SYNOPSIS.
“Live long, dear ex-husband, for you will regret every pain that I went through.”
Dragging her feet outside the mansion of the man who just served her divorce paper, in the pool of her own blood, she vowed.
===
There was no single thing Elena would not do to make her husband look at her with affection in his eyes and love her but even after three years of marriage, Zeke never saw her as a woman.
When he presented a divorce paper to her even after she caught him cheating on her with her best friend, she knew that it was over, but still, she had tried to save her marriage.
But, when she banged on her husband’s door as he had sex with another woman like crazy that night, blood oozing out of her, she made up her mind to never forgive him.
SIX YEARS LATER…
Elena and Zeke met at an event after party that was hosted in her honor, and he walked up to her.
“Elena.”
She raised her shoulders and laughed. “Who are you?”
001: GAME IS OVER.
“You are pregnant, Mrs. Russo.”
.
.
Elena felt her stomach tied in a knot again for the umpteenth time as she remembered the piece of information the doctor had said to her at the hospital a while back.
The last thing she had expected now… at this critical time was being pregnant, still it did not help but make her assume that it was only going to strengthen her relationship with her husband.
Her marriage has almost hit the rock button— IF it has not even hit it yet.
Of course, he did not love her.
They did not marry because they loved each other. She loved him, it’s him who did not spare her a glance.
She had been married to her husband, Zeke, for three years and all through the three years, she could count the amount of time that he had looked at her.
Zeke did not like her, and he never hid that fact.
After all, it was a loveless marriage and she had forced himself on him.
Had she, though?
Three years ago, because he needed to get some inheritance from his grandfather or something, he had to get married as that was the old man’s wish.
She had known Zeke for a while. And she had liked him the whole time.
Her father runs an investment company and he had worked with Zeke’s company and there she had met the man.
Unfortunately, Zeke did not see her as a woman.
He only thought of her as the daughter of his business partner.
That did not stop Elena from forcing her father to set her up with that man and coincidentally, Zeke agreed to meet her.
There, he did not hide what he wanted.
He instantly told her that he wanted a wife.
And without thinking it twice, Elena agreed to marry him.
Even when Zeke had drafted a contract and had her sign it. She did not care much… not even when the contract said they were going to be married only for a year.
She believed that she could make her husband love her within a year.
Fortunately for her, his grandfather grew to love her and this could not let Zeke proceed with the divorce and they agreed to stay together.
Even when he had tried to talk to his grandfather that he would like to part ways with her under the pretense of a huge argument, the old man refused, telling them he would only let them part ways over his dead body.
Six months ago, the old man died, and she met with a new person— a new Zeke.
Zeke stopped coming home and only returned whenever he liked.
At first, it was once a week, then gradually, once in two weeks… till she lost count.
He would never pick up her calls and whenever he did, he would tell her that he was busy even without hearing from her first.
Elena pressed her lips together as she wondered how to break the news of her pregnancy to her husband.
The fact that their first and only intimacy resulted in pregnancy was not enough to make her feel withdrawn to the fact that her husband never said anything about that night.
He had returned home drunk and they had sex. She could have turned him down. After all, he didn’t force her.
But, she believed that this would strengthen their relationship. She believed that he would look at her and come home more from time to time, but… she was wrong.
When Zeke woke up the next day and left home like that night never happened, she knew that her husband might never ever like her back.
She twitched her mouth upward and stared at the test result in her hand.
If he would not come home, then she would go to him.
If he would not pick up her calls or talk to her, then she would go talk to him.
Hopefully, the news of their unborn baby will strengthen their relationship.
‘Strengthen.’
She must have mentioned that word at least a million times in the past few years she has married him.
A girl can only hope…
===
“Get the car, we are going to my husband’s,” Elena said to her driver as she got out of the house.
“The company?” He asked and she swallowed.
The surprise was written evidently on the man’s face and this was because she had never gone there before.
All through their three years of marriage, she has never visited him there and this was because she was careful to not offend him.
She thought showing up there would not sit well with him and as usual, she had always put him first.
“Yes.”
The man nodded his head, moved over to the car, held the door open, and then watched her as she entered.
Elena settled inside the car and then rested her head on the headrest.
She hoped that she was doing the right thing. She hoped that she was going to meet him in a good mood and that they would settle everything there then he would return home… and that their marriage would begin to go well.
As the car drove out of the compound, Elena sighed and then clasped her hands together.
It’s going to go well.
She assured herself.
~~~
“M… Mrs. Russo,” his secretary stammered as she saw her and hurried out of her seat.
