"I followed her when she followed you but I got there to late. You seemed to have stopped breathing and I can only assume that Anthony took Christine away because Michael's men were after them. I waited until everything was clear and found you and saw that you were still breathing," Nadir tried to explain. Christine thought he was dead...God, what she must be thinking at that moment!
"Did you send her a letter telling her I was alive?" he demanded. Nadir nodded sadly and Erik sighed in relief. However his relief was ill lived when Nadir handed him a piece of parchment and he read it. Oh, if he had Michael's neck in his hands he would give anything to strangle him. That man had ruined Emma's life and now he was ruining his and Christine's.
"There is no way to get word to her?" Erik asked, praying for a little hope. Nadir shook his head.
"Some of her personal servants are under Delauney's orders, they will kill her if we so much as try," Nadir said. God, Erik knew he had to think of something, but he would never endanger Christine or their baby and so he would have to wait until he could get to her. He pushed back the lump in his throat and ignored the clenching in his heart...he did not know how long he could live without her.
"As long as you stay away from her she will be safe, as will the baby," Nadir said, needing to reassure him. But Erik's mind was already working, there had to be a way to get to Christine, if there was not, then perhaps he should go to the man that was threatening them? Nadir seemed to read his mind and he immediately shook his head.
"Michael is not naive enough to go back to his estate, Erik. I am sure that might be hard for him seeing as his son is lying in one of the rooms, dead," Nadir said.
"That man feels nothing...however I know you are right. I need to find out where he is," Erik said.
"Until you are well you will not be finding out where anyone is," Nadir said. Erik sighed and looked around the unfamiliar settings, trying to keep his mind off of Christine and what she must be going through thinking he was dead. He had promised her that he would not let her raise their baby on her own and with him 'dead' he was asking her to do just that.
"Where are we, Khan?" Erik asked, smelling the cheap perfume and sweat and feeling nauseous.
"The local bordello," Nadir answered. Erik sighed and closed his eyes, needing to think of some way to handle the present situation. Christine was a strong woman, he knew that she would do what she had to to survive, he was not worried about her, as long as he did not go near her then she would be fine, but he was worried about the fact that she was at the Chagny manor. Raoul was a good man, he admitted that with great reluctance, but he had helped him that night.
But good man or not Erik knew the feelings the man still harbored for Christine and he knew that with Erik 'gone' he could very well turn into Christine's source of comfort. Erik could just see it now, Christine needing someone to be there for her and like a knight on a horse Raoul comes prancing in to be the shoulder to lean on. He would kill the boy if he found out he had made any attempts to try and win Christine. Dead or alive Christine was still his wife, and she was carrying his baby, he would be damned if he allowed Chagny to take it away from him. But of course there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He would have to find some way to get to
Michael Delauney smiled to himself as he sipped his wine. Revenge was sweet. Having figured out that death was far to good for Desslar he had known that keeping him separated from his wife was the next best thing to a slow death. He had been delighted to find out that Christine had almost killed herself and the baby with her grief and he had hired another one of the Chagny servants to take his orders. One wrong move from any of them and Christine and the baby were dead. Desslar deserved to burn in hell for helping in the murder of his two sons. Leroy had been the only one in his family left and Desslar had helped kill him. Well, he was going to pay for it, and very slowly. He knew Desslar would never endanger his wife or child and he knew the separation could easily kill him, just like he planned. That would teach the man to think twice about harming a
Raoul smiled at Christine and hugged her, pleased when she hugged him back. He had invited her to come for a walk with him in the gardens and to his immense pleasure she had accepted. They had talked quietly to each other about anything and everything that did not have to do with what had happened over the last couple of weeks. Christine knew that she should not have accepted that walk because she knew that Raoul wanted them to be something more than friends and Christine could never do that. Her heart belonged to one man, and he was gone, she would not give her heart to any other.