chapter 1

‘Brrring!’ Elena Windsor’s doorbell rang.

“I’m coming!” She yelled as she raced downstairs to the door.

She hoped it would be her husband, David.

Maybe he had decided to come back and spend the day with her.

Elena opened the door happily and froze as the smile on her face dropped at the sight of her sister, Evangeline.

“Um ouch!” Evangeline chuckled as she pushed past Elena and entered the house.

“You can’t just contain your excitement to see me,” she drawled sarcastically.

“You know it’s not like that,” Elena replied with an apologetic smile as she shut the door and followed her sister into the living room.

“I’ve just been bored and hoped David would come back to spend some time with me."

Evangeline scoffed and turned to Elena with an irritated look on her face.

“Isn’t this depressing? How do you live with yourself knowing you traded 90 percent of your life’s work just to sit at home? Bored,” Evangeline shook her head

“Evangeline,” Elena called in warning as annoyance pricked her skin.

“What?!” Her sister snapped.

“It's true, isn’t it? You sit here all day, every day, waiting and hoping for a scrap of your husband’s attention. It’s ridiculous!”

Anger blinded Elena. This was the exact reason she avoided seeing her sister.

So judgmental! Not like she had managed to get a husband of her own yet she reveled in criticizing David every chance she got.

“At least I’m married,” Elena sneered. “You’re twenty-five and you can’t even hold down a man."

Evangeline sighed deeply.

"Look," she paused. "All I’m saying is you shouldn’t be tied down at home.

You built the company; you are LENA Beauty itself yet you don’t get a single credit for all your work."

“I’m perfectly fine staying at home while David provides for us; thank you very much,” Elena replied defensively as she gave Evangeline an irritated look.

This was why she tried to avoid seeing her sister as much as she did! She didn’t enjoy the unsolicited criticism of her life. Not one bit!

“Elena, come on!” Evangeline whined in frustration.

“You can't seriously be content cooking and cleaning at home while your husband runs your company."

“Well, I think that’s how it should be. And David agrees with me!” Elena responded with a triumphant smirk as she sat on the sofa by Evangeline’s side, drew her knees to her chest, and rested her head on them.

“Of course he does,” Evangeline muttered under her breath in disgust.

“I feel sorry for you. I mean, if you think of it, you’re basically the breadwinner and the housewife,” Evangelyn chuckled in amusement.

“That’s very rude, you know," Elena sniffled, annoyed at being the object of her sister’s ridicule.

“David and I are happy this way. It just works for us. You wouldn't know a thing because you’re unmarried!”

“Alright, alright. Now you’re being mean,“ Evangeline said with a small smile as she raised her hands in mock surrender.

Elena let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she had been holding. It felt good for Evangeline to get off her back.

“So what do you do around here all day anyway? Besides hoping your husband would leave work early?” Evangelyn smirked as she reached for the TV remote.

“I watch TV sometimes." Elena rolled her eyes and began to scroll through messages on her phone.

The two sisters sat in harmonious silence as Evangeline put on the TV and began to flip through the channels with an uninterested look on her face until she finally settled on the local news.

“News? Really?” Elena asked in exasperation.

“Well, what else is there?” Evangeline replied with a small laugh.

Elena looked back down at her phone. Not, in the mood to get into another scruffle with her sister.

“Hey, Elena. What’s the last name of your rival again?” Evangelyn asked, her voice strangely high-pitched.

Elena looked up from her phone and gave Evangelyn a weird look.

“Which rival? What are you talking about?”

“The one from college who dated David first. Um, what’s her name, CHELSEA? Yes, Chelsea. What’s her last name?” Evangelyn asked again with wide eyes.

Elena was truly baffled by her sister but she knew exactly who Evangeline was talking about and decided to indulge her.

“Rodriguez. Chelsea Rodriguez. Why?” Elena asked curiously as she dropped her phone and stared at her sister.

“You might want to take a look at the news,” Evangelyn whispered.

Elena turned to look at the TV in confusion, what she saw made her stand up in alarm.

“-have been released today. The following are the names of inmates.

“Paula Peterson, Jennifer Brank, Dutch Henderson, Chelsea Rodriguez…”

Elena stared at the TV in disbelief. Right there, staying back at her was a mugshot of a face she knew only too well.

“Did you know she was getting released on probation?” Evangeline asked in worry.

“No. I-“ Elena shook her head in confusion.

“She got convicted for 15 years. Her recklessness almost killed Mr Whitterson,”

Elena’s legs gave out under her and she dropped back into the sofa.

“How can they release her after only five years?”

