SYDNEY'S POV
I threw that damn agreement into the shredder," he spat. "I've already canceled an important meeting for you, I can't waste any more time."
He hadn't changed one bit. He was still that angry, impatient man I'd left behind who thought the world revolved around him. Rather, “my world”. If he didn't want his time wasted, why the hell did he follow me back there?
Whether he threw the documents into the shredder, or burnt them to ashes with a lighter from his study, or kept them somewhere, none of that was my business.
I stepped back from the door and stared angrily at his face.
"My intention to divorce you is serious and solemn. If you don't accept a divorce by agreement, then I will have to file a lawsuit for divorce. That will only waste more of your “precious” time, Mr. Man!" I made that much clear.
At a point, my mind would slide back to think about the man who was probably still hiding somewhere in the house. I was also standing in front of the door and making sure to block Mark from taking a peek inside and seeing something he shouldn't. The case might just escalate further from an ex-couple bickering over divorce documents into something more dangerous.
Mark climbed even closer towards the door. But I couldn't move an inch back at that point because it was the furthest I could go in protecting the entrance. But I silently reveled in the fact he was affected that I wasn't stepping away from him anymore.
Mark gritted his teeth and said, "I'll say it one last time, whether we divorce or not is not up to you!"
He even had the nerve to tell me that I had no say in the matter. That I had no right on my part to break off the alliance? Thanks to Mark, the fear I'd been feeling initially, due to the man from earlier, had now turned into annoyance.
How dare he presume to dictate my choices, to deny me agency over my own life? I had tolerated his domineering attitude for far too long, but now I had reached my limit.
But I realized sooner that there was no reasoning with him. In fact, I didn't have that much time on my hands either, to spare for arguing with him. Mark would always be stubborn like that.
I swallowed hard and bit back the next words I'd intended on hurling at him.
Instead, I sighed and asked, "You really want to talk about this?"
"Yes, and you're coming with me now!" he demanded. His tone brooked no argument.
I stood there for a moment, exhausted and rubbing temples tiredly before reluctantly agreeing, "Fine, if you're so interested in wasting your time talking, why not."
After taking a quick glance back into the house and. Not seeing that man anywhere in sight, I thought to myself that stepping out at that time would probably be in our interests. He probably also needed to leave.
I walked out of the front door and shut the door behind me.
“After you,” I said to Mark.
He turned from me with a frown and stepped off the porch, while I followed behind him.
I walked slowly behind Mark, who was striding angrily ahead of me, and while he continued to march ahead, my eyes caught a pole lying in the garden close by. It was a simple metal pole, but at that moment, it was the perfect tool I needed.
Glancing back at Mark, who was still a few steps ahead of me, I took a deep breath and stepped away from the path to pick up the pole from the ground
.
The object was quite heavier in my hands than I'd imagined, but that was less of the problem. The problem was right in front of me
I began walking behind Mark, the pole held tightly in my hands. I positioned myself right behind him and waited for the perfect time to strike. When he stopped to look at something on his phone, I saw my opportunity, and with all my strength, swung the pole.
I hit him hard at the back of his head.
I hadn't expected him to get knocked out that quickly. Despite all his bravado, he crumpled to the ground, unconscious after one blow to his head. Look at all that aggression sprawled on the ground with him.
After dropping the pole, I went to meet his assistant waiting outside the gate.
"Come and take your boss out of my premises," I said.
The assistant sat up in the driver's seat.
At first, he didn't seem to have understood what I was saying. Then, he looked behind me and sprang out of the car when he saw Mark lying on the floor.
"Mr. Torres, Mr. Torres!" he exclaimed, rushing to Mark's side, checking for any signs of consciousness.
Mr. Torres was out, unfortunately.
Even when the assistant tried to lift Mark up, he was too heavy. But he eventually was able to lift Mark over his shoulders and carry him away.
Mark’s hands dangled ridiculously over the man's shoulders. With some effort, the assistant managed to shove Mark's body into the backseat of the car.
Then he returned to me after closing the door
.
“Mrs Torr—”
I held out my hand to silence him.
“A new lady will soon inherit that title, please call me Miss Turner. Also, tell your boss that I will resend him a divorce agreement, please sign it as soon as possible, so we don't waste each other's time."
The assistant nodded with the kind of expression that said, ‘I don't mean to get involved’. He turned after a curt bow.
