded to Alex. “I picked up some new clothes and a quick phone on my way here to try and see if I could figure out where the fuck you lived. Little did I know that I would see a photo of you with my wife and kid on some fucking gossip site on social media...”
My heart exploded, and I didn’t even realize this was a possibility. It had been a few weeks since Alex and I had reunited, so how the fuck did this even happen?
My knees threatened to buckle, but I refused to let him watch me fall. I was not his wife anymore. He left me with nothing but scars, physically and emotionally, but I needed to show him that I’d learn to live with them. They didn’t define the story of my life that I once thought I had to live. I was free.
“The article was a photo of you guys last night, taken from outside this apartment. A few Google Maps searches, and it was easy to match the entrance in the photo. All I had to do was look up where all the hockey players on the Ravens lived. You’re all fucking dumb living in the same building. I came right here.”
“My apartment.” Alex seethed. “How did you find what apartment I lived in?”
“Easy,” Dimitri said and crossed his arms over his chest. “I threatened a delivery driver outside, stole his jacket, and grabbed his packages. I told the front desk that you needed to sign for one personally and asked if they could confirm your address.”
Alex balled his hands into fists. “You motherfucker.”
Finally, after staring at me, unblinking, Dimitri turned his attention toward Alex. “I thought it was this one”—he gestured to Dirks—“that I was going to have to be wary of, but all along,you were right there under my nose, taking my wife away from me.” Dimitri took a step closer to Alex.
“Stop it,” I demanded.
He ignored me. “Were you the one who told her to leave me? To finally give her meek little bitch self a voice?”
I swallowed. It had been years since anyone spoke to me the way Dimitri had. Alex’s eyes darted to me. His hands were still balled up at his side. He was almost shaking from the effort of physically restraining himself from lunging at Dimitri.
“Do not talk to him like that.” I looked behind Dimitri at the door.
Ledger had taken a step outside, holding onto the handle. Thank fuck the man was as tall as the doorframe, towering over all of us.
Ledger looked right at me. “Hey, Anastasia. Damien is currently resting right now.” Ledger’s eyes went back to Dimitri. “As I told you earlier, you can see him if you get a court order saying it’s okay. If you could please unblock the hallway.”
Dimitri didn’t turn around as if he hadn’t heard Ledger say anything at all. His eyes were trained on me.
“I’m not fucking leaving without my fucking wife.”
“She is not your wife,” Dirks snapped.
Dimitri pointed at Dirks, then glared at Alex. “You went behind my back, Anastasia. Were you fucking him all those nights you disappeared?”
“D-disappeared.” My words cracked.
Dammit. I wanted to stay strong, and I felt myself getting smaller and smaller as the moments passed.
“Yes. You think I didn’t know you’d leave whenever I went out for a boys’ night?” He then glared at Alex. “And you think I didn’t notice you stopped coming out with us?”
I swallowed audibly.
“I was going to confront you that night at the hotel, tell you that you were a lying, cheating piece of shit. But then you hit me with the divorce talk, and it was over.” He shrugged, as if it meant nothing. “I saw red.”
