Darcy
"Ma'am, I'm sorry but I can't let you in," the Stony faced security guard at the gate said.
"Excuse me?" I asked, brows inching up to almost my hairline, "What do you mean by that? This is my home. It's me, Darcy. Vincent's wife."
If I was expecting the man to suddenly start apologizing and opening the gates, I was sorely disappointed.
He stared at me with irritation, "We have clear orders from the boss to not let you in. And to remove you through any means necessary if you try to defy his orders."
Shock rendered me speechless for a few moments, "No. This is impossible! It has to be a mistake. Call Vincent. Or Cora. Even the housekeeper. They will confirm that I'm supposed to be in there."
"You're creating a scene, ma'am."
"And I'll continue to create one till this mistake has been cleared up," I said desperately. It had to be a mistake. The guard had to have gotten me mixed up with someone else.
Even as I assured myself with those words, a strange feeling had began to settle in the pit of my stomach and there was an awful niggling in my head. Something was wrong.
Something was really really wrong.
"What's all the noise about?" Cora's high pitched voice snapped.
I glanced through the bars of the high gate and saw her approaching in a black skin tight leather jump suit and sky high heels. She looked even more sexy and breathtaking than usual, but there was a cruel smirk on her mouth that was foreign on her face.
"Cora," I let out a breath of relief, "I'm so glad you're here. I woke up in the hospital and you weren't there."
She unlocked the gate and to my surprise, she stepped out and latched it behind her, "What are you doing here, Darcy?"
"what do you mean by that? This is my home."
Her face screwed up in an expression of disgust, "Your home? You're mistaken. You don't have a home. You're a penniless, street rat with a hideous face who should have been put down like a dog years ago."
I staggered back as the force of her words hit me and I rushed to brush my long hair forward to cover the left side of my face which had the majority of the scarring.
Suddenly, I felt like the me of a year ago again. The Darcy who had walked around with her head down, weak, terrified and miserable.
"Wh-what are you saying? This isn't you? Where's my husba_"
I felt the sting as her knuckles smashed against the side of my face, knocking me down to the ground and ridding me of my words.
"Don't you dare call him yours. Vincent is mine!" She snarled, "Do you know how disgusting it was to watch you everyday stare at him with your moony eyes? How humiliating it was to pretend to be his associate? You can't imagine what I've been through for the past year while a hideous creature like you wrapped her hands around my man repeatedly in my presence."
My mind was trying and failing to compute what I was hearing and seeing. My husband was her man? How was it possible?
"You're lying! Why are you lying? Stop being so cruel."
Her eyes flared with hatred, "shut up! I feel like throwing up just looking at you. How could you ever think that a wealthy, good looking man like Vincent would ever, ever, stoop so low as to pick an interest in you and marry you? How delusional of you."
Something caught my eye over her shoulder and I looked past her to see my husband leaning against one of his sportcars, puffing on a cigarette.
Since when did he start smoking? Had everything I had known about him been a lie?
"Why did you do this?" I screamed at him, "If I was so disgusting to you, you should have just left me alone to continue my suffering."
He rolled his eyes and tossed his cigarette to the floor, "Stop wasting time, baby. Get rid of her."
"No!" I screamed, trying to scramble to my feet, and race after him, "I love you. Please don't do this. Don't break the last pieces of my heart. I'm your wife."
Letting out an annoyed growl, Cora caught my hair in her hands and yanked me back. I screamed, falling back to the ground.
She stared down at me with amusement, "You're not his wife, bitch," she raised her hand to showcase a heavy diamond ring sparkling on her fingers, "I'm his wife. We were married in secret long before you came into the picture. And I'll continue to be his wife long after you leave the picture. The marriage documents you signed were all fabricated."
Tears streamed down my eyes freely, blurring my vision and I felt my stitched together heart rip all over again. I had been played for a fool, and it was all my own fault for having big dreams and hopes.
"My child," I whispered, "Just give me my child and I'll leave."
Cora threw her head laugh and a peal of laughter tore out of her painted red lips, "You should really have died in that hospital. I had a feeling you would be trouble."
The words I had thought had been from a horrible dream echoed through my head, 'Leave the bitch to rot'. It hadn't been a nightmare after all.
"I just want my child," I sobbed.
Laughing, she turned to the guards standing behind her, "Finish her off."
Before I realized what was happening, kicks and punches were raining down on me from every direction. I screamed and sobbed and begged till I couldn't do them anymore, and then I curled into a ball on the ground and prepared to die.
"Ugly little monster," Cora hissed, "I'm doing you a favor by ending your miserable existence. There's nothing left for you anyways."
And then she bent to her knees and reached for my hair.
"No, please," I croaked weakly as I felt the first snip, my long hair falling off my head as Cora sliced through it, ignoring my weak pleas.