“I will see my husband,” she said firmly.
It was as if she was going to be stopped.
She knew what length her husband could go to. He might have told them to not allow her in or whatever.
Maybe it’s just her thinking.
There was no reason for him to do that, was there?
“Mr. Russo is in a meeting,” she said.
“I will wait in his office,” Elena said and took a step forward.
When the secretary hurriedly stopped in front of her, her brows raised upward suspiciously.
“Is this you stopping me?”
“I am sorry, Mrs. Russo. He is in a meeting.”
“And I said that I will WAIT… till he is done,” she said, dragging the ‘wait’ on purpose.
“Mrs. Ru-”
She had just started when Elena brushed her aside and then walked past her while she ignored the woman who stayed back.
She could have followed her… no?
Then, Zeke is in there.
Elena stopped in front of the door, and gently pushed it open.
However, she felt her face dry up as she watched the scene in front of her.
That was her husband. She could recognize that backside even in the midst of a million people.
She breathed out shakily and her brows dilated.
Her husband… Zeke… the man she had assumed to be one of high principle…
She breathed in again.
He was right there, kissing another woman as if his life depended on it.
His hands wrapped around her back and even though she could not see it well, she could feel the movement of his hand going up and down the woman’s body.
A wave of nausea hit her and tightly, she held the handle of the door. Her eyes met with the red heels on the floor and she bowed her head.
As if the heels being familiar was not enough, her husband not being aware that someone was in the room was more painful.
She turned around gently to leave, but then again, why?
She wondered.
She was the wife.
Not the other women.
If at all, she should see the woman’s face first.
Finally mustering her courage, she entered the room and gently, and forcefully swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Z… Zeke.”
It took a few seconds before Zeke finally turned to look at her while the woman hurriedly hid her face behind his huge back.
Right now, she does not even care who she is.
She just wanted this man to rush to her and fall on his knees for hurting her that way.
“What are you doing here?”
His question was like a dagger.
What was she doing here?
Was that the correct question?!
“What?”
“You heard me. What are you doing here, Elena?”
“Y… You are a cheat…”
“Don’t.”
Her brows pulled together at his cold dismissal.
“Don’t do what?”
“Go home, Elena. We will talk at home.”
“What home? We are going to talk right here!” She snapped and then panted.
She probably looked like a madwoman.
The woman behind him who is obviously slender and beautiful would have thought the same way.
Anger suddenly surging within her, she dashed at him with the hope of seeing that woman hiding her face possessively at his back.
“What are you doing?” He frowned.
As she got to where he was, he shoved her aside without a thought and she fell to the ground.
Elena parted her lips as she raised her head to look at the unfazed look of her husband.
He breathed out, swept his neatly cut hair to the back, and then moved away from the woman finally.
And she saw her.
No wonder she thought the shoes were familiar.
She had gifted her.
Her eyes were still pinned on the woman who stared at her back when an envelope flew in her direction.
“I’ve signed it. It’s a divorce paper.”
She turned to look at him with a frown. “W… what?”
“We are divorcing, Elena. Game is over.”
GAME IS OVER?!
She widened her eyes.
002: PATHETIC.
“We are divorcing, Elena. Game is over.”
Elena does not know which was more surprising. The words her husband had just said to her or the fact that the woman her husband was cheating on her with was her best friend.
Her best friend. Camila.
She sniffed gently and stood up grudgingly, leaving the brown envelope on the floor.
“Z…Zeke, no, Camila?” She breathed heavily.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and now… that is it. I hope you will sign it without any problem and…”
“Zeke, that is my best friend!” She hollered.
Both were painful, and she is yet to know which was more painful.
She stared at Camila who looked away from her and settled on the table in the room.
She looked like she could care less as she had been caught and right now, she wished for nothing more than to slap that look off her face.
Camila had been her best friend for many years, and this was the woman she had told everything about what was going on in her marriage.
“I think you should give him a bit of space too. Maybe he will come back to his senses then.”
The advice Camila had given her some weeks back struck her and she chuckled. Like a mad person.
“H… how long? How long has this been going on?”
“Sign the papers, Elena. Enough of the dramas.”
Elena shook her head, pressed her lips together, and dragged her feet towards Camila. “Camila, I trusted you!”
“I never asked you to!” Camila retorted and got down from the table.
She swept her hair to the back, scoffed, and covered the space between her and Elena. “I never asked you to trust me. You just decided to be a fool!” She pointed her finger accusingly at her.
