Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“I know you’re drinking when you’re not home,” I said quietly.
Samuel’s expression darkened. “Emma—”
“What if you’re intoxicated when I go into labor?”
His gaze slid down to my prominent bump. “I could still drive you, and I’ll stop drinking once your due date is close.”
Did he really think it was as easy as that? That he could just decide when to stop?
“What if the baby comes early? Or what if it comes many days after the due date? Can you stay away from drinking for weeks? Do you really think it works like that?”
“I’m not an alcoholic, Emma. I like a drink or two, especially on stressful days, but that doesn’t mean I have a problem.”
So that’s where we were at? Back to complete denial? I wasn’t sure what to do. Deep down, I knew I couldn’t leave him, not just because our world didn’t allow it but because my heart simply forbade it. I didn’t want to leave Samuel alone. I wanted to be his anchor.
“Your friends fought for you. And you lived. Honor them by allowing yourself to live fully. Do it for us and our baby.”
I hoped my speech had gotten through to him. I wasn’t sure what else to do at this point. He thought he was in control. He thought admitting he wasn’t would make him weak.
I never saw Samuel drink a single drop in the following weeks, but my intuition told me he was hiding it from me.
I needed to know for sure.
So when Danilo and Sofia came to visit us for Christmas, I approached my brother.
“Can you teach me how to pick a lock?” I asked casually.
Danilo gave me a worried look. “Why?”
“Because it could come in handy one day. Children sometimes lock themselves in. I want to be able to open a locked door.”
Danilo’s suspicion remained. “Why didn’t you ask Samuel?”
I was treading dangerous ground. I trusted my brother, but he and Samuel weren’t friends. They were civil toward each other, and their relationship had improved since their hunting trip, but they definitely didn’t go out of their way to spend time with each other. If I revealed Samuel’s alcohol problem to Danilo, Samuel might see it as betrayal, and it probably was. Still, I wished I could talk to someone about it. It was a heavy truth to carry.
Eventually, Danilo showed me how to pick a lock with a professional pick, and he even gave it to me. I wondered if he had his suspicions.
Later, after dinner, which Samuel missed because of work, according to him, he cornered me. “Is Samuel keeping any secrets from you?”
I gave him an amused look. “All Made Men are, right?”
“There are secrets that need to be kept and secrets that don’t.”
“Perhaps.”
“Are you worried he’s cheating on you?”
My eyebrows shot up. That was his first thought? “No,” I said without a hint of a doubt. “Samuel has made his stance on that matter clear from the very beginning.”
Danilo made a doubtful face.
“That’s not what’s going on, Danilo. Please trust my judgment.” I really didn’t need Danilo to cause any problems. Samuel was already pissed because I had said he had an addiction.
“I do. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I know,” I said and pecked his cheek.
I was glad when Sofia and Danilo finally left for their hotel, even if I’d enjoyed their presence. I was too eager to try out my new skills. Despite my guilt over breaking into Samuel’s office and thus breaching his privacy, I saw no other way. I trusted my gut on this, and it told me that Samuel was keeping his drinking from me. I needed to know this for a fact to make up my mind about what to do next.
After three tries, I managed to unlock Samuel’s office door and walked inside. The smell of alcohol hit me immediately. I rounded the desk and found an empty bourbon bottle beside the desk chair. When I opened the drawers, I found several more bottles of whisky, bourbon, cognac, and wine, most of them almost empty. None of these bottles were cheap. Maybe Samuel thought there weren’t any sophisticated drunks and tried to deceive himself into thinking he was in control. As if alcoholism only manifested in the form of cheap liquor. I swallowed hard. Maybe I should have waited inside the office and confronted Samuel, but I couldn’t bear being in the room where Samuel had hidden his secret. I locked the door again and moved into the living room.
I felt disheartened and at a loss. What could I do?
Samuel was a man of great pride and honor. How could I get through to him? I knew I needed to do something. I couldn’t let things progress as they were.
Eventually, Samuel would get himself killed either through the alcohol or because he couldn’t function in a dangerous situation.