"And as a parting gift," she drawled, voice full of delight. A burn of pain ripped through my face as she dragged the sharp tip of the scissors down the unscarred side of my face, engraving a thick line from my hairline down to my jaw.
I screamed in pain as blood began to pour down my pain.
"Rest in pieces, Darcy."
I lay there, feeling my life slip away, too drained to even cry. I may have lived my whole life with a horribly scarred face and been branded a monster, but that day, I realized that there were people worse than monsters.
Darcy "I don't know how she managed to survive," the shocked voice was the first thing I heard as I woke up. I tried to blink my eyes open fully, but I couldn't see out of one of them, and the other eyelid felt too heavy for me to lift. Where was I? Was I dead? Was this heaven? I glanced down at my body and felt bile crawl up my throat. White bandages had been wrapped around me from head to toe. I looked like an embalmed body. With a cry of horror, I staggered out of the bed, almost falling flat on my face. The tray at my bedside crashed to the ground along with a clipboard. The clattering sound caught the attention of the two uniformed women in the room with me. "Ma'am, what are you doing?" The shorter one cried, as they began to race toward me. Determination pumped through my vein like adrenaline and I dragged my exhausted body through a door to the side and shut it behind me, twisting the knob to lock it. "Call Doctor Peters!" I heard one of them bark. "Ma'am, please come o
DarcySeven months later "... The wife of one of the acting COOs of Madigan enterprises has released a a statement defending her husband, Vincent Madigan, and saying that he had nothing to do with the_" "Turn it off," I barked. The car was plunged into silence as the cab driver immediately turned off the radio. I let out a sigh of relief and pulled out my compact mirror to check my reflection for the umpteenth time, reassuring myself that my face hadn't gone back to being twisted up and scarred while I hadn't been paying attention. I raised a hand and touched my new face, still doubting the miracle that Doctor Peters had worked on my face. "We're here ma'am," the driver's voice cut through my musings and I jerked my head up to stare at the intimidating high rise building before me. "Thanks," I handed him some dollar notes and stepped out of the car, bracing myself for the stares and whispers and gasps, but just like it had been for the past few weeks, none of them came. Instead,
Darcy"What?” I stared at the man in front of me with cold eyes . “The hell are you talking about now?”My mouth felt drier than a desert. The only thing that was keeping me sitting was my clenched fists, tightly clutching at the sleeves of my blazer. I fought against all the emotions and instinctual urges to throw them at his stupid face.“9” He began again.“You can't possibly be..”“8, 7, 6, 5, 4…” Rhys kept going on faster than the first time and I looked around as if a miracle would happen.“1…” He wasn't kidding and when I didn't say anything, he was already walking away.I saw my revenge plan slowly slipping away from me.“Wait!” I said it louder than I had intended to. “I will marry you” He turned back to me, smiling like a shark preparing for the feast, “Now.”I wanted to kill him. I really did. What did he mean by now? “Now?” I repeated after him, feeling my blood pressure rising with every passing second, not quite believing what he had just said.“Yes now. Shall we?” And
DarcyThe rest of dinner went in a blur. I couldn't remember what happened, all I wanted was an opportunity to hold my son again , and that's all he seemed to want too; he wanted to be held so desperately it almost hurt me to look at him, but even that wasn't good enough, he just needed to be near me, and I wanted that so badly.Rhys drove me home, I didn't ask him about how he knew my apartment like I had wanted to anymore because it didn't matter now. For two days after that dinner, I was unable to sleep. The sound of my child crying woke me up every single night, and sometimes I even cried as well. Today I got back from work and as I walked into my apartment, it was empty.Totally empty!My heart sank, had I been robbed? No, no. That couldn't have happened. I was told it was the good part of town. I ran over to Mr Albert who lived next door, he owned the house.“I have been robbed Sir, my apartment is empty. They took everything”. My voice quivered as the tears were trying to mak
Darcy“Surprise!” Vincent and Cora said that morning with those traditional fake smiles plastered on their faces.I looked at Rhys to see if his face gave off any hint of why they were here but I got nothing. It only meant that he was not aware of their visit or he just had his usual blank stare.“Why are you here?” Rhys's voice was so casual.I knew for a fact that they couldn't stand each other.“To have breakfast and Cora really wanted to catch up with your wife, what’s her name again?” Vincent asked as his eyes scanned every inch of my body before landing on me. He had an intense look in his eye as he stared at me while waiting for my response.“Tessa,” I tried not to cringe under his gaze. This man had no shame. I was repulsed by the fact that I was once in love with him. There was no sign of the child anywhere and it made me wonder how often he was left with a nanny. They should have just left him with me!“Lovely name for a lovely woman” Vincent continued but Cora cleared her