Camila and Elena were best friends, they had been together since high school days. If a seer had told Elena some years back that her friend would betray her this way, she would disagree with everything in her.
Even though Camila was Elena’s best friend, she had always wanted everything the woman had.
Unlike Elena who was raised in a rich and elegant family, she was just the daughter of an old couple who ran a local restaurant in an outskirt village in West Georgia.
Elena had everything except her. She had the perfect parents, a loving sibling and then worked in her father’s company.
What she did not know was that her jealousy was going to grow worse when she announced to her that she was going to marry the famous CEO of RUSSO’S.
Camila began her investigation two years after her friend had married the man, she found out about the club that Zeke was a usual and then began to go there too.
It didn’t take long before Zeke noticed her as she had sat so close to him while he drank alone.
She talked first, he answered her, and from there, they began to talk till they both got drunk and then made out in a hotel room in the hotel.
And since then, it has been history.
“Y… you…” Elena sniffed as she tried to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.
“What?! In fact, you know what? I am so glad this is happening right now.”
“What?”
“Trust me. It has been so exhausting listening to you whine about Zeke. I have had enough of that shit and I am so glad this is happening right now!”
Elena shook her head and before she could realize what she was doing, her palm had landed on Camila’s cheek.
Shocked at the impulsive act, Camila shrieked and Zeke rushed over to her.
“Babe!” He exclaimed as he rubbed his hand against her cheek before he turned to look at Elena with an unreadable expression.
He poked her shoulder with his index and middle finger together “Are you insane?”
“Ze…”
“What do you think you are doing?” He asked, and poked her again, this time harder.
She furrowed her brows, tears laced heavily in them.
“Zeke?”
He was really treating her this way because of Camila?
She swallowed hard, blinked back the tears rather energetically, and shook her head.
She dared not break the news of her pregnancy to him, not right now especially.
She had come here with the hope that things were going to work out well between them, but… this?
This was the least of what she was expecting.
She had always suspected that her husband had another woman. The lipstick stain that she found on his shirt about two months ago was proof on its own.
But, what she had never thought was that, the person he was cheating on her with was her friend.
If she had gotten the news of her pregnancy a day earlier, she would have told Camila.
That was how much she had told the woman everything and had never kept anything from her.
She watched as he moved to the envelope lying on the floor, picked it up, and then threw it at her face.
The sharp part of the envelope hit the corner of her eyes and it was not until she felt a sharp pain and touched it that she realized that there was a cut and blood was oozing gently from it.
“Sign the papers. I don’t want to see you by the time I return home. You can also mention everything you want in alimony. My legal team will compensate as soon as possible,” he said and moved to where Camila was.
Zeke would waste no time in presenting the divorce paper the moment he saw that it was the right time.
Since they could not divorce a year after they married because of his grandfather, he decided he would wait till whenever he could.
And as if luck was on his side, May his grandfather's soul rest in peace, he died six months ago and because he was a person who cared a lot about what people said about him, he thought he needed to wait for a while.
Six months had passed, and he only grew to not like the presence of his wife as the day went by.
Camila was giving him enough happiness, and he wanted to be with the woman and not Elena, so he proceeded with the divorce.
Elena watched as he stared at her and massaged her cheek, and she felt her stomach twisted in a knot.
He had never looked at her that way.
He had always looked at her as if he disdained her. He had never looked at her with affection in his eyes before.
She hated to admit that she had seen the red flag from the beginning… but she ignored it.
She thought she could change it.
She thought she could make him like her.
How stupid of her.
Feeling a sharp pain in her lower belly, she turned around with the envelope tightly held in her hand and then walked to the door.
She had not stayed in this marriage for three years just for Camila to break it apart.
Zeke could not be reasoned with at the moment, and maybe later when he came home… she would be able to talk sense into him.
“Pathetic!”
She heard Camilla cussed and she turned around to look at her gently.
“Please, use the door. What are you still waiting for?” Camila asked.
She felt saliva forming in her mouth and she proceeded to leave the room, her hand on her flat stomach.
As she got out of the room and slammed the door behind her, she stood still in her position for only God knows how long and then finally let the tears fall from her eyes.
Should she just sign the papers and leave like she was asked to or stay back to fight for her position and her child’s?
The last thing she wanted was her child not growing up without a father and she was very scared that that might be happening already.
Or… what if she just removed the baby and left as if she had never been in his life before?
003: MY BABY.
Elena winced in pain for the umpteenth time as her lower belly shook in pain and stood from where she sat, then walked to the tall standing mirror in her room.
