Chasing His Rejected Wife

"What are you doing here?" My voice was high pitched, a mirror of my rapidly rising anxiety levels. How had he found out about my arrest? Claire, who knew a bit about the strained relationship between Aiden and I would not willingly tell him about the situation.

Aiden stood rigid, his expression shut off and cold, so cold goosebumps ran down my arms and I shivered. Beside me, Anna slipped a hand into mine, giving it a comforting squeeze, but when I looked at her, her eyes were narrowed and pinned on Aiden, a hostile expression on her face.

Aiden didn't deign to dignify my question with an answer - or rather, one brow rose, mouth set in a grim line as he swept one last look over me then turned away to fix his attention on the cop in charge of the arrest. Just then, I caught sight of my assistant, Claire, who had been standing behind my husband, his tall frame blocking her from view. I raised my eyebrows at her in silent query, my eyes darting from my husband to her. Why is he here? I mouthed at her and received a smile that was equal parts guilty and relieved in return. She looked stressed out, strain visible at the corners of her mouth, shoulders and eyes.

She sidled closer to us and whispered. "I'm so sorry, Jess. The cops were reluctant to release you because they were going to have you charged with assault and I couldn't get a hold of Mr. Lindberg in the DA's office." "What?" The sound came out more high pitched than before and drew all eyes to us, particularly a set of freezing blues that just beamed with disapproval. I blushed and managed a weak smile at him, but his glare only intensified and I quickly looked away for fear of getting burned. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned back to what he was doing - berating the poor police officer in that cold, cutting way of his.

"What do you mean, they were going to charge her with assault?" Anna demanded in a whisper, the three of us were huddled in a group, standing off to the side where we were less likely to be heard. "The schmuck was the one who tried to hurt her first."

Claire shrugged and sighed. "The thing is, that schmuck is the first son and only child of the deputy commissioner for legal affairs, and he told the cops that you broke his arm and bloodied his nose when all he was trying to do was apologize to Anna."

"Apologize?" Anna and I let out twin surprised snorts. "That liar."

"Anyway, he made a call to his dad and the man pulled some strings to get you too charged and locked up, and since today's Friday..."

"It would have meant we'd have to spend the weekend sitting here until we can go to a court on Monday." I finished, anger stirring in my veins. At the moment, I wished I'd done more than just twist his arm, I should have knocked that filthy, lying tongue back into his stomach.

"Mr. Lindberg's assistant told me the ADA was out of town on vacation with his family and was unreachable via phone, no one else was picking up their calls. Then, around 12 am, Mr. Brown called me to ask about your whereabouts, your phone was switched off and you weren't at the house."

She lowered her head and gave me another pleading look. "I was at my wits end, if I didn't do something, you could end up spending the weekend in jail, so I had to tell him the truth and he insisted on coming here with me. He even was able to pull the necessary strings on the way here with just one phone call."

Claire sounded impressed at that, and from Anna's expression, she was also. On my part, I was trying to imagine Aiden's initial reaction to the news that I'd gotten myself in trouble. And pitied Claire who had to deal with that cold fury. I turned to look at my husband, who had his back to me. Yes, it was impressive. I was aware he knew a lot of people in high places, thanks to his family's and business connections. One didn't become the President of the prestigious Skylark Corporation without knowing most, if not all the people with clout in this state.

What bothered me though, was why come all the way here in the first place? Like Claire had mentioned, a simple phone call would have served to grease the gears of the legal system and get me out of jail.

Old, naive and hopeful me would have felt a flutter of hope that maybe it was because deep down, buried in all that resentment and anger he felt towards me, lay a sliver of care, of something that could blossom into affection if let out. Now, however, I knew better than to indulge my delusions.

He was probably here to do some damage control. Simple as that. It would be disastrous if the press got hold of the information that the wife of the new president of Skylark had been locked up under assault charges.

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As though he could sense my gaze, he turned his head and our eyes locked for one moment. Even with everything I now knew, it didn't stop the flutter in my belly or the longing that shot deep through my body. And from the way his eyes narrowed, it was like he could tell my reaction and was displeased.

"Go and get your things while I finish the paperwork." He said, his tone devoid of any emotion.

I looked away first and went to get my stuff that had been confiscated when we arrived here. I felt unsettled, my feelings all over the place, the remnants of adrenaline from the fight and rush of endorphins from that eye contact conflicted and left me tired and confused.

Plus, my lower belly had started to hurt, a dull, throbbing pain that felt like when I had my period and a part of me was worried about my baby. I still hadn't made an appointment with an Ob/Gyn yet and I made a mental note to do that first thing Monday morning.

Things gathered, I checked the time, surprised to see it was almost 3 am. I was hungry, in desperate need of a shower and some painkillers and rest.

I came back to the room just as Aiden was finishing up.

"You can expect a formal complaint to the office of the chief of police by Monday." He announced calmly as he pushed the papers back to the cop on duty. His eyes flickered to the name tag on the uniform. "Officer Bryant, I hope you will make yourself available to answer their queries."

"Complaint?" The cop exchanged looks with his colleagues. "Why?"

"Yes, and a visit from my lawyers for unlawful arrest." He tucked his fountain pen back into his inner pocket. "I've had my private investigators look into the scuffle at the bar and from witness accounts and video footage, the person who should have been arrested was the fellow who claimed my wife assaulted him."

"Now see here," Bryant began blustering. "When we came into the scene, that lady -" he pointed at me, "-had Mr. Killan's arm was at an unnatural angle and she was screaming threats at him."

"She also resisted arrest." Another officer added and Anna and I turned to glare at him.

"I was resisting because I did nothing wrong." I snapped and earned myself a chiding look from Aiden, telling me to be quiet.

"Also, I was told that no other arrests were made save for these two ladies, even though one of them owns the bar those men thrashed during the fight and the other wasn't even involved in the initial struggle."

Without waiting for a reply, he leaned forward, eyes glinting dangerously. "I'm no lawyer, but it's my understanding that wilful destruction of property can result in arrest? So why were there no arrests, even though it was clear that property at the bar was damaged in the fight?"

"Well... you see-" Bryant began but Aiden cut him off with a raised hand.

"Save your answers for my lawyers and your chief. If there's nothing else, my wife is tired and needs rest."

He spun on one heel, buttoned up his jacket and motioned to me. "Let's go."