Darcy “Wear the dress, we have a gala to attend tonight, don't embarrass me” Those were Rhys' words once he got home. He dropped the bag beside me in the living room and made his way upstairs.I stared at him wondering why he was so grumpy and if something had crawled up and died in his ass.Regardless, I wore the dress he got. It was a simple armless black dress but something about it made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was the thigh-high slit or maybe it was simply because I was still insecure about how I looked even though my face was a whole new one.I could feel Rhys eyes on me when I walked towards him in the dress. I felt slightly flustered but I didn't show it. He didn't deserve to know he made me feel weird.Without a word, I followed him to the car, and he drove.“Smile and act like you are my wife when you get there. Don't act stiff beside me” , he spoke, barely sparing me an eye as he kept his gaze fixed forward on the road.I nodded my head in response. I wanted to say that t
RhysWhen we got inside, I saw Alex, Clarissa and Sophia. We had all gone to Harvard Business School together and were familiar with each other. Clarissa clung to me like a second skin. She and I had a thing once too many times and sometimes we still fuck whenever we found it convenient but right now I was not in the mood.“Did you hear that he bought Event 45?”One of the men randomly chirped in and the conversation kept moving from one subject to another.“Are you avoiding me?” Clarissa asked me after a failed attempt to urge me for a quickie. She was still clinging to me.“Of course not, why would you think that?” I tried to act innocent, I really did. But my heart wasn’t there either. It just felt cold and lifeless at the moment. This was how life usually goes, I didn't feel anything other than sexual attraction to all the women I had been with.“So you are really married?” she continued in a tone of voice that implied she already knew the answer but wanted me to confirm it anyway.
RhysDialled her number couple of times but wasn’t connecting, " It hasn’t been up to 24 hours I left and I’m pretty sure she still within the premises, which I know there’s definitely no down time with network that I’m pretty sure of".I muttered to myself and continued dialling her number cause I wasn’t ready to give up either, I deperately needed someone to help get me out of the feelings I was at the moment and Clarissa was the only person I could think of." Thank goodness" I said exhaling deeply" Hey Rhys, what’s up with the calls, is everything alright?" Clarissa said sounding tensed but I seriously do not want her knowing my reasons over the phone so I tried to make it look like I forgot something back there at the gala." Yeah, everything is fine Clarissa I just wanted to find out if you are leaving the gala soon?" I stuttered but she doesn’t seem to buy that, to her it’s actually a silly reason to give someone such a number of missed call, " Please Rhys come off it already,
Rhys“You have five minutes” I wasn't bluffing when I said this, I needed to understand why she was truly here. This could not all be a coincidence, I knew better than to think that. This could be some sort of trap and I wasn't going to fall for it.“Rhys…” She began stepping closer to me and I moved back.“Tell me why you are here” I repeated my request “And for the love of God don't try to touch me or lie” I added a last part for good measure. “I am here because I want you back, I want to be better for you, for us ” She replied.I stared at her with disbelief etched in my features but she had an unbreakable determination that she was not going to budge from her stance. “We could do this now if it weren't so inconvenient…” She continued “I am prepared to wait if you aren't ready” I looked at her to be sure this was not some sort of silly joke.“You cheated on me Blair, with my best friend of all men. I did everything for you, every fucking thing you asked...and then I find out you
RhysThe voice note was blank. I turned my volume to its highest to be sure I wasn't deaf and I didn't hear anyone's voice, only quiet breathing.'Is this some kind of joke?' I asked myself. 'Is she trying to tease me or what? Why will she send me a fifteen minute voice message of nothing. I'm worried sick for her and she is busy making jokes.''Or maybe she was trying to say something then, she slept off?' A different thought came to my mind.I checked my other phone to know if Aspen had responded to my last email. She hasn't too.'Something is wrong somewhere.'I was about sending Aspen another email when my mom called.'Shit!' I said a silent curse as I put the call through. I haven't called her since I got to Los Angeles."Hey Mom. I..." I bit my lips trying to find the right excuse to say to her.She didn't even wait for me to speak. "Do you know how worried I was? I have been trying to reach you and you didn't bother to pick. It seems to me that your work is more important.""Mo
RhysI took a break from work today and it felt like it was the longest break I had taken since forever and my phone was buzzing continuously. I didn't dare check who was calling until I let the battery die and refused to charge it on purpose.I wanted to stay invincible, to pretend that none of this was real like the rest of the world was oblivious of my troubles. But I couldn't. This was my life now, and the most recent development in my personal hell was that Tessa was slowly starting to notice.I mean, she doesn't know anything, I told myself as I typed on my keyboard but she had been spending a whole lot of time asking if I was alright, and when I couldn't take it anymore, I avoided her as well. Thank God she was in a different room now.It wasn't working, the meds were not working, and the painful throb in my head didn't seem to disappear, and the voices?They had grown a thousand times larger than the last, each louder than the other and making me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t
