Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Agnes's face was bruised with hatred and anger for the man, she thought loved her. She had easily given to emotions, hadn't she?

It was nearly two years of their relationship and Ethan was striking the last shot.

What's worst, with a divorce paper? And right now she was surrounded by hate, dislike and anger, which she bore for Ethan. It was at that moment that Marcus's words began to resurrect. They were numerous and all of his words were correct. Marcus was right with his words, now the reality unfolding before her, burrowed back in her sagging brain.

Inside the four walls of the castle, she knew she had only but an hour to sign the divorce papers. As a matter of fact, she was oblivious of the fact that it was only after three months that the divorce would be fully accepted, recognized and lawfully legitimate, just as Marcus had once explained to her.

"Sign the documents," Ethan instructed.

"You have already destroyed me enough, the least you could do is let me sign them in peace," she tried to shout but her voice and words were merely a whisper. Tears streamed down her eyes.

"Stop wasting my time, just go ahead and sign the dam...

She did not let him complete his statement. "Please tell me the truth Ethan. Did I ever mean anything to you? Or was all this a set up from the beginning to punish me for the way I had spoken to you, when we first met at the bar?" She asked trying to rise above her wit but Ethan's silence and facial expression turned her into a Coward.

"I am going to my room, whenever you are done signing the documents, you can hand it over to any of the maids to bring it to my room and afterwards you take your leave. Please make sure to sign on every empty space that requires your signature and do not forget to sign them properly and carefully," after saying those words to her, he turned and began to walk away.

"Please Ethan, you Know I do not have a place of my own to stay, at least let me stay over here for the meantime. You can let me stay in the maid's quarters, I to not mind at all," she begged him. Her face as red as a baton Rouge.

He wanted to rush to her and tell her that he had already planned everything and he was not going to let his feelings or emotions get the better of him. This was a challenge between himself and Clinton, he was a man of his words. He did not have an iota of innocence to turn back and gave the lady, who he had made to believe that get married to him was going to be the best thing ever. He must have felt guilty about the fact that she hadn't fallen for him of her own accord, instead it was him who registered love in her heart.

He wished within himself that he had listened to Clinton from the beginning, maybe all of this drama would have been avoided but the deed was already done. He could not rub anything in. To him, he felt destiny had nothing in store for them. Even if destiny had something for them, it was already too late.

"You have taken away everything from me," she cried out.

"You have taken my job away, you have taken my pride away, you have taken my happiness away, you have also taken away my peace. I have no place to call home anymore, I have no money to claim hold of, I have nothing left, you took everything away from me and yet you want to send me away wretched," she broke down in tears.

"Ethan you have duped me of everything and it is so unfair of you."

His facial expression still didn't change, "if you mistakenly soak the divorce papers with your tears, then I shall assume that you want to destroy me. Please Agnes do not make me do something that we both may regret in the end," he said to her, trying so much to look mean but his looks defiled him.

She laughed a dry laugh, "something that we will regret?" She repeated.

"You have already done something that I regret, there is no other painful humiliation other than this," she said to him in clenched teeth. The next few minutes were like mayhem. She did not know the spirit or force that pushed her into signing the divorce papers but she did it anyways.

After signing them, something bumped into her head, she remembered that even she signed on the papers, the divorce has not been official yet but she shoved aside everything in her mind and stood up.

"I promise you Ethan that I will never forgive you for what you have done to me. I shall get back at you for all that you caused me. I will strike in a way that you would not even realize what is coming your way. The sucker punch is coming, so be on the battle field," she said and left. She was leaving the house and nothing was going to stop her.

(At fish land's hotel)

Agnes was packing her things before a knock intruded her reverie.

Her mouth moved but no words came out.

The knock persisted and the person opened the door.

"I have been knocking for a while now, what is going on with you? And why is your office looking so scanty, like an evacuation process is going on," a voice said from behind.

She knew that voice, it was familiar but she wasn't sure who it was. One thing she k ew was that the owner of that voice wasn't a friend of hers. She turned to see who it was. She was right. It was Clinton, Ethan's best friend.

"Good day Agnes. Why does your beautiful face wear such gloom? Has my friend Ethan, done something wrong to you? Or did any other person offend you?" Clint asked her.

She immediately broke down in tears on hearing his different questions.

Clinton walked up to her, then he held her hand and led her to a chair.

