AMELIA’S P.O.V

I woke up to some whimpering from Kaden. My eyes were still blurred with sleep but I could feel him tossing and turning in bed. I had never known him to have nightmares before and I couldn’t help but wonder if whatever thing he was keeping secret was part of the reason for the sudden nightmares. I hesitated to touch him because I wasn’t sure how things like this worked but when he continued thrashing, I reached out for him.


“Kaden?” I kept my voice deliberately soft so as not to startle him awake. “Hey, it is alright, you’re having a nightmare but I’m here now.”

He didn’t wake, he just kept moving around. I cursed to myself when I realized that it wasn’t working and I tried to think of what to do. I had never been in this kind of situation before and I had no idea what was expected of me. I knew that a mate’s presence could help but it seemed that wasn’t enough. I stroked his hair out of his face with gentle fingers and stroked down his cheek that now had a light sheen of sweat.

“Please wake up, Kaden,” I whispered but he didn’t stir. An idea popped up into my head and I realized how incredibly insane it was but I didn’t have much of a choice. I leaned down and kissed him softly.


It was just a simple peck and nothing more but as soon as my lips touched his, he stopped moving. I let out a sigh of relief because it seemed he was waking up. He groaned and shifted a little before mumbling a few words. I didn’t catch it at first so I leaned down to hear him. It took him a while but he spoke again and once he did, my spine straightened.

“What did you say?” I asked wanting to be sure that I had heard him correctly.


“Nadine,” he moaned softly and it felt like my heart was shattering in two.

Who the hell was Nadine?

It was obvious that he was still asleep because otherwise, he would have never moaned another girl’s name to my hearing. I couldn’t help but wonder if Nadine was the person he was seeing during all those hours he disappeared from the house. I wanted to shake him awake and force him to give me answers but I knew men well, I had lived with my father and seen him gaslight even the smartest of women. He would call me crazy and tell me that I had misheard. The lack of answers was driving me crazy and I knew I couldn’t stand to be next to him so I rolled out of bed.

I saw him blindly try to reach out to me but I ignored him and made my way into the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face trying to rid myself of that memory but it was forever etched in my brain. That name was like a broken record in my subconscious taunting me. I wasn’t sure how long I stood in that bathroom but I fought with my usual instincts to run and the ones that told me that Kaden would never do this to me. I tried to reconcile the man who had treated me better than anyone in my life to the one who whispered another woman’s name while in bed with me.

By the time I finally got back to the room, Kaden was awake. He was rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes and looking around the room in confusion until his eyes finally landed on me.

“I was looking for you,” he mumbled as he stretched out his hand for me to take so he could pull me back into bed. For the first time in my life, I hesitated. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded and gave him the best smile I could muster. “I’m just not tired anymore. I was thinking of just sitting on the balcony for a while.”

“That’s okay, I can join you,” before I could protest, he had already gotten out of bed and pulled the blanket with him. He led me out onto the balcony and pulled me onto his lap. My spine went rigid and he turned to me. “Are you sure that everything is okay?”

“Yeah, I promise,” I lied and I forced myself to relax into his hold. It felt as perfect as usual.

Kaden had the blanket draped over us and he fell asleep but I stayed up watching the sun rise as sleep wouldn’t find me and put me out of my misery.

The next morning, I had figured out what I was going to do. I was determined to get to the bottom of things and that was why the moment Kaden left, I got into my car and drove to Clara’s house. If there was anyone who would know the truth, it would be her and I trusted Clara not to lie to me, not even to protect Kaden.

I knocked on her door and it was Pamela who opened it. Her eyes widened when she saw me and she pulled me into a warm hug. I didn’t know how much I had missed it until I closed my eyes and savored it. It was exactly what I needed to bleed out the tension that had coiled into my shoulders.

“Come in,” she mumbled after she released me. “Clara and Caleb are here, although Caleb is just about to leave.”

“That’s perfect actually, I wanted to see Clara but I wouldn’t mind seeing them both.”

She stepped aside for me and I found them in the dining room. They were whispering to themselves but as soon as they saw me, they stopped. Clara leaped from her chair and threw her hands around me. The last time she saw me was when Kaden had left me alone in the restaurant and she had come to pick me up. I couldn’t tell her about Kaden because when she came, Aiden was right there. I had been more concerned with getting away from him than with being left in the restaurant.

“How are you? Did something happen? You look terrible.”

“Let the woman breathe, Clara,” Caleb cut in from his spot on the chair. “You don’t say hi to a person by telling them how terrible they look. That is just bad manners.”

Clara mumbled an apology and helped me into a chair. I noticed that Pamela had left us alone and although it hurt to speak, I knew that I didn’t want to beat around the bush about the entire thing.

“Do any of you know someone named Nadine?” they ceased all movements immediately and turned to me with confused expressions. “I know that is a weird thing to ask but I just need to know, please. I have been losing my mind over it.”

“I don’t,” Clara answered first and I turned to Caleb who shook his head. “Why are you asking? Did you meet someone who claimed to know us?”

“It isn’t that,” I hesitated before continuing. “Kaden had a dream last night and he mentioned that name in his sleep. I just wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to know if there was someone else and I should be worried.”

“There isn’t,” it was Caleb who cut in. “I have known Kaden all my life and it might look like I am defending him but I am not. I swear to you, he would never cheat. The man is smitten with you. You have him wrapped around your fingers.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” I asked. “I stayed up all night thinking about it. I don’t want to believe he would do something like that but I am out of options. Why else would he moan someone else’s name in his sleep?”

“I am sure there is a perfectly good explanation for all of this,” Clara cut in. She grabbed my hand and squeezed affectionately. “I think the best thing you can do right now is to talk to him.” I opened my mouth to refuse but she cut me off. “Listen, I know it might be scary but this is Kaden we are talking about. He loves you and I know for a fact that he will answer any question that you throw his way.”

I was a bit apprehensive but I nodded. The truth was that she was right. There was no other way I was going to get answers except by asking him and I just had to trust that he would tell me the truth.

“Thank you,” I whispered then turned to Caleb. “Both of you, I don’t know if he is in the office yet but I’ll check.”

“Good luck,” Clara called out and all I could do was smile back at her because I knew I would need it.

I drove to the office as quickly as I could while I tried to call Kaden on the way. He didn’t pick up which was very unusual for him and I couldn’t stop myself from imagining the worst case scenario. I was relieved when I got there and saw his car outside. I asked the guards at the door just to be sure and they assured me that he was inside the building but he had mentioned that he would be leaving soon.

I sprinted up the stairs and barely waved to his secretary who had a bright smile on his face. I opened Kaden’s door to find him talking to someone. My cheeks heated when I realized I had interrupted something and I started to leave but he stopped me and instead turned to the man in front of me.

“We can finish this later,” he said simply and within a minute, the man was out. “Are you alright? You rushed in here like you were being chased.”

“Where is your phone?” I hated that I was unable to keep the suspicion out of my tone. If Kaden noticed then he didn’t say a word. “I have been trying to call you.”

“I must have left it on silent. I’m sorry, you could have tried mind linking me, my wall is always down for you,” my cheeks heated when I realized that in my panic, I had forgotten. I slowly made my way inside. “Is something wrong? I have to be out of here in a few minutes but if it is important.”

“We need to talk and it might take a while so you have to push off your next appointment.”

Kaden looked taken aback by my words. “It is a really important meeting, Amelia, but if what you want to say is important then sure, I can do that. Can you at least give me a hint of what is going on?”

“Who is Nadine?”