“Arsen, I need to understand why the hell you were lurking in the walls.”
My husband paces across the library and brushes dust from his hair. He seems like this is no big deal, and it’s really pissing me off.
I’m vibrating. I’m buzzing with frustration. All this time, it’s been him.
“I was watching you,” he says simply and sits down with his legs crossed. He tosses one elbow lazily over the back of the chair.
“Right. You were watching me.” I rub my eyes and struggle to keep myself under control. “But why were you watching me?”
“I’ve been watching you since you came here.”
“That doesn’t make it any better.”
“When you first moved in, you didn’t want anything to do with me. But I couldn’t just leave you alone. I had to know.”
“Had to know, what?” A creeping, uncomfortable feeling runs down my spine.
“That you were safe.”
I shiver slightly. I knew that was coming. And for some reason, it doesn’t help soften the blow at all.
My husband’s been stalking me in the walls of our house.
“I thought this place was haunted,” I say quietly. When he grins at me, I can’t help it anymore. I explode at him. “It’s not fucking funny, Arsen. I thought someone was stalking me. It was scaring the shit out of me.”
“Nothing’s haunting this house. Only me.”
“I told you I knew about the passages. I told you I chased someone.” My heart’s racing so hard I feel dizzy. “That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Like I said, you didn’t need to worry about it.”
“My god. You’re fucking insane.” I back away from him, stomach twisting into knots. “The killing. The bodies in your office. And now this. Arsen, this is a lot for me to process right now.”
He leans forward, hands pressed together like he’s praying. But I can’t imagine he’s ever spoken to God once in his life. I’m guessing even murmuring the Lord’s name would set his tongue on fire.
That man’s a devil. He’s a monster.
“I was watching you because I couldn’t help myself.” He sounds so calm. It’s driving me insane. “I needed to be with you, but I didn’t want to smother you, either. It seemed like you were just starting to come around to the idea of us being together.”
“You thought creeping on me in the walls was a better plan?”
“It was the best I had.”
“I can’t process this.”
“What’s changed? Really, what’s changed? You know what I am. Does this really surprise you?”
I laugh, unable to help myself. That’s just some crazy, sick logic right there, and I don’t even know how to respond.
“Just because I’ve given you passes on everything else doesn’t mean this isn’t the last straw.”
“I’m exactly the person I was yesterday,” he says stubbornly.
“You don’t get it. You’ve been hiding this from me. When you had the perfect chance to come clean, you didn’t.”
“I was dealing with Aunt Sona.”
“Yeah, I get that, but still. You could’ve just… told me. That’s all. Just told me.”
“And then what?” He stares, expression cooling. “Then you react just like this? Like I’m some fucking psychopath?”
“Aren’t you?”
I regret it the second I say the words. He flinches like I slapped him and sits back. I hold up my hands in apology, but it’s clearly too late.
“I get it,” he says and stands. “I didn’t realize that’s how you thought of me.”
“Arsen—”
“I’m not a normal man. We both know that. But I didn’t realize you looked at me like I was some unhinged, rabid dog.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“It’s not the words you’re using. It’s the way you’re staring at me.” He turns toward the door. “I should’ve told you sooner. I get that. But I was watching you because I wanted to make sure you were safe. Because I couldn’t help myself. I want to be around you all the time, every single fucking hour of every single goddamn day, but I don’t want to smother you. I found a way to make us both happy.”
“I don’t feel happy right now,” I whisper.
“I’m sorry, Lena. That’s the last thing I want.”
“Where are you going?”
He pauses in the doorway. “Don’t worry. Your ghosts are gone. They won’t bother you anymore.”
I’m so annoyed I could scream. He walks away and I’m left frustrated. What am I supposed to do right now? I just found out my husband has been creeping around in secret passages and obsessively watching me at all hours of the day. When I thought he was out working, instead he was spying on me.
It sends a shiver down my spine.
But his reasoning is almost… sweet, in a freaky way.
He wants to be around me so badly he’s willing to do it while crammed into a dusty old gap between walls. It’s nice in one of those I love you so much I want to eat you alive sorts of ways.
Isn’t that the foundation of our relationship? I knew he was a madman before all this. I saw the skeletons and got over it. I watched him kill my old boss and moved on.
Why does this feel different?
I think it’s two things.
Instead of lurking, he could’ve just been with me. We could’ve spent so much more time together. He chose to hide in the walls like a horny ghoul instead of just being my husband.
But the bigger issue is the way he reacted when I confronted him about it earlier.
He didn’t lie, but he also didn’t tell me the truth. It skated way too close to dishonesty and I’m having trouble getting past that.
I can handle murder, but lying?
I get it, things with his aunt are moving fast and he was distracted.
But still.
He told me to stay out of those passages—while he was creeping around them as much as he wanted.
There’s something hypocritical about that and it pisses me off.
I just want a relationship with my husband.
A normal, regular-ass relationship.
One that doesn’t involve decomposing bodies and scrubbing blood from carpets.
Except it’s pretty clear that isn’t going to happen.
This family is littered with secrets.
He can say I’m not being haunted all he wants—but there are ghosts all over this house. Some are still waiting for me to find them.
