I'll Come Back for You

Chapter Thirteen:

Guess who's back with another chapter and a day early to boot? Me! So I was pretty impressed with this chapter and the way it turned out so I couldn't wait until tomorrow to post it. I think you'll find that this chapter offers a little bit of insight into Dimitri's family life and why he's so set on hiding things from his fans and Kaliah.

Up above, I've included Sidewalk Prophets', This is not Goodbye. I love this song and thought it perfectly conveyed some of Kaliah's feeling.

Hope you enjoy! (Please vote and comment if you like this chapter as much as I did)

-VIVKELLER23

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Dimitri's POV

Kaliah wasn't where he'd left her when he returned from Jimmy Sterling's interview. His first impulse had been to tear up the place to see if she was hiding from him. His irrational fear that he'd lost her clouded his better judgement. But his initial idea had quickly been doused when he stumbled into her room to find the TV screen still on the channel his segment had been on.

He could have kicked himself for being so careless.

Of course, Kaliah had seen his interview. And while he'd been playing a part to appease all the gossips and riled fans who wanted to force his relationship with Sydney into a thing, Kaliah didn't know that. Naturally, Kaliah would hear the words he said and see them as cementing what she thought she already knew about him. That he was a heartless, selfish manipulator who deserved to die alone.

She wasn't completely wrong.

He was selfish and heartless for going along with this stupid plan of her brother's. He should have stayed away from her like he'd promised himself he would. He should have known better than to let his need for her overrule his common sense. He knew he couldn't go back to the time before he'd given her reason to look at him with so much distrust. So why had he bothered returning to her at all?

She'd been liquid fire in his arms the night of Sydney's concert. She'd infected his veins, burning him so all he could feel and breathe was her. He'd always known bedding Kaliah would be his greatest mistake, his greatest escape. Because once he'd had her, he wouldn't ever be able to get her out of his system.

Now, here he was, parked on the side of a busy road, wanting to send out a search party to find his runaway wife. Only he couldn't when no one knew she was his wife, and he wanted to keep it that way. Searching for Kaliah the way he wanted to would serve to undo all the work he'd done to try to protect her from the public eye. That wasn't a chance he was willing to take.

Kaliah thought she was the only one who'd had to give up something important to her. That wasn't the case. Dimitri had not had a day in the eight years he'd been away in which he hadn't looked over his shoulder to make sure no one had discovered the things of his past. The secrets he hid, the shame he carried, it wasn't his story to tell. Since he didn't have the right to tell it, he'd worked himself into exhaustion trying to keep it in the shadows. But Kaliah wasn't someone he wanted to bury anymore. He realized he enjoyed her company, and he liked the idea of her as his wife a lot more than he should.

Could he risk that part of his life? Could he really keep her, face the onslaught of questions and speculation about them, and risk having the rest come to light?

Could he risk staying quiet and losing her again?

Feeling confused and worried about Kaliah, Dimitri shook his head and focused his tired eyes on the world outside. She couldn't have gone very far. He'd checked his garage before leaving the condo and had been relieved to find all of his cars still there. Which meant she'd either taken a taxi, or she'd left on foot. Either way, Kaliah didn't have the knowledge or the money to get very far on her own.