She raised her chiffon top and then stared at her flat belly.
Wondering why her stomach hurt, she poked the lower belly gently and then winced again as the pain hit her.
“Aw!”
“I should go to the hospital tomorrow…” she said to no one in particular after glancing at the wall clock and realizing that it was almost seven in the night.
After she had left Zeke’s company in the afternoon, she had come straight home and had been literally sleeping since then.
The last thing she wanted was to think about the divorce paper that she had received earlier the day as it does nothing than bring tears to her eyes.
Finally, she trailed her eyes to the brown envelope on the nightstand beside her bed and then exhaled.
It was not a dream, indeed.
Her husband has presented the ‘death note to her.’
As she stared at her reflection in the mirror for as long as only God knows when, a knock came from the door and then the door opened almost immediately which made her drop her clothes abruptly.
“Nina,” she swallowed hard as their middle-aged housekeeper entered.
After staring at her with a bit of suspicion in her eyes, she called, “Mrs. Russo.”
“Yes?”
“You told me to let you know when your husband arrives,” she said.
Elena’s eyes lit up with hope and turned to face the woman fully. “Zeke is back?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay. Okay, thank you.”
Nina nodded her head and stared for a while at her madam who paced around the room, completely forgetting that she might still be standing there before she moved inside fully and closed the door behind her.
“Mrs. Russo.”
Elena clasped her hands together and turned to look at the woman, “Yes?”
“A… are you okay?”
Elena swallowed the lump in her throat before she nodded her head. “Sure. Why do you ask?”
Nina inhaled and shook her head. She knew Elena so well. It has been three years since Elena joined this house and it was safe to say that she knew everything that was going on in the house.
She could say for sure that the Elena that entered this mansion three years ago was no longer the one in front of her.
The woman who has the brightest smile ever, and then prettiest smile now looks ‘odd’. She could swear that Elena was starting to look more than her age. The woman had gotten weary, she rarely smiled. No. She does not even smile anymore.
Maybe the last time she saw her smile was… one years ago?
Still, she did not doubt that the once happy Elena was buried deep inside this wearily-looking woman.
“You know… I am always here for you, right?” She asked.
Elena smiled with so much pain in her eyes and then nodded her head gently. “I know, Nina. I do.”
Even she had missed those moments when she used to sit with Nina and talk and laugh as if she did not worry about anything in the world.
How she suddenly turned this way… she did not know.
Nina nodded her head, dropped her eyes on the brown envelope on the table, and then to her stomach before she looked at her again.
“He is with someone though. I thought I should let you know,” she said.
Elena raised her brows, “Who?”
Nina hesitated for a while before she inhaled and answered, leaving the woman dumbfounded. “Your best friend.”
After Nina left the room, Elena staggered to the bed and settled at the edge of the bed before she palmed her face.
She had always heard about the term weapon fashioned against someone, but what she had never imagined was that she would be meeting the weapon fashioned against her in this lifetime of hers.
“That leech,” she growled in anger.
Zeke would never see her in a good light. Maybe the earlier she realized that the better it would be for her.
If he wanted to talk, or maybe sort things between them for the better, he would not have brought THAT woman to this house while she was still there.
That was the amount of respect that he had left for her and she felt so bitter to know that things were never going to work between her and her husband.
Her eyes dropped to the brown envelope again, she stood up, grabbed it from the nightstand, and then removed the document for the first time since she had collected it from him.
As she read the content, tears laced in her eyes and she tried as hard as she could to control it.
It was when she saw the tears that fell on the paper in front of her that she burst into fresh tears.
“Y…I don’t deserve this… Zeke,” she cried as if he was somewhere listening to her.
Through teary eyes, she looked around for the pen she usually has on the drawer in the room.
===
“Aw!”
Elena cried out from her sleep and gently sat up.
She reached out for the switch behind her bed frame and then switched it on while she kept her other hand on her stomach.
It hurt so much more than it had hurt during the day and she raised her head to see the time.
It was past eleven so she knew she had to wait till the next day to leave the house like she had initially planned and then maybe visit the hospital.
When another sharp pain shook her, she screamed and then pulled the duvet away from her body.
However, sighting the bloodstain on the bed, she widened her eyes in horror as the surge of hysteria hit her.
“Shit!” She burst into tears and struggled to get out of the bed.
“Shit, my baby!” She cried as she stood still, her legs wide apart, and then unplugged her phone from the charger.
She browsed through her contact list and then dialed Zeke’s number.