"What is the problem with you?" He asked her.

"Take your hands off me, do not touch me ever again," she shouted at him.

"You are Ethan's best friend and I am very sure that you are involved in your best friend's dirty games with me. He has had his round with me and now he has sent you to complete what he started, right?" She asked in a sharp tone and red, soaked eyes.

"I do not understand what you are saying to me?"

"You don't?" She laughed.

"Do you really take me for a fool?" She asked bitterly.

"Calm down and tell me what Ethan did to you," Clinton said, ignoring her previous question.

"Stop pretending as if you do not know what your friend has done. I am very much aware that you know what I am talking about. You are his shadow after all," she said to him, her voice echoing loudly.

"Ethan should not have done this to you. You are too naive to be treated this way."

Agnes laughed, "wow, so finally you know what he did to me. Thank goodness that you did not pretend not to know anything about all of this. I only have one question for you. What did I do to Ethan to deserve all of this, what did I do to him, that he decided to punish me in such a way? I was peacefully living in my little apartment, I was enjoying my barmaid job, until he came into my life and offered me things which I never asked him for. He gave me a home and after some days, the home turned to hell and now he has taken the hell away from me. He promoted me to a CEO rank and now he has demoted me to nothing. I am now a nobody." She paused and wiped her tears away. She looked at Clinton, "I am hundred percent sure that Ethan has sent you to complete the work he had started in my life. He has sent you to rub more salt to my injury."

Clinton breathed out heavily. "Agnes why not come with me, since you have no place to stay. I don't mi.."

"Do not bother yourself, she is coming with me," Marcus intruded, barging in on them.

How he got here would remain a history.

"Clinton I thought you were sensitive, unlike my cousin. I thought you had respect for women but it seems my judgement were all wrong." He attacked Clinton.

"Stay out of this Marcus. I still respect women, I did not know that things were going to turn out the way they are now. You Know how Ethan is, he listens to no one. Trust me Agnes, I did warn him but he refused to listen to my advice," Clinton explained to them, trying so much to defend himself.

"It seems you knew about your best friend's plan all along. So why did you not tell her. Why did you not make her know that Ethan was only marrying her, in order to use her as his pawn, a business woman. It is all your fault that this innocent woman has to suffer such a fate. Okay let's assume that you did not intend for things to turn out this way, you should have let her know about the truth, that is if you really wanted to help. But you didn't and now you are offering to help her when the deed has already been done. You can't dig a grave for her and not beg her to enter into that grave. If you do so, that means you have other alternatives of killing her," Marcus said intelligently.

He turned to her. "Come with me, Agnes."

"She is not going anywhere with you," Clinton challenged.

They both began to exchange words, nearly fighting with each other until Whitney chimed in.

"Both of you should stop this. Marcus please leave."

Clint smiled and raised his eyebrows. "You heard her clearly, she said you should leave, you are not needed her and neither can you be trusted."

Marcus's face had a grown disappoinment, he turned to go.

"Marcus?" Agnes called his name. "Wait for me outside, I will be with you shortly, I just need to have a word with Clinton privately," she added.

Marcus's lips curled up into a devious, devilish smile. He stood there for a moment and left at once.

Clinton understood everything. Right now he knew that Agnes only wanted to give him a piece of her own mind.

She cleared her throat, as soon as Marcus left. "If you really feel bad about all of this and you really want to help me, then bring Ethan back to me. Can you?"

Clinton's face was expressionless, he also was speechless.

"You see what I am talking about. It is so easy to provide shelter for a person but it is very difficult to provide that person with love, happiness peace joy and hope. Why do you look so speechless, helpless and guilty? I know that I am in need of shelter, I already have someone who can shelter me. I am also in dire need of my husband and I need someone who can reunite the two of us," she said, carrying her box.

"If you really care so much, keep your shelter to yourself and bring my husband back to me," she said to him and left.

Clinton was speechless. He left her office at once.

Agnes went outside while Marcus helped her pack her things into the vehicle, after that they both entered and he drove off, straight to his spare apartment.

(In Marcus's apartment)

"Here is my spare apartment, I am sorry it is not as big as Ethan's castle. I do not have what it takes to please you but be certain that I will always be at your call when you need me," Marcus said in appealing tone, as he led her to her room.

She smiled at him, "thanks a lot."

