REINA "I dont remember any one from the company that was putting on a red dress. That looks totally unfamiliar." I kept looking while squinting my eyes as I tried remembering who had wore a red dress to the company.My eyes scanned the camera footage, while my mind was racing with memories as i tapped the corner of my head slightly. I was certain no one had worn a red dress to the office, but as i watched the grainy video, no one stood out inside of my head.It was kind of hard to even think just by watching someone i didnt know, open my car so easily and entered; coming out after doing what they wanted like they owned the car."Come on, Reina, think," Ethan urged, his voice low and encouraging as he was looking himself, with eyes laced in scrutiny. "Even I was in the company and I can't even remember who wore such dress that stood out completely. I can't even be of much help since I'm constantly locked inside of my office.My brow furrowed in frustration. "I don't know, Ethan. I'
REINAI walked to Ethan's bedroom, my heart heavy with the weight of the truth but I had to tell Ethan, had to share the burden of this knowledge with him.After all, he helped in getting the footages and he would most definitely want to know. I knocked slightly on the door but no answer came and I wasn't sure if he was already fast asleep or if it was my knock that was just too low."Ethan." I called out as I knocked again but there was still absolute silence.I pushed the door open and luckily it was open, I peeked in and he was really asleep. How could he fall asleep this fast? I approached the bed, and saw him fast asleep, his chest rising and falling with each gentle breath. I stared at his peaceful face and smiled.I hesitated, not wanting to disturb him. He needed rest, needed to recover from his ordeal. I couldn't wake him now, not with this news.He was already physically hurt so I couldn't hit him with this while waking him up with such eerie news. It's a no.As I waited
REINA"I'm here to report Mrs Ravenna Walter," I said, my voice firm but trembling slightly as I pulled out my phone from my bag. You might ask why I was clutching to my phone nervously but even I knew that Ravenna was influential as much as I was.And this might be a little hard so I might be asked to provide proof sooner than later.The officer's expression turned serious and to be honest, that's the exact reaction i was expecting so it didn't surprise me."What's the nature of your complaint, ma'am?" he asked, his voice gentle but probing as hw stared at me in scrutiny. Though his mouth wasn't saying the words the warning to back off was all there in his expression but what's the fun in backing off?The time when I ran were over and it was time I stood in one place and take everything I lost back.I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart as I proceeded into dropping my complaints."She tampered with my car's brakes. I'm sure iwas supposed to have an accident, but her hu
REINA "Why are you acting like you don't care when I know that you probably want to yell at me right now?" I couldn't bottle up the question any longer. I needed to get it off my chest because what man would let you lock his wife up and even help you out.It all seemed shady to me and I felt like it would come back to bite me in my ass later."Care about what exactly? What are you talking about?" I pushed the door open and he stepped in while I paused at the entrance and stared at him."Dont feign ignorance with me, Mr Ethan." He raised a brow again and he usually only did that when he was confused."I don't know what you're talking about.""I'm talking of your wife—""Nah, I'll rather think of other things and no! We were actually splitted up and she overstepped her boundaries." And with that, he nodded questionably asking if I understand and I replied with a nod.As we walked into the house, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. Ravenna was finally behind bars, and i could start t
REINA"Seriously, Bruce? I am not Mrs Walter." I affirmed and Bruce just stared at me like I was messing with his head then sighed and began walking away.I chased after Bruce, my heart pounding in my chest. "Bruce, wait! Please listen to me. This is what I hate about you, you don't even want to hear from me. At least, listen to my explanation." I yelled and he stopped. Turning around, a mixture of surprise and annoyance on his face. "What do you want, Reina?" He raised a brow as he folded his arms across each other in a questioning manner.I took a deep breath, trying to explain. "I'm sorry, Bruce. I didn't mean to take the title of Mrs Walter. I just wanted to get past the nurses and take care of Ethan. I didn't mean to hurt you." He was just staring at me blankly and poker faced.Bruce raised an eyebrow. "You didn't mean to hurt me? You think taking someone's identity is just a minor mistake? What made you feel entitled into taking care of..." He trailed off and gestured towards
REINA Ethan's expression turned cold, his eyes hard. "You deserved better? Of course, you're right. You absolutely deserved better." He nodded cutting off the conversation and trying to concentrate on driving but I was too head over in my anger to just keep quiet.The argument ended shortly as he drove. We sat in silence for a moment, the tension between us palpable.The argument continued to escalate as we drove home, our voices raised in anger. Andrew, exhausted from the day's events, fell asleep in the backseat, oblivious to the tension between us.As we pulled into the driveway, I was still fuming. I got out of the car and opened the door to the backseat, gently lifting Andrew into my arms. Ethan didn't even offer to help, still sulking in his seatOr am I the one been paranoid? Is Ethan supposed to help with one of his broken hands?Reina! You're just been so irrational right now.I carried Andrew to his room, trying to calm down, but my anger and hurt still simmered just below
