(Karis's pov) My mood that was already bitter, immediately dived down, seeing Emma smiling graciously near Xander. It brought back bad memories I never want to relive, but then again, I should not care if Xander is with her because, as far as I am concerned, this marriage is as good as over. "Good morning Emma. I was not expecting you to join us for breakfast." I chimed at Emma making my way to the table with a soft smile. I had to show them that none of what they are doing affects them in the least way. "I decided to visit you. I have been missing your presence at home." Emma replied, but her attention was glued to Xander, who was enjoying a cup of coffee. She misses Xander and definitely not me unless she got bored since there was no one for her to bully and call a country bumpkin. "You should have informed me ahead of time." I took a seat opposite Xander which was the farthest from him. It was a circular table so this had to do. Emma was seated at Xander's side
(Karis's pov) My heels clicked against the tiled floor; after leaving the garden, I stormed off to the grand stairs. No matter what I said or how I pretended not to have been affected by anything, it still enrages me to see how pretentious Emma was. The door slammed shut immediately after I entered my room; it was difficult to control my irrationality and now the poor door had become an outlet for my anger. My dress was completely ruined by Emma, and Xander didn't even comment and just let his lover wipe the corners of his lips. What was that all about? Were they trying to show off their love in front of me? That's just disgusting. A knock on the door distracted me and I moved towards the door to see who it was. Peeking out through the slightly ajar space I saw Deborah patiently waiting for me. "Good morning ma'am. I want to know if you prefer breakfast to be brought to your room or eaten in the dining area. I thought you might change your mind." Deborah blu
(Karis's Pov) "Karis, Karis!!" Bertha called out multiple times because I suddenly went silent. My daze broke finally when she snapped at me. "Sorry about that. I was distracted by something." I immediately mentioned my voice sounding a bit distant. "Is everything fine back home? You don't sound like you are alright Karis." Bertha sounded very concerned. It made my heart feel fuzzy remembering that my best friend always had my back. "It's fine. Emma decided to visit me, more like visit my husband, and they were discussing the family business." I gave Bertha a half-hearted explanation, clicking my tongue. Why was I even bothered about those two? I had already made up my mind to leave this marriage, so whatever Xander was up to with my sister didn't matter. Bertha went silent for a while understanding how my relationship with Emma was and especially how she acted during my wedding reception. A sigh left her lips before she replied. "Don't bother yourself with you
(Karis's pov) I started cussing Bertha over and over in my head for my predicament that the witch didn't tell me Bambi and the Devil was not just a spicy romance book but also a dark romance. How was I going to get out of this situation now? Xander had the wrong idea. Then it struck me how the hell did Xander know about the content of the book. "How do you know about the book content?" I squinted my eyes at him, giving him a quizzical look. The corners of Xander's lips curved up into a sly smile. His head then crooked to my neck burying his face there. He was sniffing my hair and it made me feel a bit fuzzy. "That's a secret but I can tell you if you are ready to know at a price." He said in a very low tone, making his baritone voice have a bass base. God, the way he spoke made me excited, but then the image from earlier popped into my head, and all the excitement disappeared. "I will pass on that Mr De Marco. I am not interested in anything related to you, maybe Emma
(Karis's pov) The smirk on Xander's lips was so provocative that I felt like smacking it off his face but I couldn't make any rash movements when I was this exposed to him. It was embarrassing how I almost gave in to him. "The day you are waiting for will never come. I would never give in to you. " I scoffed at Xander as my hands quickly started to cover myself up. Xander leaned towards me with the bridges of our nose touching. Both of his hands were caging me in between holding the table. Our eyes locked together and my throat went parched. I swallowed hard because of my dry throat, staring back at Xander, who was smiling teasingly at me. "We would see about that, my dear wife. I wonder what face you will have while begging dearly." Xander edged on with a smug expression. It made me wonder what made him so confident. "Dream on ." I scoffed at him. Xander's expression didn't crack. Instead, he straightened up his clothes and gave me his hands. My brows furro
(Karis's pov) I could not talk back because my mouth was filled with food, and spitting it out would be like I was disrespecting the chef's efforts put into preparing this meal. My mouth was making soft chewing sounds as I munched on the large bite Xander put in my mouth. Xander went ahead to continue eating, and for whatever reason in his head, he didn't let go of my waist. After chewing and swallowing, my mouth was finally free; I asked Xander very politely if he could let me down so that I could eat because my stomach started gurgling after getting a small bite of food. "Ah." Xander signified I should open my mouth. He brought another bite of food for me to eat. At this point, my veins started to pop out, but I still tried my best to keep my anger at bay. I shut my mouth close and shook my head wanting to defy him. What did he take me for a toddler he could feed? "You don't have to feed me, I can feed myself with my hands," I argued. It was getting hard by the seco