RhysFor a lady who was 5 '3 she sure did have a lot stored up in her. And while I took her for the late-night drive, just to make it up to her, she dozed off from all the anger she was trying to keep inside her. Her mouth was partly wide and I chuckled at how adorable she looked. Weird. I didn't go around chuckling at ladies.Suddenly her eyes slowly fluttered open. as if she felt herself being gently shaken. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and squinted them to try and focus on what was happening. And she realized that she was still in my car.Her light blue eyes met mine and I drew in sharp breaths, taking notice of their color. They were deep and captivating, and they gave everything a certain mysterious quality I couldn't - can't explain.“We are here” I forced myself to say. Turning my attention from her eyes and lips. I would have kissed her right now and taken her back home to do all of the sinful things running through my mind. if she was one of those girls. But she
Darcy “I want to go alone” I said loudly looking at Rhys as if that would change his mind. I was tired of repeating the same routine, tired of being watched like a child. It didn't give me enough room to think of what to do next. I didn't know the updates on Vincent and Cory and most especially of my son. It was like like moving in endless circles.“You can’t go alone, I can't let that happen”“Why? You don't own me Rhys and you know it. You can't force me not to be myself."“No one is stopping you from being yourself. Being yourself doesn't include being reckless when you know someone out there probably wants you dead” he snapped in a low voice. His eyes were hard. Rhys knew how stubborn I could get and even though he was right, it still angered me.“I am tired, I need time alone!”“Time alone only to end up almost half dead again? or almost raped or pounced on by your demons, which of them?” His words cut through me like a knife. He knew damn well what those thoughts did to me. I
Darcy“You need to stop watching me like a hawk” I was finally free to leave the hospital and Rhys was acting differently and it made me uncomfortable.“The plan was to pretend that we are married and not for you to die. So no, I wouldn't stop watching you like a hawk. You can't leave this house without the driver and two able men outside, at least until your condition is stable enough to be left alone. We don’t know who or what we are truly dealing with. I would never allow something like that to happen again, especially from recklessness” He had said it as he walked through the room, going through his closet.I looked at him and felt so out of place here. “This isn't my life” I wanted to scream but I didn't.Claire treated me as if I was an egg shell, scared I'd break at the slightest touch. And she always seemed to be watching me when we were together. I was just... stuck in this house, watching Vincent work his way around while I tried not to think about what happened next.His col
RhysNever had I seen anyone struggle so hard with their demons as Tesaa demons struggled with hers. Even if it were only for a few moments. It wasn't like seeing the woman who was fast to give comebacks once I said a word, it was like seeing someone different, broken, and damaged beyond belief. Even worse because she looked like such an easy target that my first instinct was not kill but rather help her escape the hell that held her prisoner. “Are you alright?” By now she was awake again after falling into unconsciousness.She didn't say anything, she didn't look at my face, she was staring into nothingness with no recognition on her face, only in her eyes. She could have been looking directly into an abyss or straight through to another dimension.“Tessa?” I called out but she didn't acknowledge me. I stood up and went to sit by her bedside but she curled up as if afraid of being touched. “Hey, hey,” I put my hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her, “What's wrong? What's wr
DarcyWhen I opened my eyes, the lights seemed too bright for me and I groaned.It felt like I couldn't move as I tried to look around at the unfamiliar surroundings, trying not to be dizzy from the lack of movement. Did I die? Was I in heaven? Was this after life? Why did afterlife feel so small and the walls too plain? The air smelled wrong and the floor look too hard. l Where am I supposed to be?As my vision focused in on what was before my eyes, it was a door and it moved.A person appeared behind it and she was dressed in white, like a nurse.She looked stunned to see me, one minute she disappeared through the door only to return with a doctor.They both stared at each other for who knows how long until the man spoke up, “Hello? Who are you?” his tone was more curious than anything else. It was only when he moved beside me that I noticed the machines connected to my body.He checked my the machines, my pulse, my eyes, everything.“How many fingers am I holding up?” He asked aft
Rhys“What do you mean by she just left the house? Did she say where she was going? Why did you let her leave?” I asked Claire, who was cooking in the kitchen. She shook her head and sighed, “No Sir, she didn’t say anything about when she left but she was worried that you were not home yet” she paused for a second before turning around to face me.I walked out of the kitchen.Where could she have gone to? I dialed her number again and it rang but no answer. It was already getting dark and I had not gotten over the fact that truly she was right and there was someone watching us. I dialed the number again and it rang for a while before she answered.“Where are you?”“Hello?” A masculine voice answered instead.I took my phone away from my ear and stared at it again, still unable to believe what I had heard“Who is this?”“I…uhh, I don’t know. The owner of this phone just got wheeled into an ambulance, I found her lying in her own blood”. My mouth felt dry as I spoke and I tried to swal