It rang for a while before it ended and when she called it back, it was switched off.
Sluggishly and in pain, Elena dragged her feet to the door, opened it, and then walked slowly to Zeke’s room.
When she got to the door, she hit the door and called his name. “Zeke.”
“Fuck, harder!”
She heard the unmistakable voice of Camila and she suddenly felt her heart squeezed tightly in her chest.
“Z… Zeke!” She ignored the sounds of slapping of butts and the high screams that came from the room.
“P… please,” she sniffed, the pain getting unbearable.
Still, none of them answered her and all she kept hearing was the moans and screams coming from the room.
While she was in pain, they were having… sex?
She turned around gently and began to walk towards the stairs while she browsed through her contact list again.
After a while of ringing, the receiver picked it up, and her low, cracked voice came up.
“Don’t you sleep in the night, Elena?”
“H… help me.”
“Sis?” Aria’s voice came up immediately.
“Come… come here. Hurry.”
“Fuck! What is going on, Elena?!”
“Come. over. here!” She hollered with the last strength in her and then struggled down the stairs.
She could have gone to wake the maids, but, the last thing she wanted was them seeing her in this situation when her ‘husband’ was inside… fucking another woman.
If she could get to the gate safely without passing out, then, she would be fine.
“But… my baby… please…” she sobbed as she walked out of the big door of the living room.
As she dragged her feet to the huge gate of the mansion, she sobbed.
“I… I will make you regret this, Zeke.”
“Y… you will pay for what you’ve done to me this night. I… I swear.”
===
Elena did not know how long she lay on the cold floor outside the mansion, barely hanging on to life before the headlight of the car almost blinded her and made her close her eyes.
The car pulled to her side abruptly, and Aria got down and screamed.
“Elena!”
She rushed to her, knelt beside her, and pulled her to sit gently.
“What is going on? Why are you out… Blood?!” She screamed in horror as her eyes fell on Elena’s white night dress soaked with her own blood.
“H… hospital…” she said weakly.
“Where is Zeke? Why are you here alone?”
“H… hospital, Aria. M… my baby,” she grabbed the tip of her cloth.
“Your ba… Shit, you are pregnant?!”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Aria shrieked as she struggled to pull her sister up and then walked her slowly to the car.
After she had settled her in very well, she rushed to the other side, got in the car, and then drove away with the highest speed possible.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I will kill Zeke anytime I see him!” She threatened, tears laced in her eyes too.
004: ELENA BASKERVILLE.
“Fortunately, she arrived here earlier, else it might have been a different story entirely.”
The doctor said as he adjusted the intravenous drip and then turned to look at Aria who stood behind him.
“Is she okay now? And the baby?”
“Yes, I must say, he is a fighter. He hung onto his mama really well,” he said and Aria smiled weakly.
“Thank you.”
“She should be awake soon. I will come back to check up on her,” he said and she nodded her head.
“Alright. Thank you, Doctor.”
After the doctor exited the room with the two nurses, she returned to sit beside her sister’s bed and then picked up her phone to check the time.
It was almost six in the morning, and all she had been waiting for through the night was Zeke’s call.
Was he not aware that his wife was not at home… in the room with him?
Or… had he gone on a trip or something?
She knew she had to keep all options open.
Her sister has a nice relationship with her husband… as she had been told.
It had taken everything in her to not go to the man’s house after she had called him and her calls kept getting directed to the mail.
Of course, she would not want to assume that he had blocked her.
Why would her brother-in-law do that?
Gently, Elena stirred in her sleep and Aria dropped her phone hurriedly.
“Sis!”
Elena groaned with furrowed brows and then squinted her eyes open.
“Elena, I’m here,” Aria said.
“M… my baby,” her muscles tensed and she dropped her hand on her belly.
“He is safe. The doctor said you and your baby are fine,” Aria assured her and she breathed out in relief.
~~~
“What?!”
Elena had just explained to Aria the little she could, and of course, this was the reaction she was expecting.
All through the three years of her marriage, she had lied to her family that she and Zeke were okay and that they were in love.
Breaking this news to them was indeed going to come as a shock to them.
“Y… you said that… you said that you were happy…” Aria burst into tears.
“I… I am sorry. I thought… I thought I could make him love me,” she cried too.
“Are you stupid? Why would you beg him to love him?! Have you forgotten who the fuck you are?!” Aria screamed.
“Aria…” Elena burst into great tears.
