“Where are you going?” Anthony asked before I could say anything.
My mind was a complete mess from the alcohol and all the surprises that had been thrown at me. “Linda’s drunk, and I can’t leave her on her own,” I sputtered.
Anthony hesitated as he looked around the room. He appeared somewhat relieved when he saw Armond getting pestered by Nora, then proceeded to pull me out of the room and toward the bar.
Even in her drunken state, Linda had managed to make her way to the entrance of the bar. That was as far as she went because she made herself comfortable and fell asleep against one of the flowerpots.
Despite many attempts to wake her up, Linda still didn’t stir. Anthony had no choice but to call for Joseph, who got to the bar in just ten minutes.
Joseph pinched his brows and sighed in resignation when he saw Linda sprawled on the floor. It was clear what Anthony had called him over for, and he felt a headache coming on.
“Get Linda checked into a hotel room, or try to send her back home,” Anthony instructed. With that, he forcefully pulled me up to leave with him.
I was still perplexed as I followed behind him. “Anthony, what are you doing?”
He didn’t say a word, not even when he pushed me into the car and sped off.
As the car windows were down, I was constantly blasted by gusts of cold air, making me feel increasingly sick and nauseous.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it any longer and tugged at Anthony’s sleeves to let him stop the car. When he finally pulled up at the side of the road, I stumbled out and started retching.
I took the bottle of water he handed over and rinsed my mouth with it. “Do you still feel sick?” he asked sympathetically.
I shook my head slowly, even though I still felt dizzy and awful. When I tried to stand up, Anthony immediately came forward and caught me in his arms.
At that moment, my subconscious wanted to push him away. But after a long, arduous day, coupled with the effects of wine, I had no strength left to fight him. I was so tired I just closed my eyes and stayed in his arms.
Anthony brought me back into the car and rolled the windows back up. I had no energy left to move or talk, so I just leaned against the car and slowly drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up to the sound of water running in the bathroom, I found myself lying on a hotel room bed.
I knew I was brought to the hotel by Anthony, so waking up on a foreign bed didn’t worry me as much.
Even after the rest I had, my head was still spinning, and my body felt limp. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get myself out of bed.
So that’s how it is after I drink. I may be sober, but my body just refuses to cooperate with me.
The bathroom door opened, and Anthony stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Are you awake?” he asked as he glanced at me.
I nodded and instinctively pulled at the covers. It was only then that I realized I had been stripped naked.
My eyes widened in horror as I glared at Anthony. “Anthony, you’re despicable! You knew I was drunk, and yet, you… “
He turned toward me with a raised eyebrow. “And yet I what?”
I couldn’t make heads or tails of his reaction, so I mumbled, “Did you do that to me?”
He casually yanked his towel off to dry his hair before asking, “Do that?”
He knows what I mean, yet he still acts all innocent about it.
Since he seemed reluctant to give me a direct answer, I changed the subject. “Where are my clothes?”
He stopped drying his hair to look at me, still with the same indifference he had before. “You should be asking me where my clothes are,” he replied coolly.
“Fine. Where are your clothes then?” My anxiety increased when I realized the room stank of booze, and both his and my clothes were missing. What have I done? Wait… What have we done?
He threw his towel aside and leaned closer to me. “My custom-made suit cost one hundred and eighty thousand. Include my emotional damages, and that would be two hundred thousand in total. How do you plan to settle that?”
His words left me speechless. When did I owe him two hundred thousand?
“You puked all over me, don’t you remember? The hotel has security cameras. Do you need to see some footage as proof?”
As I took in that familiar scent of his, my instinct was to avoid him altogether. But he had me backed into a corner, and there was nowhere I could hide.
“I threw up again?” I asked apologetically. I had no memory of what happened after I had fallen asleep in the car.
He said nothing as he looked at me, a hint of arrogance in his eyes.
Perhaps I had been so blackout drunk that I couldn’t remember throwing up on Anthony. And seeing as how both our clothes weren’t in the room, I was starting to believe him.