“Does David know?” Evangeline asked the dreaded question.

“I don’t know, I just—“ Elena’s hands shook badly as she unlocked her phone and dailed David’s number.

“Calm down, Lena. It might be different this time,” Evangeline tried her best to comfort Elena but her words did nothing to calm the storm raging in Elena’s stomach.

“Ringggg! Ringggg! Ringggg!” The phone rang endlessly but David didn’t pick up the call.

“Pick up, dammit!” Elena screeched in frustration

“Years have passed. She might not be a threat anymore,” Evangeline tried to reason.

“She has always come after everything I have. You know that! Besides David was in love with her and dated her for the entirety of college.”

Elena crouched on the floor beside her broken phone and began to couple it back together.

“If she hadn’t drugged Mr Whitterseen to steal exam papers and almost killed him in the process, she might not have ended up in jail and I most definitely wouldn’t have ended up with David” Elena’s phone came on and she dialed David’s number again .

“B But David loves me now and we’re happy! I can’t let her take that away from me,”

Ringgg the call went to voicemail again.

“Just pick up!” Elena screamed in frustration.

“Elena calm down! If he won’t take his calls, we can track him–”

“Track it!” Elena begged, cutting her sister short.

“Alright, hold on. Lemme just…” Evangeline trailed off, and the sound of her fingers clicking across her phone screen filled the room.

Found it!” She squealed in excitement.

“Is he at the office?!” Elena whispered.

“I’m sorry, Elena. He’s at the Royal Mently Hotel,”

“Get up! Let’s go!” Elena snapped in frustration as she angrily wiped away stray tears that leaked from her eyes.

********

35 minutes later, The Royal Mently Hotel

“We’re here,” Evangeline said, pulling up to the front of the massive five-star hotel.

Elena’s hands balled into fists and she began to shake.

“Are you okay?” Evangeline asked softly.

“Yeah I just—I can’t…I”

“It’s okay; I get it. Just wait here; I’ll go in and deal with it for you." Evangeline pressed a kiss on her sister’s cheek and exited the car.

Elena scrunched her nose as the orangey smell of her car air freshener filled her nostrils. It made her stomach turn and she pressed the button to wind down the window.

After a few agonizing minutes, Evangeline came out the front of the hotel door.

Elena strained her neck to see if a guilty-looking David was trailing behind her sister or possibly stuck behind the hotel’s glass doors.

But nothing. As far as her eyes could see, anyway.

“Yes?!” Elena’s heart raced faster as Evangeline slipped into the car.

“Relax, he wasn’t there,” Evangeline chuckled “Just his phone.”

Elena’s gaze dropped to Evangeline’s hand and the familiar black phone she dropped in the compartment between them.

“He had a meeting this morning, out in the hotel’s restaurant, in the open, and left his phone behind.” Evangeline finished with a reassuring smile.

Relief flooded through Elena and she let out a soft chuckle.

“I knew it. He’s not cheating on me,” Elena muttered with a slight smile at her sister as Evangeline started up the car engine and pulled away from the front of the hotel.

Elena’s lips split into a wide smile as total relief washed over her.

“You had me worried for nothing. You really need to stop putting ideas in my head."

“What did I do?” Evangeline chuckled.

“You’re the only reason I doubted David enough to come here in the first place." Elena playfully slapped Evangeline’s arm.

“It’s fine. David might not be cheating, Elena, but that doesn’t mean his relationship with you is healthy either,”

“Don’t worry, we’re fine” Elena replied as the car engine came roaring to life and they resumed their drive.

They drove to Evangeline’s house first, dropped her off then Elena took the wheel.

*******

The Windsor Mansion

Elena got home feeling much better than when she had left. David wasn’t cheating and she trusted him.

Her grip on her cell phone tightened as she made to enter the passcode for her front door and realised it was already open.

David! He had indeed come to spend the day at home with her!

Buzzing with excitement, Elena pushed open the door and began to make her way up the stairs.

“Ooohh,”

A sound from Elena’s bedroom had her stopping in her tracks.

What was that? A burglar?

Elena’s hands trembled as she fished out her phone from her purse and dialled 911.

“Oooh!” The sound came again, louder this time.

Elena’s heart thundered. Her hands felt along the wall where she knew David had hung his equipment and sure enough! There was his baseball bat.

She placed her phone between her head and her shoulder, tightened her grip on her baseball bat, and stealthily walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Yes! Yes! Ooh!”

The sounds grew louder and more audible.

With disbelief rushing through her, Elena pushed open her room door and stared in horror at the sight before her.