(Karis's pov) Later that day the package Bertha promised to send finally arrived. It was a beautiful dinner gown. I was not fond of the colour blue but this gown was something else. Bertha even sent it with matching sapphire jewellery. I pulled out my phone to text Bertha an appreciative message. Now I could go to the gala. At first, it was not my intention to go but after Bertha mentioned that some promising business partners would be attending I changed my mind about not going. My feet made soft sounds against the Polish marble floor as I made my way from the bathroom to the bedroom. The image of Xander buttoning up his jacket was the sight that invited me. He was wearing a dark blue tailor-made designer suit that was well-fitted. "Tch."I clicked my tongue in distaste as I realized that we had accidentally matched up our outfits. "Is that what you are wearing?" I asked him thinking of how I could make him change his choice because the dress Bertha chose could not b
27 (Karis's pov) The drive to the venue was awkward. I was not ready to strike up any conversation with Xander and preferred gazing through the window. I was thinking about what happened tonight in my past life. In that timeline, Xander didn't bother to ask me to go out with him. He said it was because I was not into social gatherings which was not far from the truth but if he had asked me then I would have jumped at the offer. Then I thought he was considerate of my feelings and how socially awkward I was. After my mother died years ago, my grandparents took me away to stay in their countryside estate where I lived until after college. By the time I was back, there was another daughter and wife in my father's house. Dad didn't pay much attention to me and was focused on the company. It was hard for me to integrate into the social circle and Emma has made sure to label me as a countryside bumpkin too. This made it difficult for me to enjoy social gatherings and made
(Xander's Pov) Life felt meaningless; Skyler was right; I killed her. After that day, I confronted him, I had investigated what happened the eve of Karis birthday between Emma and I. There were video footages from the hotel showing everything that happened in the hallway. Due to privacy issues there were no cameras in the room but from what I saw from the hallway my life was over. I had willingly followed Emma to the room, but I couldn't understand why I did something so stupid. I had ruined my marriage with my hands and my jealousy was to be blamed. If I hadn't been enraged by jealousy and stayed in the house waiting for Karis to return none of this would have happened. Karis had been at the hotel that morning with Bertha and most likely saw me in with Emma. That was what made her lose it completely. It turned out a friend of Bertha saw Emma and I leaving the club and secretly trailed behind us, that was why everything got revealed. But none of that matter
(Karis's pov)Loud alarm sounds started to ring in my ears. My whole body was in pain, and I kept hearing incoherent voices like they were panicking. "The patient's condition is not stable, her heartbeat is dropping.." someone seemed to have screamed. Is this another dream? They were speaking a strange language which I recognized but was still finding it a bit difficult to translate because my head was killing me My eyes fluttered open, and I could see faces; they had face masks on, and I was being pushed somewhere. My eyes were still blurry, but this sharp pain in my head made it hard to keep it open. A lady who was wearing a different colour of scrubs grabbed my hands, she spoke English to me because she wanted to communicate with me. She probably realized I was awake. "Relax, ma'am, you are going to be fine." She assured me. I wanted to stay awake, but it was hard to stay awake; I wanted to relax like my body was tired. The dream, yes, it was Mother. Maybe if I di
(Karis's pov) Summer, I always loved it not because of the warmth or its beauty but because of my birthday. "Karis, what are you waiting for? Your mother is waiting for you in the garden." I heard someone say and my eyes fluttered open. I was hiding behind the stairs, but what was I doing here? My eyes looked up to see a middle-aged woman dressed in former attire. I immediately recognized her “ Madam Deborah." I altered. "Yes, dear, we can't keep your mum waiting longer." Deborah stretched out her hand for me which I accepted. Deborah was my governess who retired after mum's death what was she doing here? No, rather, what was I doing here? My eyes darted around the room and immediately went wide as I recognized where this was. It was the Reynolds mansion when Mum was still alive; my eyes could spot an old picture of her hanging on the wall. "Dear child, what were you doing there?" I didn't know what I was doing there. My brain could not remember but my lips see
