Chapter 0014

•DARLA•

“Mommy, when are you coming home? Are you on your way back?” Madison asked on the phone when we arrived at our hotel suite.

“Uncle Ethan and I will be home in a few days, baby, okay? Where’s Will?”

She sighed. “He went out with Penelope to get something to eat.”

“They left you alone?” I asked as I walked to the kitchen to grab something to drink from the fridge.

“They left me with Uncle Peter, Mom.” She answered, referring to our house guard whom we employed to keep an eye on the house and the kids when we were not around, including Nora - our housekeeper, and Penelope the children’s nanny.

“Alright, I'll call you back later, baby, okay? Take care of yourself and tell Penelope that you’re not allowed to have candy before bed.”

“Bye, Mom! And say hello to Uncle Ethan for me!” She quickly hung up the call, and I just chuckled because I knew that they would nag Penelope until she gave up all the snacks and candy that they wanted.

“How are the kids?” Ethan asked behind me as I turned around.

I groaned and walked past him with my bottle of juice and pickles. “They are fine.”

“You’re still mad at me.”

He followed behind me and sat down on the couch next to me, and I couldn’t ignore him anymore, after what he did back at the Houston Construction building.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I told you on our way here that I was going to stand by you no matter what, and that’s what I did when Elijah tried to talk with you.”

“Yes, he only talked with me, and I made it clear to him that I was over him. But what you did was to challenge him and make him think that he could try to get me back from you,” I growled.

“Would you have preferred I say nothing to him?”

“Yes, that would’ve been much better.” I leaned back on the couch. “You didn’t have to prove a point to him that we are together.”

“Are we together?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes at his question because we had been down this road before when he asked why I never allowed the kids to refer to him as their father since we were sharing a bed.

“Really, Ethan? Are we going to have that talk again?”

“You said that you’re my contract wife.”

I sighed as I sat up on the couch, searching for the right words to say for the conversation to end before we both ruined the night by saying things that we were both going to regret before leaving Atlanta and returning home to the kids.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, I was just trying -”

He scoffed as he got up from the couch and looked down at me, his nostrils flaring from anger. The veins in his forehead and neck were bulging out from his skin.

“You don’t have to explain yourself. You’re the one who’s in control of what’s happening between us, and if you don’t want your kids or the world to know that we are fucking and still legally married to each other, then it will be as you want. But I’m tired, Darla,” he sighed. “I’m tired of being there every time you need a good time, and when it comes to making things official, you turn around and make me feel stupid for even calling you my wife.”

“Ethan -”

He interjected me again. “I’ll have the bed. You can have the couch tonight and use the time that we have here to think about what you really want. Because if you’re not sure about me, then you have to make that choice before I make it for you.”

He then walked out before I could say anything to him. But the water was already split, and if I tried to say anything to him, it was probably going to create more problems and confusion.

I didn’t want to confuse my children and have them grow up thinking that Ethan was their father when they belonged to Elijah.

Besides that, Ethan and I extended our marriage contract because his business prospered while we were together and we feared that we would lose all the offers that we were receiving if they found out that he was a divorcee, so, we agreed to extend it and try to make it work until we didn’t have to.

I knew that I no longer wanted to be with Elijah and didn’t want Ethan to think otherwise now that we were back in Atlanta.

And just as I was busy thinking of a way out of my mess, my cell phone rang on the contour next to the couch, and it was a call from Amelia.

“Hey -”

“Why did I have to find out from an article that you’re in Atlanta?” She interjected me, snapping.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Amee. But I did mention to you that I would be coming to Atlanta for a conference meeting about the building of the public infrastructure in Detroit, remember?”

“Well, you didn’t tell me that it would be this week!” She complained. “Do you think that I would’ve gone almost the entire day if I knew that you were here? Where are you?”

“Relax, I’m still here. The conference will be going on for a week,” I sighed as I scratched my head, just thinking of how long the week was going to last.

“Are you okay? Is Ethan there with you?”

I got up from the couch, went to the balcony, and closed the door behind me because I didn’t want him to eavesdrop on my conversation and make things worse.

“Yeah, he's here. I just feel bad that I made him upset with me,” I breathed as I leaned against the wall.

“Why? What happened?”

“The problem is Elijah Houston,” I shook my head. “He tried to apologize to me, and when Ethan chimed in, I snapped and kind of exaggerated his statement.”

“I hope you know that Ethan’s the one who was there for you when he threw you out of his house and welcomed that bitch to take your place. If he tries by any chance to get between you and Ethan, I hope you’ll make it clear to him that you’re no longer the Darla that he married. Make him understand that the naive years of your life are long gone.”