"Have a good day," I said into the wind after him as he settled into the car with his boss and started the engine.
I waited until the car had zoomed off into the distance before I finally turned away from there. And when I saw my front door again and remembered who was still waiting inside, the tension and fear that had left me earlier, returned.
At first, I thought to myself. Should I just take this opportunity to run away?
But something held me back, I didn't know what. I kept on walking to the door.
I pushed the door open after a deep breath and stepped inside. But I didn't go too far from the door, only using my eyes to search around for any signs of him. But he was nowhere. I walked even further into the house and looked around a bit more dedicatedly.
He really was gone.
I wouldn't have been able to explain the relief that descended on me right there and then, as well as the immediate anger that someone had actually come into my house despite the tight and expensive security.
Angrily, I marched to the landline and dialed the number for the security company.
"I need to upgrade the security system for my villa," I snapped as soon as I reached the other end, not bothering to sound friendly. "Villa number 27, in the hills. Your security system failed me tonight, and I won't tolerate it any longer. My life was in danger just moments ago."
The operator on the other end of the line was saying something but I was already too annoyed to listen patiently.
"We apologize for any inconvenience, ma'am," the operator apologized, "We will send a team to upgrade your security system as soon as possible."
I gave them my villa number again. "I expect your team to be here first thing in the morning,” I added and hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh. The events of the evening had rattled me already in a matter of minutes. Just when I thought I could finally rest, my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and sighed. It was my dad. I answered the call reluctantly.
"You must come to my birthday party this weekend with Mark!" Dad's voice roared through the phone, and before I could respond, he hung up.
I rolled my eyes in speechless frustration. Dad had always been adamant about me being with Mark, despite my repeated attempts at showing how much I hated it.
I pulled out my phone, opened the call log, and found my dad's number. With a firm press of my finger, I brought up the options menu and selected "Block Number." A confirmation message popped up, and I tapped "Confirm." The number disappeared from my contacts; outrightly banished from my phone.
I dropped the phone on the couch, sank down to the floor, my back against the soft cushions and rested my head tiredly on the arm of the couch.
Despite how angry and upset I was, I knew I still had to go back for a visit this weekend. It was dad's birthday, and it wouldn't be the perfect opportunity to announce my divorce from Mark. They needed that I was really serious about outing myself from it all.
MARK'S POVI groaned as I turned in bed. My head throbbed dully and I held it as I slowly rose from the bed. I looked at my surroundings and wondered why I was at home. I should be at work.I dropped my head in my hands and tried to remember. It didn't even take a second before the memories rushed back.My assistant had been able to locate where Sydney was and I had left every work I was doing to speak some sense into her. I remember that I had ordered her to follow me then…I frowned. Everything had gone black."That witch! How dare she hit me?" I gritted as I got off the bed. I glimpsed some medication on the drawers as I staggered out of my room.What was wrong with her? Why was she taking this far? I thought.The sound of wood banging against walls reverberated through the house as I threw every door open."Where the heck is she?!"The staff of my household just stood there speechless. Some of them flinched each time the door banged.I had asked where she was about a dozen times a
SYDNEY'S POVI couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of me as I took in the fourth special order for the day.Usually, Atelier receives a bunch of orders on a daily basis, and our employees take care of these orders. But if the jewelry order were to be custom made, the orders came directly to me.Right there on my screen was an order for two pieces of jewelry from Mark's assistant. It had been included in the preference space for it to 'stand out' from any of our jewelries, then he ended it with 'just name your price'.Typical. Only Mark would be so egotistic to make a request sound insulting. It was Mark's assistant that placed the order, but I was sure the order was on behalf of Mark. There was no way his assistant would be able to afford Atelier's custom-made designs for himself.I swiveled in my chair, whistling, "Time to make some extra millions."I turned back to my laptop's screen and reread the last phrase. My grin widened, "Oh. I am so going to name my price."Briefly, I won
