Chapter 13
Annika
Long after our first dinner as business partners had already concluded, I found myself lost in a trance and jolted back to the present when I was driving my own car back towards the penthouse. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t with Leon anymore and that he had already dropped me off at my car back at his office. It was as if my body was floating on autopilot while my mind was drifting in the cosmos; the entire drive home, the walk to the elevator, and the ordinarily painstaking wait to reach the top floor flew by in a daze.
Our conversation at dinner kept replaying in my head, and it was like my body had involuntarily chosen a new favorite song I couldn’t forget. The way Leon spoke to me was so attentive and not at all business-like. I had expected him to be more aloof and colder, like most businessmen in the world, but he wasn’t anything like that. He was warm, kind, and slightly flirtatious. I didn’t consider myself qualified enough to determine with certainty if it was geared solely toward me or if this was his usual behavior towards new clients.
I couldn’t really call myself a client, though. This was just a front to get back at those who had hurt us and even took things a step further. It was what we were telling people just in case Jeff was to find out about my and Leon’s affair. Well, If one could even call what we had an affair, it was more like a partnership that shared a common goal—to absolutely destroy these self-entitled leeches currently ruining our lives. I was still engrossed in my thoughts when I reached the penthouse floor, and I mechanically scanned my RFID for the doors to open. I walked inside, and just as I kicked off my heels, I was startled by someone confronting me without warning.
“ANNIKA! WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!?” I jumped back and held my chest from the near heart attack I had just experienced.
“Fucking hell! You scared the shit out of me!” I shouted back at Jeff.
“Don’t give me that tone, Annika. It’s almost 11 o’clock at night! Where the fuck have you been!?” he scolded me. I momentarily averted my gaze, staring at my right hand that was still holding my purse before I viciously gave him the death glare, trying to determine where the hell he found the audacity to question where I’ve been tonight.
“Since when do I have to answer to you, Jeffrey?” I sneered, knowing my response would surely get under his skin.
“What? Are you giving me attitude?”
“So, what if I am? Since when have you actually cared about me? You have some fucking nerve trying to play the caring and aggrieved husband all of a sudden, asking me my whereabouts!” My anger was quickly approaching its boiling point, but I did my best to control my emotions because there was so much at stake, and one misstep could spell the end of my revenge. “Why are you even here? You haven’t been back to the penthouse since I kicked you out of our bedroom. I’ve been coming home to an empty house for almost two months while you’ve been out doing God knows what or who. And yet, the one time I decide to do something for myself, you decide to show your face here and ask me where I’ve been!?” I huffed at Jeffrey’s presumptuous nature.
“What’s with the attitude, Annika!? As your husband, I have every fucking right to know where my wife is this late at night!”
“When was the last time you even acted like my husband, Jeffrey? When was the last time you even fulfilled your duties as my husband?” I countered. “Husband? Psh, you haven’t been my husband for almost a year.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re the one accusing me of cheating without any evidence, kicking me out of our bedroom, and never once have you called to ask how or where I’ve been!” Jeffrey fumed as he pointed out my shortcomings. “You want to talk about being a filial spouse? You never cook, this place is a fucking pigsty, and you’ve never once initiated anything in the last year! So, why should I bother with you?”
“I shouldn’t have to initiate sex with you! We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you were actually a loyal husband!”
“God, this again! How many times do I have to fucking tell you I’m not cheating!” he yelled.
“You haven’t done anything to prove otherwise! The moment I kicked you out of the room, you left the penthouse! That was almost two months ago! And you expect me to believe that you’re not out having an affair!?”
“What man would want to stay in a house where his wife is constantly accusing him!?”
“A MAN WHO IS FAITHFUL TO HIS WIFE AND WOULD DO ANYTHING TO PROVE HIS INNOCENCE!” I screamed as I charged him, getting right into his face. He stepped back, seeing the sheer amount of anger I had towards him. “You say you’re not cheating. But rather than work on bettering yourself and proving that you’re not stepping out on me, you decided to leave. What do you think that entails from someone else’s perspective, Jeff? Ask any of your fellow lawyers and see what they would do in this situation. I can guarantee none of them would leave the way you did. Your leaving proves only one thing to me—you indeed have a side piece, and I will find out one way or another.”
“Annika, you’re fucking crazy. Stop this nonsense already!”
“Did you just call me crazy? Ha! You’re right. I am fucking crazy. I must have been out of my goddamn mind to have married a jerk like you. My memaw and Auntie were right; I should never have married you. I rarely regret anything I’ve done in my life, but the one thing I regret the most was giving up eleven years of my life for a two-timing, lying son of a bitch like you, Jeffrey Hollands.”
“Annika!” he gritted his teeth as his jaw visibly tensed.
“GET OUT!” I shouted and pointed towards the doors.
“What?”
“I said get out! I don’t want you in my house anymore. If you want to go out and live away from here, then be my fucking guest! Get your shit and GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!!” I screamed in his face.
“You can’t kick me out!”
“The hell I can’t! My name is on the deed! This is my house!”
“Have you forgotten that we’re married!?”
“No, I haven’t. However, I don’t see that being an issue for much longer.”
“What … what do you mean by that?”