REINA"Are you leaving for work already?" I questioned walking after Ethan and he nodded. He was just acting like he wasn't the same person that has kissed me passionately last night and I felt sloghtly offended."Is there anything I'm to do before leaving?" He asked politely, his eyes darting all over the room except on me."No, are you healed enough to work properly?" I was trying to keep the conversation going but it seemed to me that he was doing his possible best to kill the conversation."Yeah sure, I'm in perfect health. Even well enough to stay alone." What was he implying? Was he trying to say that he was well enough to go back to him home?"Umm—""I'll see you at the office, Reina. I have a lot to attend to today so I better be on my way. Say hello to Andrew" And with that, he walked out of the house while I nodded subconsciously.I prepared myself for work and dropped Andrew off at school while I went to work. Still a little remorseful about my outburst at Ethan the day be
REINAJust as I was about saying something, Bruce barged into the house again."I'm sorry, I forget my wallet." Bruce said and I nodded having nothing to else because whatever exactly can I say."Of course, you did." Ethan sighed and I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it and shut the hell up.I stood in my living room, watching in dismay as Bruce and Ethan's argument escalated again.It looked more like were two women were bickering but not the funny kind of bickering.It had been two weeks since Ethan had been staying with me, and I had hoped that things would settle down by now. But Bruce's visit had brought up old tensions, and now the two men were shouting at each other and I don't know if they can recognize that there words are opening up old wounds and they just had to stop already."Bruce, stop!" I pleaded, trying to intervene as I held my hands up. My voice was loud and at least it brought the both of them to shut the hell up. "This isn't solving anything
ReinaThe hotel room was quiet, apart from the soft hum of the air conditioning. I sat cross-legged on the plush armchair, staring at the untouched glass of juice on the table.My luggage sat in the corner, still zipped shut. I had not bothered to unpack. This was not home. It wasn’t even close.I leaned back, rubbing my stomach slowly. My phone buzzed on the table, but I ignored it. No doubt it was Ethan again, calling to apologize, to promise that things would get better, to swear he was not hiding anything else. But how many times could someone make those promises before they started behaving like a sane human?The fight we had replayed in my mind for the hundredth time.“You don’t get it, Ethan!” I shouted at him, my voice cracking. “Every time you keep something from me, it feels like you are building a wall between us. How am I supposed to fight for us when you keep shutting me out?”Ethan had run a hand through his hair, feeling frustrated and confused. “I’m not shutting you
Reina I was scared of making a terrible decision. The air was heavy as I sat at the small café table, my hands cradling a lukewarm cup of tea. My eyes darted nervously around the room, scanning every face for any hint of familiarity. This meeting felt risky, but I had no choice. I needed answers. I had already made a decision a long time ago on how to deal with my relationship with Ethan. The door chimed, and in walked Sarah, her sharp heels clicking against the tiled floor. Her tailored navy suit and confident posture reminded me of the ambitious PR strategist I used to know. She spotted me and waved at me and her expression softened as she approached me.“Reina,” she greeted warmly, pulling me into a brief hug. “It has been a while.”“Too long,” I admitted, gesturing for her to sit.Sarah settled into the chair opposite me and leaned forward. “So, you said you needed help. I read about the scandal. It’s brutal. I wonder why someone would pull off something as terrible as that
ReinaI stared at the headline plastered across the screen of my phone: “Designer Reina Traps Billionaire Husband: Isn't she such a Gold Digger?” My chest tightened as I scrolled through the venomous comments flooding the article.“She is clearly after his money.”“Poor Ethan. He deserves better.”“I knew she was too good to be true.”“Okay, I like this. I have never liked that woman for any thing.”The words felt like daggers. Each one sliced deeper into me, leaving me raw and exposed. My hands trembled as I tried to lock my phone, but I couldn’t look away. O was shaking and deep down, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. Why was all these happening to me? This was because of the stupid man I fell in love with. Because of him, I have suffered a lot of things. I have been treated like a filthy rag and I was no longer respected. I was thinking of filing for a divorce and the thought of my son came to me again. I didn't want to drag him into this mess. “Reina!” Ethan’s