After some hesitation, I began to worry about the monetary amount he mentioned earlier. “Do you really need that much for emotional damages?”
I knew that all his clothes were custom-made by famous, big brands, which justified their insane price tags. But twenty thousand for emotional damages was just too far-fetched for me.
“Every meeting I conduct is valued in the tens of millions. Asking for twenty thousand isn’t too much of a stretch, is it?” he replied calmly.
“But, I didn’t know you had a meeting to attend. I didn’t even know you were coming. And besides, I wasn’t the one who called you…” I protested, my voice trailing off weakly.
With a monthly salary of a mere few thousand, where was I going to find two hundred thousand to pay him back?
“Does that mean I should delete your number from my phone? And that I should never answer your calls again?’
“You didn’t have to pick up the call,” I mumbled in frustration, as the image of him hugging Rachel earlier that day once again filled my mind. Hit with a pang of jealousy, I added, “I guess I really am to blame. I have probably ruined your date with a gorgeous woman.”
“Sienna, what nonsense do you have in your head?”
I stared at him with furrowed brows, anger slowly simmering away. Perhaps all that alcohol had lowered my inhibitions because I decided to speak my mind. “Yes, there’s nonsense in my head, unlike Rachel. She has the looks and the brains. She’s good at everything while I’m not. She’s the only good match for you, so why don’t you go back to her. I didn’t want you here anyway.”
I lowered my head as I tried to hold my tears back. Everyone was always blaming me for not knowing my place and for pushing Anthony away.
But little did they know that I was the one who had to endure the most hurt. I was the one who had lost the baby. And I was the one who had to put up with all the resentment and grievances.
When I didn’t hear a response from Anthony, I looked up and saw him looking straight at me.
I was taken aback by how intense his stare was and tried to avert my eyes. However, he cupped my chin and turned me around to meet his gaze. “Are you bringing up Rachel to agitate me? You keep trying to push me toward her even though I don’t feel for her that way. I went along with it to keep you happy, but now you’re blaming me? If you can’t overcome the hurdles in your heart, I’m willing to wait and give you all the time you need. Even if it takes the rest of my life, I’ll continue to wait.”
“I’m not asking you to wait!” I cried out, tears welling up in my eyes. “I’ve told you before that I don’t need you to wait for me. So what if I’m not happy about this arrangement? Time is the best medicine, isn’t it? I pushed you to Rachel because I don’t want you pestering and upsetting me when I’m with someone else in the future. Is that so wrong?”
I paused to wipe my tears away as Anthony remained silent. “Once we each have found a better partner for ourselves, it’d be best to stay out of each other’s lives. You know it wasn’t me who made the call, and I never wanted you there either. I’m willing to compensate for having puked on you, but do you have to slap me with a whopping two hundred thousand fee? You said I’d get half of your assets if we got a divorce. I’m letting you know now that I want nothing from the Featherstones. I’ve also gotten my lawyer to transfer HiTech’s ownership to you. From here on, we’ll have nothing to do with each other. I’ll pay for your suit, but not for the emotional damages you claim to have.”
With that said, I angrily pushed Anthony away. I wrapped myself with the towel he had tossed aside and made a beeline for the door. I don’t care if anyone sees me like this. The body is just a shell. To hell with anyone who dares criticize me.
I had only taken a few steps toward the door when Anthony grabbed me and pushed me onto the bed. I could see the fury in his eyes as his pent-up anger and frustration burst forth.
The more I struggled, the more Anthony held me down. “You’re wrong if you think I’m someone who will come and go as you wish. Stop messing around and tell me exactly what you want me to do. Or do you think you’re the only one for me?”
I bit my lips in fear, cold beads of sweat rolling down my face. “Anthony, you b*stard!”
“I’m a b*stard?” he growled. “Tell me what it means to be husband and wife. You left me without a word and kept pushing me to other women. Every time we speak, you say you want to sever all ties with me. Sienna, do our marriage certificates mean nothing to you?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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