Jonnas
Jonnas knew something was wrong the second Dani stopped answering her phone. At first, he tried not to panic. He knew that she had a rough day. Hell, they both had. After the HR disaster exploded through the hospital, he’d been pulled into meetings for hours while lawyers and board members circled the situation like vultures. By the time he finally got free, all he wanted was to get home to Dani—to hold her, and remind her that none of this changed anything between them. Instead, he walked into an empty penthouse.
At first, he thought maybe she’d gone for a walk, and then he saw the note sitting on the kitchen counter.
Jonnas,
I need a few days to think. Please don’t come after me.
I love you too much to destroy your life.
— Dani
His world stopped. “No.” The word left him instantly. Jonnas grabbed the note hard enough to wrinkle it in his fist while panic slammed through his chest so violently it physically hurt.Absolutely not. She wasn’t leaving him over this—not after finally letting herself trust him. Not after telling him she loved him without actually saying the words.
His phone was already in his hand before he fully processed her leaving. He pulled up her number, and the call rang twice before going to voicemail. He tried again, and again, it went straight to voicemail. By the third call, his chest felt tight enough to crack.
“Fuck.” Jonnas dragged a hand through his hair before stalking across the apartment. He needed to think. Dani didn’t have many people she trusted, which meant there was exactly one person she’d trust enough to tell—Aliza. He grabbed his keys and was out the door in under thirty seconds, because there was no way that he was going to lose the woman he loved—not if he could help it.
Aliza opened the front door, already glaring at him. “You look homicidal.” He looked her over, his eyes landing on her belly. She was due any day now, and all he could think about was Dani being in that same position, and him not being there for her. There was no way that he’d let that happen.
“Where is she?” he growled. Her expression shifted instantly, and he was sure that Aliza knew where Dani was. Jonnas’s stomach dropped hard when he realized from her stubborn scowl that she might not tell him where to find Dani. “You know where she is.”
Aliza folded her arms over her belly. “She asked me not to tell you where she went.”
Rage and panic collided viciously in his chest. “Aliza.”
“She needs space,” Aliza said.
“She’s pregnant and emotionally spiraling,” Jonnas pointed out.
“And you think chasing after her while the hospital is investigating you is gonna help?” she asked.
“Yes.” The answer came instantly, without hesitation, because none of that other stuff mattered. None of it compared to Dani leaving, believing she was protecting him.
Jonnas stepped fully into the doorframe before Aliza could stop him. “She thinks she’s ruining my life.”
Aliza’s expression softened slightly. “Jonnas?—”
“No.” His voice roughened. “Do you have any idea what she looked like today?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “She was terrified.”
“She’s always terrified,” Aliza pointed out. He knew that she was always terrified, but she had been conditioned that way. He saw the real her, though. She was stronger than she knew she was, and he needed to find her to tell her that. He needed to remind her about who she was. He needed to convince her that her happiness didn’t automatically come with punishment.
Jonnas paced once across the living room before turning back toward Aliza. “I told her I loved her.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh.”
“And then she disappeared,” he growled.
“That’s actually very Dani,” she said. Normally, he might’ve laughed, but right now he wanted to put his fist through a wall.
“She left because she thinks she’s bad for me,” he said. “But she’s wrong.”
Aliza sighed heavily. “She’s trying to protect you.”
“She doesn’t get to decide that. I don’t need her protection. I need her here, with me,” he said.
“She’s scared,” Aliza pointed out.