ReinaI sat on the edge of the couch, staring blankly at the rejection email on my laptop screen. My chest felt tight, as if someone had tied a band around it and kept pulling.“We regret to inform you…” the words blurred before my eyes. This was supposed to be my moment. My designs, my heart and soul, were rejected not because they were not good enough, but because I was not safe to associate with anymore.All because of the scandal on the internet. Ethan walked into the room, his tie loosened and his face weary. He carried a raging anger with him as he walked and his energy was practically crackled.“Reina,” he began, but I cut him off, holding up my hand.“Not now,” I snapped. “I just got rejected from the showcase. They said they can’t afford the bad press. Thanks to you, cheater.”His face hardened. “What?”“You heard me,” I said, shoving my laptop toward him. “This scandal of yours is ruining everything.”“Mine?” he barked, his voice rising. “You think I wanted this? Reina, som
Reina The last thing that I would believe without a visible evidence was Ethan cheating on me. I stared at my phone screen, the photo staring back at me like a ghost haunting my marriage. But this time, it was not just in a private message. It was plastered all over social media, accompanied by salacious headlines.“Billionaire Ethan Spotted with a fling.”My fingers trembled as I scrolled through the comments. Some people mocked the situation, while others speculated about the woman in the photo. There were even fake stories weaving tales of Ethan’s supposed sexual stories with her.My stomach rumbled and I was dumbfounded. I had gone from deceiving myself that this was not true to believing it in an instant. My husband’s name, our family, dragged through the mud like this, it was unbearable.I don't know why Ethan did something like this to hurt me. It was difficult for me to believe all of these up till now. But guess what? I was yet to approach him up till now. “Mommy, can
Reina“I was done for and my joy had been short-lived. I don't think I would be able to recover from this shock,” I muttered to myself. The house was still quiet except for the ticking of the clock in the kitchen. I sat at the table, staring at the blurry photo on my phone, the message below was still burning into my mind: “Is this your husband?”My chest felt heavy and like a heavy weight pressing me down, it made it hard for me to breathe. The image was a little blurry but I could not deny it.Ethan’s face was unmistakable, the curve of his jaw, the way his shoulders hunched slightly when he leaned in to talk. And the woman? She was a shadowy figure, even though her face was half-hidden, I could still notice her hair and the way they held themselves. The closeness between them made my stomach rumble. My fingers tightened around the phone as a thousand thoughts raced through my mind. Who sent this? Why now? We had just started putting the pieces of our life back together. Why
ReinaArriving there, the house I saw was everything we had dreamed of. It was gigantic with a lot of massive windows that enabled light to go through it. I had a liking for it already and didn't mind if we were going to live here for the rest of our lives. “It looks good. Why don't we pay for it? Relocating doesn't seem that bad. Besides, it's in another city.”“Sure. I will pay for it. I don't mind either. It's just sad that we keep running away from a lot of things. Both the unknown and the known.”“It's tiring, sweetheart. But what can we do? We are humans and we will always have a lot of problems.”Ethan shook his head while I kept admiring the building. The living room had very high ceilings and the furniture looked new and neat. The walls on the other hand were painted white and the floors were sparkling white that it gleamed as if they had never been walked on. The other me would have pushed against going to another city but when our lives were at stake, I could not say an
EthanI sat on the edge of the bed with my head in my hands. I have made a lot of terrible decisions and now the consequences have come crashing down on me. The room was dark, but even in the shadows, I could see the mess I had made of my life.How did it come to this? How did I become this man? The man who let his family slip through his fingers, who made promises he could not keep. I thought I was doing the right thing when I took that job. Becoming more rich and putting my name on the top richest chart was what I wanted. But now… now I have lost everything that matters.I betrayed Reina. Not just with that night I can’t erase, but with every lie I told to cover it up. I thought I could protect her, shield her from the storm I had created. But she saw through me, she always does. And Andrew… God, what kind of example have I set for my son?Tears burned my eyes, and I didn’t fight them. I deserved this. The shame, the guilt, the fear. I deserved to feel every ounce of it.“I’m so
EthanI kept to my words and I contacted Louis who told me where to meet him. Although, Louis made it clear to me that he had long retired from anything detective but he would help me. I arrived at the address a few minutes early and my nerves were already unraveling as I scanned the quiet parking lot.Where he told me to meet him was a small, rundown place on the outskirts of town, the kind of spot where no one asked questions. It was Perfect for this kind of meeting.The fluorescent lights inside flickered slowly as I stepped through the door, and some weird aroma hit my nostrils. I hated the smell. If I knew that this was what I would meet with, I would have worn a mask. A couple of people sat in a booth near the back and they were having loud conversations. My eyes moved around until they landed on Louis who was seated at a corner table with his back to the wall.He had not changed much since the last time I had seen him. He still had the same gray hair, same sharp eyes that