CHAPTER 16- COLD

AUTHORS POV

"Hello, who's this?" Archer's voice disturbed the silence in Sydney's Mercedes.

Sydney answered in a weak tone, " It's Syd- Mrs. Reed."

"Oh, Mrs. Reed, what a surprise. How may I help you?"

"Could you give my husband the phone, please? His phone seems to be out of battery."

Archer sounded skeptical, "Um... Okay, I'll do just that."

Sydney's heart sank. She had hoped he'd say Gavin was in Paris. She had seen Archer in the Spa on Saturday so she knew he didn't go with Gavin. How couldn't she have noticed Gavin was lying? Archer always went wherever Gavin went as long as it was business-related.

"Archer!" Sydney called immediately.

"Yes, Mrs. Reed?"

"Forget it, I'll wait till he returns home...and Please don't tell Gavin I called you."

Archer hesitated but replied, " Yes Mrs. Reed, I'll do as you say."

_____________

"The door is open!"

Archer walked into Gavin's office with a mug of coffee. The office took up almost half of the top floor of the massive skyscraper. The offices on the top floor were for the three highest ranks in the company. Gavin's office was centered in the middle. The offices were separated by smart glass doors. Sophisticated high-quality upholstery conference chairs took up half of his office space.

Gavin sat behind his office table with documents all over it while he answered a call.

Archer placed the coffee mug on the table. He looked at Gavin in surprise. His eyes darted from Gavin to the clearly 'not-run-out-off-battery phone.' Or did he switch his phone off because of his wife?

Gavin looked at him when he noticed him staring. "Are you going to keep on standing there or leave?!"

Archer swallowed hard and quickly exited the room. Gavin turned his attention back to the receptionist over the phone.

"What about my wife?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Reed. I tried stopping her, but she demanded to see you."

Gavin frowned in confusion. See him? How did she know he was here? "It's fine. I'll be waiting for her." He ended the call. He talked to the person he put on hold over the telephone shortly and stood, waiting for Sydney.

Without knocking, Sydney pushed Gavin's office door open. Her confidence seemed to dissipate when she caught Gavin's cold glare.

He didn't look like he cared, he took the coffee mug and said in hostility, " At least close the door if you are going to barge into my office without knocking."

Sydney closed the door, not because he asked her to, but because she wanted privacy. None of them went close to each other. "You aren't going to give some excuse?"

He sipped the steamy coffee, "Excuse about what? Please cut to the chase. Why you are here? I have a board meeting in ten minutes."

Her eyes gleamed and she walked towards him. She scrunchized for any sign of love in his eyes but all she saw was venom. " You lied to Ethan and Emily. You told them you were in Paris, and now you are acting like you didn't do anything."

He was hot and ready for her, " Watch your words. I didn't lie; I went to Paris; the trip went faster than I expected it, so I returned earlier."

She folded her arm around her chest. She was a few feet away from him. " And you didn't bother telling me or the kids?"

"I would have told the kids, but they didn't pick up the freaking phone."

Her tone turned calm."And me?"

Bristled, he replied savagely, " Not everything is about you Sydney."

"Since when has anything been about me?" She closed her eyes and released a breath, trying to be calm. Opening her eyes, she looked at his glacial ones, " That's fine. Why didn't you come home?"

"I had something important to do."

She scoffed and shook her head. " In a hotel with a woman that isn't me?"

His expression remained stiff. She wanted him to deny it but he didn't. " Thank you for being understanding." That sarcasm was the final straw.

Sydney snapped, " Understanding! How shameless can you be Gavin?! Don't you have a conscience? How can you cheat on me? Didn't you think of our children? How can you do this to me." She cried hitting his chest.

He stared at her unreadably. " When it's done to you, it feels painful, right?" his tone was filled with spite.

She glared at him, "Don't you dare point fingers at me. I didn't do anything with any man, if you and all those stupid women flocking over you have an eye, you would have noticed that image was far-fetched."

Gavin wanted to burst with anger. " Tell me, Sydney, was Xavier being my child also far-fetched?" He growled.

Sydney's hands flew to Gavin's face. His words fueled her anger. " How can you say that? How can you disrespect Xavier like this?"

Gavin stared at her, shocked by the slap she had given him. Gavin suddenly exploded, " If he's my baby, why did you kill him! I warned you to take care of yourself but you wouldn't listen! You are the reason all this is happening. If you had listened from the start and not gone to college we wouldn't have been in this mess!"

"Look at yourself, you aren't Sydney. You aren't the woman I fell in love with. My wife died the very day she decided to go against me. I don't know who are what you are but..." He pointed at her and clenched his fist tightly when he saw how mortified she looked. "you are not my wife. You are not the woman I used to love."

Sydney stood still, shaking; her tears went stiff. Her throat grew lumps but she managed to speak softly. "You make me unhappy."

Gavin sneered and took some papers off his table. He raised it to her, " Since we both are unhappy about this marriage, here, sign the papers and end this."

Sydney cleaned the tear that fell out of her eyes and stared up at him. " You may make me unhappy but I still love you and our kids. I would never hurt them since you don't care about their feeling anymore."

Gavin's eyes twitched. " You must be so happy your plan is setting into action. It must have felt so good turning them against me. It's alright just get out!"

"You are a terrible father. You are a terrible man. How could you be with another woman when you have a wife and two children. You are an irritable insensitive man! Ethan would-"

Sydney gasped when Gavin raised his hand to hit her. She looked at him with wide eyes and moved back. He wanted to hit her, just like her father hit her mum.

She managed to say in a shaky voice, "You should be ashamed of yourself." She headed for the door.

Gavin knew she was thinking about her parents and immediately regretted his action. "Sydney I'm-"

But she was gone before he could apologize. He didn't bother chasing after her. Sydney stood in the elevator staring at the stony wall. Someone asked if she was okay but she didn't respond. She couldn't hold it again and broke into tears. The people in the elevator with her muttered to themselves. They wondered what Mr. Reed had said or done to his wife that made her cry.

Like the world was against her, it began to rain heavily as she stepped out of the building.

She walked under the rain like a depressed puppy. She knew Gavin was watching her from the top floor but she didn't want to look.

Unintentionally, she crashed into someone dressed in a familiar plaid shirt.