“You are Elena Fucking Baskerville! You are a Baskerville! Just because you became a Russo does not mean you ceased to be part of us. How could you…”
“Fuck, Elena!” Aria cried and pulled her sister into a hug.
“I am going to teach him a lesson. Did you tell him about your child? That bastard, how could he treat you and your…”
“I did not tell him,” Elena cut her short.
“You did not? It’s fine. Once you get discharged. Let’s go home. Mum and Dad need to hear of this. I will make sure he pays for…”
“I… I am going to leave New York.”
“Elena?”
“I… all the memories of him here… I… I have to leave,” she said, tears threatening to fall from her eyes again.
Aria nodded her head and sniffed. “Okay. Let’s get home first. We will talk better about it,” she hugged her sister again.
===
MEANWHILE…
Camila screamed in horror as she stepped out of the room early that morning and found blood on their doorstep.
“Babe!”
Zeke rushed out, and at the sight of the blood, he widened his eyes in shock and exchanged glances with Camila.
“What… what is this?”
“I met it like this!”
Zeke turned to look at the blood trail and instantly, he remembered Elena’s voice that he had heard at the doorstep the previous night and then dashed to her room.
As soon as he got there, he pushed the door open and raised his eyes as he only met the housekeeper, Nina there.
“I… I was just coming to you. There is blood everywhere. I think it is from madam!” She panicked.
“Elena? Where is she?”
“She is nowhere on the premises. The gate was left opened so we assumed that she had left the house.”
“Babe, what’s going on?” Camila entered the room.
“Elena. I think something is…”
“You think something is wrong with her?” Camila cut him short and he nodded his head.
“Where is my phone?” He asked no one in particular as he patted his shorts.
“You are not going to call her, are you?” Camila raised her brows.
“I need to know if she…”
“She is fine, obviously. You know how she is! She must wanted to leave in a grand way seeing how she was banging the door in the middle of the night.
“Sir…” Nina shook her head.
“Leave. I’ll take care of it,” he said.
Zeke ignored Camila and then returned to his room, he picked up his phone and met with a message from Elena.
Without reading it, he dialed her number but it instantly directed him to voicemail.
Afterward, he returned to read the message with read thus; “I have signed the divorce paper as you wanted and I wish you and your newfound love anything but happiness. Live long, dear ex-husband, for you will regret every pain that I went through.”
“S… she left?” He asked no one in particular.
She signed the divorce paper already?
Was she not like… supposed to beg him to take her back?
====
SIX YEARS LATER…
“And now to the highlight of today’s event…” the MC said with a grin plastered across his face.
“Tonight, we shall present to you the CEO of B&V Architectural Services company of. I believe that we all have been waiting to see the face behind the company for the last four years and tonight, we shall do the unveiling.”
The crowd murmured, and the media adjusted their camera. They all wanted to be the first to capture the face of the CEO of B&V. As it was the first thing the public would know about this person.
Not even their gender had been revealed.
“I present to you… ELENA BASKERVILLE!”
His eyes raised upward at the hearing of the ever-familiar name and then adjusted in his seat.
He had come to this event because he was invited and he had been wanting to collaborate with the company, but it was already getting boring for his liking before this name was called.
Did he hear right?
The crowd cheered at the name and he stood slowly from where he sat as the woman came out of the raised curtain from the background.
He was not close to where she was standing, but he needed not to be told how radiant she looked from afar.
It was her… truly.
That is Elena!
She was wearing a metallic shimmery black material with a deep V-neck, held up by two small spaghetti straps, but then there was also a drapey off-the-shoulder cap sleeve. The material gathers below the bust then it’s loose fitting to the floor, with a slit that goes halfway up one thigh.
Elena…
“Good evening, ladies, and gentlemen. I am Elena Baskerville…”
Came the voice that he never knew he could long for…
005: HIS EX-WIFE.
Zeke could swear that he heard no single thing amongst what the woman on the stage in front of him had said as all he wondered was how a person could not have changed a bit in the last six years.
In a split second, he asked himself if he was seeing correctly and if the person in front of him was his ex-wife, Elena.
As the woman rounded her speech and everyone clapped their hands for her, a waiter stopped in front of him, and without thinking twice, he pushed the man away and clasped his hands together.
Watching her being escorted out of the stage and to the door at the back of the stage, he hurried to the direction, without giving a damn about the people that were obviously looking at him.
As he got out of the event hall which led him down the hallway, he looked around and saw the men who had escorted her in front of a door, he dashed there.
“Excuse, sir. You can’t enter.’