MARK'S POVA knock came on my door."Come in," I called out without tearing my eyes away from the files before me.I heard the smooth creak of the door as it was opened. My assistant's voice drifted to me, "Luxe Vogue has replied, sir.""Hmm," I hummed, and nodded. "When will the necklaces be ready?""It's not about the necklace, sir. It's about the acquisition offer we sent them."I looked up and pushed my chair back. "Oh, really. When are we meeting to finalize the handover of the website?" I asked.It had been a coincidence that Atelier is partnered with the website I've had my eyes on for the past months. Their response hadn't come for months, but I had been relentless. I kept instructing my assistant to keep sending them emails.After Bella had left, I had searched about Atelier myself and damn! Bella was right. They made stunning jewelry. The quality of their stones was top-notch. It had filled me with pride and reassured me that acquiring the website was a good decision. It wou
I kept struggling, pulling at my hands and cussing out as Mark pulled me to the hallway, right beside the male section restroom. I stumbled after him, unable to keep up with his pace in my heels.Even in my wildest dream, I wouldn't have thought I might run into him here. I mean, in our three years of unfortunate marriage, I could count the number of times on the fingers of one hand I had seen him elsewhere apart from home. I had assumed he was always at work then recently, I concluded that he was either at work or in some fancy hotel fucking my sister."Mark, what is wrong with you?" I hit his fingers wrapped around my wrist with my free hand, "Let go of my hand."He didn't say anything, he just stormed ahead, his back rigid.Ever since I proposed the divorce, he seemed to have become a ghost out to hunt and haunt me, appearing everywhere I was.I let out a low groan as he slammed my back to a wall and pinned me to it. The depth of his deep blue eyes were fathomless and they had turn
I would have loved the rough way in which his lips kneaded mine, and I would have kissed him back with equal fervor if it was someone else. But this wasn't some stranger or lover of mine. It was Mark.I struggled between pulling him to me and pushing him away. I wanted to clamp my teeth on his tongue or lips as I did the first time, but I couldn't bring myself to. This feeling was confusing. I wanted him to stop and go far away from me, but, insanely, I was scared that he would actually stop. It was crazy.But I still struggled, and as I did, my eyes squeezed shut. I tried to speak even with his lips on mine. His tongue, somehow, made its way into my mouth. His body pressed on mine, and I could faintly feel the bulge in his trousers against my thighs.My struggles doubled, and a scream rose in my chest.My scream died in my throat because suddenly, his hands were off me, and I couldn't feel his body heat anymore.I brushed off the tiny tinge of disappointment and looked up to find a w
The cold night air hit my face as we both burst out of the door and the hairs on my arm stood erect. I was still grappling with the information that the bar owner was the one I had seen in my Villa.I had every right to call the police on him right now and maybe get this place searched. I mean, he had a gun that day but I had no evidence. I shivered, shaking the feeling that swept through me as I remembered the feel of the metal behind my back.Still lost in my thoughts, Mark pushed me into the car. He hastily and roughly fixed the seat belt around me as though I was some kid he needed to take home with immediacy."Where are you taking me?!" I clumsily pulled at the belt as I threw the question at his moving figure. He went around the car. The car slightly shook as he climbed in and slammed the door closed.His face was set straight, staring ahead as he blatantly ignored all the questions I threw at him."Where are you taking me, Mark?!" I asked deadpan."I'm taking you home! We're go
As I pulled up to dad's mansion, I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the inevitable confrontation. I knew he wouldn't be pleased with me showing up without Mark; he always wants me to scurry after Mark like some lost puppy. For a while, I'd admit, I had actually scurried after him. I had practically changed my life to satisfy them. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.I made the short walk to the mansion's courtyard; the courtyard faced the well kept garden. I had admired the garden when I first came. It was where I preferred to spend my time whenever they were fawning over Bella. The garden looked even more beautiful and we'll tend to. I was sure mum must have gone bunkers as she instructed the household gardeners on how to trim it right.The area was already bustling with activities. The servants were already up and down attending to the guests - young and old - that were seated around tables, each person clad in luxurious outfits and jewelry. Some young
The feeling that coursed through me was heavenly. And for the first time since I announced to Mark that I didn't want to stay married to him again, I felt free.After my announcement, the courtyard was shrouded in pin drop silence. Their eyes alternated between Mark and I then between dad and mum.I could see some young girls immediately shooting their shots. The already deep neckline of their dresses become even deeper, their amble blossoms half on display as they cast flirtatious glances at Mark. I didn't blame them. In truth, Mark was like a diamond among the many men in town. Who wouldn't be excited to grab such a man if there ever was a whisper that he was back in the market?Bella looked pissed, her hold still on Mark's arm.I wished I could capture the look on dad and mum's face right now and frame it. Their eyes bulged as they turned to me; I couldn't tell if it was out of panic or anger at me.Throughout the years I had been with the family, I had learned that Michael's famil