(Xander's Pov) She was dead; no, that was not possible. I watched her sleep last night and she snuggled up to me in her sleep. I could still remember the sheepish smile I had on my face seeing her subconscious actions. The A 587 flight had crashed a few hours after take-off near the coast of Europe. The authorities were still finding the crash site, but it was bleak. The chances of surviving a plane crash were very low, and my mind could not stop wondering what had happened that made Karis so desperate to leave me that she might be dead... That entire day, I didn't get any sleep as I exhausted every resource I had to investigate the plane crash. If not for the fact mum stopped me from travelling, I would have gone myself. She was traumatized by the news of Karis probably dying and had a breakdown worse than mine. Hours ticked by and all I could do was grip her wedding rings as I started to trace everything Karis did this past week.. Benji was already looking in
(Xander's Pov) Smile. That was what Father whispered into my ears when he shook my hand as camera lights flashed on us. I should be happy that the entire De Marco business empire was under my absolute control, but yet there was this hollow feeling in my heart I could not ignore. She left; I don't know why, but after my eyes caught sight of Karis sneaking off when her guards were distracted, it felt like a piece of my heart was taken away. I wanted to go after her or at least warn the guards she was gone, but the annoying paparazzi kept asking annoying questions about Karis's infidelity. Luckily, Ethan sensed my distress, and I was able to send a message to him, but since then, there has been no news from him. Dad and I were still standing in front of the crowd as the camera continued flashing lights at us. I tried my best to smile like my father said I should but my face just couldn't smile. My entire life, my mum taught me how to smile in front of the came
(Karis's pov) The clouds suddenly darkened, and a storm started, just like what happened in my past life; this flight had mistakenly gotten on a different route and ran into a storm that struck it from the skies. It made major headlines and I was crying the entire day in my room because Xander had travelled to Germany that day. I was scared that his jet had gotten involved in the same storm, but luckily, he didn't leave that day again. From outside the window, I could see thick clouds with lightning flashing in them. An ominous feeling was already hanging over my shoulders. The pilot's voice in the intercom tried to assure the passengers that everything was fine, but it was hard to fool people when we could see with our eyes that we were in trouble. "Please try to stay in your seat. Everything will be alright." The air hostess tried to get everyone to relax and stay in their seats. The plane shook again, and my hands clutched the bag as terror struck me. A scream rang from
(Karis's pov) My hands on the large box were clammy with cold sweats around it. Xander's office was large and beautiful but I cared less about the intricacy of the interior decorations and focused on my mission. My eyes darted around the large space until I spotted a small sitting area like a lounge and walked towards it. I placed the box on the coffee table. A sharp inhale entered my lips as I uncovered the box to make sure the cake was still in place. A weak smile graced my lips, seeing that the letters were still there. The words read, "Happy divorce Dear Ex husband." There was a wine in it for Xander to celebrate with. I checked my bag to pull out the document he signed yesterday. They were the transfer documents for the vineyard, which I mixed the divorce documents with. Xander had no idea he willingly signed our divorce. Even if it was not yet two months, by the time the document would be processed completely, the time frame would be complete. Th
(Karis's pov) If you want something done you have to plan meticulously. Today was the day Xander was going to be addressing the public in a press conference announcing his new official role as the chairman and president of the De Marco group. As his wife, I was meant to accompany him there, but I would rather not go anywhere with Xander, especially where he would be with his lover. By the time it was morning, he was nowhere to be found in the villa. I guessed he was super busy, which made things better for me. When John asked if I would be attending the event, I made an excuse that my body wasn't feeling so well, and I rather skip it out, which he understood. From the moment I saw Xander in bed with Emma, I knew this was going to happen, and nothing was holding me back. It has been exactly two days now and it was time to leave my hell. That was why I acted nice around him so that his guard would be down. I knew he would not miss me while I was gone. Th
(Karis's pov) The next day, Xander was out of the room before dawn; John said he had an important business meeting to attend. From my knowledge, it was an important stakeholders meeting. Antonio De Marco was going to hold a vote about giving Xander complete control over the business as his successor. Although Anthonio has recovered, his health is not at its peak anymore, so there is no need to stress himself with business when he has a genius like Xander. This morning, I decided to have breakfast in the garden, hoping it would help with the emptiness I felt deep inside, but despite my love for flowers today, I didn't feel anything when gazing at them. Because of the rain last night, the flowers were wet and the soil muddy, making the scent of the pollen mixed with the damp soil. "Mrs De Marco," I heard someone call out my name, I glanced over to the source of the voice. My eyes went wide with a faint smile hanging on my lips. "Hey Ethan," I softly replied, see