Zeke raised his brow at the man who just said to him and then looked at the other man beside him and took a step back, as he adjusted his collar.
“Tell Elena that I would see her. It is Zeke,” he said rather confidently.
He was not a person to be turned down and the last six years have changed for him as well. He was now amongst the top five billionaires in the whole of the USA and almost everyone knew him. Those who do not know him are probably not in any way in line with the business world, or were newborn babies.
“Miss Elena would not receive anyone, Mr. Russo.”
Of course, they knew him.
Zeke twitched his lips upward, adjusted his wristwatch, and then charged to the door. However, one of the guards grabbed his wrist but instantly, Zeke yanked his hand away and pushed against the wall. The other man rushed at him and Zeke hurriedly kicked his leg hard enough to hurt and then turned the knob open.
“What a hassle,” he hissed as he entered fully while he adjusted his collar.
As he raised his head to see Elena sitting on a swivel chair and turned in his direction, the door busted open and the guards rushed in, panting.
“Ma’am, I…”
“Get out,” she rolled her eyes.
Zeke stared at Elena closely and even though she had not aged a bit in the last six years, he could swear with everything in him that Elena was a changed person.
The wide smile that was on her face back there on the stage was nowhere to be found and all that was plastered across her face was a cold and almost intimidating stare.
She beckoned to the woman in the room with them to excuse and after she did, Elena pinned her eyes on Zeke with no slight change in her expression.
“U…uhm… Elena,” he stuttered as he rubbed his palms together.
When the woman did not answer, he breathed out nervously and said again, “Elena… It’s me.”
Finally, Elena leaned back in her chair, tilted her head, and then burst into laughter.
“So? Who are you?’ she scorned sarcastically.
“W… what?” mouth left hanging, Zeke asked.
This was Elena, right?
What was with the attitude and question?
Was she going to pretend as if she did not know him or what?
That was not possible. The Elena he knew was not the type to pretend in this way or…
“I just asked you a question, Mr. Russo.”
Zeke tilted his head in disbelief and scoffed gently. “Elena. Are you kidding?”
“Are you a thug?”
Zeke raised his brows, and shifted his weight on his left leg, “Excuse me?”
“Did you go around in a suit fighting people because you could not have your way?”
“Elena?”
“If you would ask me, Mr. Russo, I would say that you are a thug,” she shrugged and then stood from where she sat.
“Elena,” Zeke grabbed her arm with a frown.
Elena drew her brows together and then dropped her eyes on his hand that was on her arm.
“Why are you acting like this? I…”
“Let go,” she breathed out.
“We need to talk. Please, Elena, let’s…”
“We are not close enough to be on a first-name basis, MR. RUSSO,” she stressed out his name and then yanked her arm away.
Zeke has a lot of questions, and if you would ask him, he has forgotten.
Maybe because the woman before him was no longer what he had assumed her to be, or because the guilt from six years ago was still eating him.
Of course, it was still eating him.
Aside from having treated her badly, he had not slept properly in the last six years as all he dreamt of was Elena, and the blood that filled his whole mansion six years ago.
Was the blood from her?
What exactly happened that night?
He was being taunted for not knowing the truth and the way he had gotten disconnected from the woman bothered him too.
Aside from the message he received from her sister, Ariana six years ago, there was no other news from the family.
“Stay happy, Zeke. Because I would make you pay for everything that you have done to my sister.”
After he tried to call the line, it was disconnected from service.
Usually, he would have assumed that it was just the lady trying to make him feel bad for divorcing her sister, but he could not.
Not with the blood in that house especially.
Two days later when he had received that message from Ariana six years ago, he traveled down to her parents’ house as he could not reach Elena and Ariana.
However, to his greatest surprise, the family had moved out of the house the previous day and Mr. Baskerville, had hired a company manager to manage his company.
He needed not to be told that there was more… and it was bothering him… like crazy.
“Elena,” he turned to the woman who had already grabbed her bag and then proceeded to the door before he dashed after her.
“We need to talk,” he said as he got out of the room with her.
However, she halted which made him stop walking too and she turned her head gently over her shoulder in the guard’s direction.
“You are fired,” she blurted and then walked away.
Zeke left his mouth agape at her statement and then raised his brows.
Elena… has changed!
006: OUR DIVORCE.
Elena stopped walking occasionally while she stopped to greet the people that were rushing up to her even though she could still feel Zeke’s presence behind her.
Of course, she knew that people would want to talk to her, secure a meeting, and all of that after tonight’s unveiling but what she was not expecting was her ex-husband crawling up to her in that manner.
