Alexander"Darlene is not happy with me."I chipped that in, in the midst of our silence. With hands on the wheel and blood on heads, I felt like I needed to let my brother know the truth behind calling him here. One thing about Frederick was that he trusted like a fool. I mean, yes, I am his brother, but I just called him out of the blue, late at night, and asked him to come with me on a drive, completely failing to let him know where our destination was going to be.And he just followed me."Did you hear me?" I asked when he didn't retaliate.Immediately, he jumped slightly, pulled out the air pods from his ears and looked towards me. I knew he did not hear me. I repeated myself again."My wife is mad at me."Frederick looked at me, his eyes registering concern, confusion, and worry for an iota of a second. His brows were furrowed, a sign that made it clear to me that he was indeed worried.Or maybe I concluded too soon.Because the very second that I actually thought my wacko lunat
DARLENEI looked at Alexander and as he came closer and I was torn on which reaction to even take — if I stand there and keep watching him come forward or if I just walk away, continue ignoring him.However, the latter seemed impossible to do. The more that the man made his way towards me, with steps quiet and easy, the harder it seemed like my foot was implanted on the ground. His face was getting clearer in sight as he stepped more into the light and soon, I was getting a vivid view of that fine silky hair and handsome face. He looked at me with eyes that were straight and lacked much emotion in them, but as seconds passed by, I saw flashes of concern in them."You came back," Was all I said.It was as though the energy between us became so uncomfortable and so awkward that somebody needed to talk. You know when there is so much quietness between you and a person that it starts to nudge you, almost aggressively, to say something and spark a conversation.And he was the one at fault.
I stared at Alexander, moping bluntly after he just said the words that came out of his mouth. I wanted to speak, but my tongue felt tied, and my brain felt frozen, frozen enough to not be able to put words together in context to make it make sense.And he only repeated himself one more time."The men of my family…" he said again. "Are the CEOs of a Mafia Empire."I heard him the first time.All I just wanted to do was put two and two together, and see my husband in that light.It was the most difficult thing ever."Mafia Empire," I said, I repeated. "I mean, that just means you sell drugs, right? An organized high class drug selling business…"I tried to say it that way to numb the gravity of what else it could mean. I had read about people like that before, and I had seen them in movies before. I knew the kind of shadiness that could be linked with such a line of work, the kind of blood you would have to touch, and the number of lives you may have to take. But, I couldn't see Alexan
The days of my marriage with Alexander Mckenzie after that very night were very cold. Frosty, even."Mrs Mckenzie."The truth is that no matter how hard I tried, I could not bring myself to look at that man any other way. I didn't know which hurt most — if it was the fact that he tricked me into marrying him before telling me the truth about his business, or the fact that he was the kind of person he was. No matter how anybody puts it, the business of a Mafia Lord is not just as clean as buying and selling drugs, it gets dirtier than that and that is a blunt fact."Mrs Mckenzie."And I could not even imagine someone that I am supposed to be spending the rest of my life with, been that shady."Mrs Mckenzie."To think that I was stupid. So fucking stupid to actually believe that it was possible for a human being to be so perfect and so flawless. So spotless. Well, I had most definitely learnt my lesson.Alexander and I could have been married by Law, but by heart, he and I were total, c
ALEXANDERBreakfast was getting cold.I had been waiting for Darlene to come down and join me, just after I had asked Elyna to beckon her, but it seemed to me like she was taking her very precious time.So, I sat there and waited every passing minute, watching the steam of our coffee slowly dissipate and disappear, until it was no more. Coffee was cold; I hated cold coffee.However, cold coffee was one of the very things that I had started getting very used to, in this house. My appetite to eat was zero, and most breakfast mornings, I would sit there on the table and wander into thought for what seemed like just three minutes, only to realize that an hour and a half had passed and the food was now cold.Another thing I had learned to get used to was the quietness of this house. On a norm, the house was actually always quiet. The maids and workers were always about their own business and none of them spoke to me unless I beckoned them. If they spoke amongst themselves, there was not a
DARLENE"You need anything, Maim?"I had been sitting down there in the waiting room the entire time before the Interview. I had nowhere else to go. I was still contemplating between going to join Alexander to meet his family and distancing myself from all of them until it was time for the Interview.It wasn't that I was being petty enough to not speak to his family. I knew I could be petty when I wanted to, but right now, that was the least bit of my intentions. By right, I shouldn't have been faulted for it anyway. They all dragged me into this nightmare marriage I was living in, and if I wanted to be mad at them, I wouldn't be faulted. But that wasn't it. Not even close particularly.The truth was that no matter how angry at them I was, I still couldn't disrespect them. I couldn't do anything that would put my own family on the line. As a matter of fact, it would have been best if Alexander's family could not pick out that we had problems.That was one of the reasons why I decided
We had already started screwing this up and the fact that the entire Mckenzie family, from Mr Mckenzie to his wife and to that strawberry blonde haired Frederick were all here, made it even all the more unsettling for me.I glanced at Alexander and wondered what was wrong with him. He was the one who begged to act normal and not make anyone know that anything was wrong and yet he was the one dodging my hand and walking ahead of me like I didn't exist."Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Mckenzie, and Welcome to the Weekend Show! I'm your host, Shay Ning, and it is a pleasure having you both here today!" The Interviewer started to speak, and up came my fake smiles and wide eyes of feigned excitement.Fortunately, Alexander could cooperate by quipping a bit of a smile too."How are you feeling today, Mr Mckenzie?" She asked Alexander."Good," He answered promptly. "I'm well. What about you?""Nice of you to care to ask, I'm great AND excited to have you here with your lovely wife! She is even p
The moment that the Interview ended and it was indication that I was free to get the hell out of here, I couldn't have been more relieved.I had accepted that Darlene was not going to talk to me, or at least pretend like we were on good terms with me in public. I felt it coming, I knew that she would no be able to contain herself. The little I had found out about Darlene, she was not a very discreet person when it came to hiding her feelings. I liked that about her easily, but now it made me worried, thinking she would slip up where or when she was not supposed to.Just like how she did during the Interview.Again, I knew her to be a very smart woman so I was grateful when she proved that fact by covering up the mess that she started. I only wondered how far that went t conceal the truth, if people bought it, I'd my father would buy it. And in case of the future — if I could live this one out — how easy would it be to keep covering up our slip ups in public?I was very skeptical about