But Jeffrey couldn’t ignore the sneaking suspicion continually gnawing at his conscience. What if Annika knew who Sadie was and her involvement with him? There was no doubt in Jeffrey’s mind that his marriage would be over in an instant. He had been lying from the get-go and was unfazed by her initial suspicions of his infidelity. He had doubled down and called her crazy while walking out of the penthouse after being confronted instead of staying to convince her otherwise. Their past arguments flashed before his eyes, and Jeffrey could finally see things from Annika’s perspective. His actions spoke louder than words, and he realized the error in his ways. A loyal husband would prove his innocence rather than running away from home with his tail between his legs. Had Annika always known the truth? Did she cut him loose because he would predictably turn to Sadie immediately after that?
No, there’s no way she knows. She can’t possibly know. I’ve been careful. Sadie has kept a low profile since the mall incident a few weeks ago. Sadie and I have only been together a couple of times since then. Annika can’t know about anything. It’s impossible. She’s just guessing. She’s just phishing for information to try and catch me in a lie. Yeah, that’s it. She’s just phishing, Jeff reasoned inwardly. He repeated this to himself as he circled back towards his car. There was nothing Jeffrey could do since Annika had resorted to violence and almost ran him over just to get away from him. He would have to try another night. Jeffrey wouldn’t rest until he figured out the nature of her relationship with Leon Von Doren and the degree to which she knew about his affairs.
Meanwhile, Leon sat in his home office and waited to hear from Annika. He was more optimistic than ever since they had somewhat made up over their passionate kiss and mutual acceptance of his feelings toward her, hoping she would text him she had made it home safe and sound. As he was staring intently at his phone, it suddenly lit up and rang, and he was so excited that he forgot to check who was calling and immediately answered. “Hello?”
“Mr. Von Doren?” A masculine voice greeted him instead of the melodious one he was expecting. Leon pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the caller ID. He was disappointed to see it was the team leader of the security detail for Annika.
“What do you want?” he replied roughly.
“Sir, we followed Ms. Silverton home as you ordered. And unfortunately, we were too late to stop her from being injured.”
“What do you mean she was injured!?” Leon snarled as he jumped to his feet in anger.
“Sir, when we arrived at her home, we witnessed Ms. Silverton being assaulted by someone. He was shorter in stature compared to you and definitely not as built. He and Ms. Silverton seemed to know one another, so we hung back to observe. Before we knew it, he had slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. She also seemed to have scraped the inside of her palms.”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU IDIOTS PROTECT HER!?”
“Sir, we were about to run over to her, but we stopped because she didn’t need our help.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ms. Silverton slapped the man back, three times consecutively, in fact. Then she screamed profanities at him, which we couldn’t make out clearly, and got back into her vehicle. She sped past him into a parking structure and nearly ran him over in the process.”
“She slapped him? Three times? And almost ran him over?”
“Yes, Mr. Von Doren. I don’t know where you found Ms. Silverton, but she seems to be able to hold her own when she needs to.” Leon smirked hearing the team lead's words, and he couldn’t help but imagine the look on Jeffrey’s face when Annika delivered three slaps to his face back-to-back. “Sir? Are you still there?”
“Ahem, yes. Keep an eye on her from afar. She knows that you’re around, just not what you look like. Also, make sure that prick doesn’t show up again. As long as it’s not during work hours, he’s of no importance to anyone. Keep him away from Annika.”
“Yes, Mr. Von Doren.”
“Also, make sure that no one suspicious goes near her. If Annika doesn’t know them, you keep them away from her.”
“Of course.” Leon disconnected the call after that. Just as he was about to put his phone down, he decided to text Annika to see how she was doing after her ordeal with Jeffrey. He sent her a text, asking her if she made it home okay, but there was no response for some time. By the time Leon sent the text, it was already past one in the morning, so it made sense that she wouldn’t answer as she was likely asleep. Leon sent one more text to her and called it a night for himself.
Annika, however, wasn’t asleep at all. She was still wide awake, nursing her scraped hands with betadine and hydrogen peroxide. After she had bandaged her hands, she went to her liquor cabinet, poured herself a double shot of cognac, and downed it in one go. She poured herself another and downed that one as well. Shot after shot, Annika tried to drink away the pain in her hands and in her heart. She still couldn’t believe that Jeff had the nerve to slap her the way he did and accuse her of cheating. Annika now knew that there was no turning back. Everything Jeff had done since his infidelity started was like rhetorical slaps to her face, but now that he had actually slapped her, Annika was going to get her retribution ten-fold.
Annika held the glass of her double-shot in her hand as she swirled the dark liquid within the glass. Her eyes held so much anger and contempt towards the man who had once vowed to love her eternally, through thick and thin, for better or for worse, until death did them part. She never believed that in a million years, her husband would lay a finger on her in a fit of rage. Or for any reason at all for that matter. She shot back her drink without even so much a second thought while glaring off into the empty space around her and muttered,
“Jeffrey Hollands, you just opened Pandora’s Box.”