“I have been trying to meet with you, Ms. Baskerville,” one of the older businessmen said to her and she forced a smile and nodded her head.
Was she aware that Zeke was going to be present at tonight’s event?
No.
But she hoped that he would be.
She wanted to see his reaction when he saw her six years later, and not to lie, she loved the mystery that was plastered across his face.
Zeke was nothing like she used to know. Although she had watched all of his achievements on the internet and how he had risen to one of the top three billionaires in the whole of America. Still, the media did little justice to his current look.
The Zeke that she used to know had a very fine face that you would not even spot a pimple but seeing the man with his evident under bag eyes right there?
She could only wonder what was going on.
She excused herself from the man and then proceeded to walk to where her chauffeur was.
“Elena!”
He called her name in a whisper as he walked after her till she reached the basement then pulled her arm again.
If there was something she hated so much in the last six years, it was being touched with no permission.
Her family knew that, and she could only make an exception to only two people at the moment.
She clenched her fist and then turned to look at him, her lips twitched upward.
“W… what is going on, Elena?”
He asked her and she stared at him with a tilted head.
“If you ask me a question like this, Mr. Russo, I would not know where to answer you from,” she said, ever calmly.
“What the fuck is Mr. Russo?! I am Zeke!”
“So?”
She watched as he ran his hand in his hair rather roughly and released his grip on her arm.
Why was she enjoying this reaction from him?
Was it because he used to have the upper hand?
Remembering six years ago made her stomach tied in a knot so much that she could even puke at her stupidity.
She had loved him so much that she put herself behind.
She placed him first in everything. She worried about him alone and left herself behind.
If she could go back in time, she would go back to those times when she had been unnecessarily stupid for this man.
“Elena, let’s talk. Please.”
“Why? The last time I checked, we had absolutely nothing to talk about and I would rather appreciate it if it stays at that,” she said with a short bow and then turned to leave.
Again, more roughly, he grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. “You are my wife! I deserved to know the truth!” He hollered at her face.
Elena parted her lips at the audacity of her ex-husband and scoffed.
“Were.”
She stated, softly.
“What?”
“Were, Zeke. I am not your wife. I was your wife and I regret ever being that!” She yanked her arm away.
“You are my wife, Elena. I never let you go. We could have ironed things out. You left without telling me!”
Oh… now he was going to blame her?
Because she did not understand him right now and would appreciate it if he could enlighten her better.
She left without telling him?
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You know for a fact that I am serious, Elena. Let’s talk. We have a lot to talk about and…”
“Don’t be unfortunate, Zeke!”
Her voice raised and she exhaled while taking a glance around.
The last thing she wanted was to enter a scandal on just the first day that she got announced.
“Are you still mad about what happened six years ago? We can talk about it and I will…”
“If it were up to me, I would act like you don’t exist in my past. Can we both maintain that lane?”
“No, I can not do that. Why should I agree to that bullshit?”
“Bullshit? This was what you fucking wanted! Are you insane?”
“That was then, not anymore. I have searched for you for the past six years and I will not let you go now that I have met you. Let’s go back home, and talk about things.”
Elena feared for a second at the obsessive aura that was oozing from him.
He had never acted like this with her before.
No, she had never seen him act like this with anyone.
He looked like a madman.
If he was given the chance, he looked like he could carry her right here and throw her at the booth of his car.
What was going on?
Why is that happening?
Why had her ex-husband gone crazy?
“Home?” She raised her brows.
“Elena, let’s talk. If you would ask me, I will tell you that I have thousands of things to ask you and I could go mad if I do not have the answers to them,” he panted like he had been in a race for the past an hour.
“Zeke, if YOU would ask me, I would say you have gone mad already,” she stressed her words on purpose, shaking her head.
“That is why we need to talk,” he said.
“Get yourself checked up, Mr. Russo,” she nodded her head and then turned to leave.
“Elena!” He hurried after her again.
“Get off me, Zeke. I never want to see you again!”
“No, you are mistaken. I am your husband and you can’t push me…”
“We are divorced, goddamn it!” She hollered and stopped walking again.
Why was he getting on her nerves?
Why did he keep talking about being her husband?
“D… divorced? We are not,” he shook his head.
Elena nodded her head and turned to leave again. Maybe he had indeed gone crazy. It was just yet to be found out.
“I never applied for our divorce.”
And she stopped walking.
“What?” She raised a brow.
“I never submitted our divorce documents,” he repeated, and a soft smile spread across his lips.