"You do not have to thank me, what are friends for?"

The room had a big massive soft bed situated in between it. The room was decorated with flowers. He showed her every nook and cranny of the room.

"Thanks," she said to him again. "I am so sorry for being such a burden to you," she added.

"Agnes, you and I are friends, and so you do not have to thank me or apologize to me," he said to her, flashing a brilliant smile.

She sat down on the bed. "Do you think that Ethan will ever regret his actions towards me and eventually come back to ask for my forgiveness?"

Marcus nodded beseechingly. "I can not really tell but if he did, I will be more than happy for you. And if he doesn't, I will continue to hope that he comes to realize his mistake."

She smiled. "I sincerely hoped he realizes his mistake and comes to asked for my apology now that I still have a place in my heart, that yearns for him and wants to forgive him," she said with hope in her eyes.

Agnes nodded her head and watched him leave, shutting the door behind him. She stood up and walked to the bathroom. She pushed open the glass door and entered it. At that moment it dawned on her that she had left her box downstairs, which contained few clothes and a towel in it. She walked to the room door and gently opened the door. She creeped out of her room and made for the staircase, before a voice stopped her right on her tracks.

"She is bathing," Marcus said.

Whitney wanted to call his name but the way Marcus's voiced lowered, made it seem as though something was fishy.

"I intend to have a taste of her, once she is through with bathing and how I plan on doing it is by giving her a drugged drink. By tomorrow morning, she will not even have the slightest idea that we got intimate the other night..." He paused and listened to the voice on the other end.

"Well I have to agree that Ethan did not do the right thing by divorcing her but he did well by making her hate both him and his best friend. I am also very glad that I played a good role in all this drama... She can not protect herself from me, besides we are the only ones at home. I am very sure that between I, her ex husband and that Lunatic Clinton, the lunatic is the best gentleman because he is the only one who can live with a woman for years and respect her without trying to please his inner pleasure and the equation is balanced too. I help her and she helps me too. .. listen I have to get off the phone.. she must have already been through with taking her bath... I need to make a good impression on her. I also need to make her loathe Clinton the more, the way she hates his best friend... Have a nice day and keep more whiskies for me," Marcus said and hung up.

She was shocked to hear all those words coming out of Marcus's mouth. She needed to escape, she knew she had to act fast.

Now she was not bent on pointing out Marcus's sins. The point hit home and it hit it hard. Here she was thinking that she had someone oh her side, little did she know that she was being fooled. She thought he was sheltering her but she was wrong, he was only taking advantage of her innocence. She rushed back into her room, immediately she noticed he was about to come out of his room. She rushed to a passage opposite the corridor that was leading to her room.

As for Marcus, he went to her room. "Agnes," he called out to her but there was no answer.

Quickly she ran downstairs and rushed to the door, she tried to open it but it was locked. In the process of searching for the key to the door, she mistakenly broke the flower vase which was lying on the table, in the middle of the sitting-room..

Marcus became alert on hearing that noise. All types of thought were running through his mind. Had Agnes found out his plans? Did she hear his conversation over the phone? Had she began to suspect him? Was she trying to escape from him?

Well he didn't care about what the answers to his questions were. All he was certain about was that he wasn't going to let her slip away from him. He knew he was wrong for making such a phone call with her around. He could have answered the call, somewhere more convenient.

As for Agnes, she finally laid eyes on a bunch of keys, which fell out from the case, she bent down and picked it up. Then she tried them one by one, till the hole finally budged.

She opened the door at once.

Marcus on the other hand ran down the stairs.

"Agnes!" He shouted her name.

She heard her name but she did not dare answer him, instead she ran out. Eric saw her shadow flee away. He shouted her name and ran after her at the same time. The way he was yelling out her name, portrayed him as a love sick puppy, who had just lost his way..

Agnes was too fast but Marcus was faster.

"Agnes," he called her name again.

"Be careful baby, do not hurt yourself," he voiced out, sounding like a maniac.

Unfortunately for Agnes, she accidentally ran into a car.

Marcus slowly creeped away from the scene, when he saw that the accident had attracted lots of people and entangled everyone around.

Agnes fell to the ground and everybody gathered around her, to witness the scene. Some people were shouting out to her, so that she could wake up.

It happened to be that Clinton was the person that hit her with his car. He had no idea it was agnes. He parked and came out of his car..