VERTIGO

XII

• Silas •

"Where is my wife? Why isn't she home yet?" I barked at Amel, the housekeeper, as if she could really do something about this predicament. 

"She be here, Sir," she replied sympathetically,  handing me a cup of coffee.

"Give it to Fabien, I don't want it," I muttered, running my fingers through my hair.

"You're giving me a goddamn headache, Silas," Fabian spoke as he sifted through the pile of letters we had managed to steal from Antelmo's place. "Stop pacing."

"Where the fuck is my wife, Fabian? What the hell happened to Angelo? Why aren't they back yet?" I snapped as he cast me a weary look.

Sighing heavily, I heard the door open as Fabian and I darted to the door.

My eyes landed on my brunette beauty - I blew out a sigh of relief.

She looked shaken up, pale and disoriented as I neared her.

"Silas," she whispered as I picked her up, pressing a kiss to those beautiful pink lips.

"You're okay," I murmured, brushing the tears off her face. "You're okay. Thank God."

Setting her down but holding her close to my side, I turned to Angelo.

"Gracias," I said, as he shook my extended hand. "You've proved yourself." 

"Just doing my job, Patron," he nodded curtly, walking out of the house.

"Come, let's get you upstairs," I turned to my wife who still seemed incredibly shell-shocked. "Cereza, are you feeling okay?"

"I-I, I hate you!" She snapped, tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you follow me out? Why didn't we leave together? Why do you always leave me? Why? Answer me, dammit!"

I opted to stay quiet, today was difficult enough for the rest of us, I could only imagine how this affected my wife.

"Serephina," I murmured, as she turned her face away from me. "Look at me."

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned to look at me. "I don't hate you."

"I know," I smiled, brushing the hair away from her face. "I'm sorry, baby. Shit's real bad at the moment. We're still no close to working out what the hell just happened or why I'm not dead. The only thing we have to go on are a pile of letters Fabian stole from Antelmo's shitty apartment. I'm hoping that will tell us something - anything at this point."

I watched as she stayed quiet, her eyes seemed vacant, her face expressionless.

I furrowed my brows in confusion: true, today's happenings were stressful and unexpected but we had both been in deeper shit than this, especially with regards to me being on the receiving end of a revolver nine times out of ten - so, why did she seem especially traumatised and shaken this time?

Silently, I made my way to the bathroom and ran her a bath.

"Come here," I commanded as she slowly stood up, her legs shaking slightly.

She removed her dress and makeup, as she got into the bath, throwing her head back as I came up behind her, rubbing her shoulders.

"Jesus, you're so tense," I spoke, unable to keep the concern out of my voice.

"Silas, I'm fine," she spoke hoarsely. "You can go, I'll be okay."

Normally my wife would beg for me to stay with her, her eyes would silently plead for me to not leave her.