Chapter 44: Chapter 44

FOR F*CKS SAKE

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NARRATOR’S POV

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“I have spent decades building this company, and because that ...that riff-raff got a contract she now feels high and mighty and wants to start rubbing shoulders with me.” David rumbled on, his tie loosely hung over his neck, his shirt unbuttoned exposing the white singlet he was wearing inside.

His wife Ella cringed as she looked at her husband. He must have lost his mind, was all she could come up with. He was not a heavy drinker and seeing him drunk and in this state made her angry. An

d it was no one else's fault but Sophie’s and her parents. They feel on top of the world lately. The most annoying part was the grandparent’s sudden favoritism for them. “Bunch of losers.” She scrolled.

“Enough of all this! Get a hold of yourself,'' Ella shouted at her husband, who was sprawled on the floor, muttering to himself. She helped him up to the bed, and he slept off soon after.

Ella stared at the man she was in love with and married to for almost 30 years. He had never lost control of his feelings, always been in tune with his emotions, but here he was crumbling just because of his little niece. But she saw the danger ahead, understood the unspoken words, for her husband to be in this form meant that they were losing the hedge they had over the company and they had to act soonest or come out as losers.

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“My head hurts.” David sat up and held his head with both hands, he usually felt the aftereffect of too much drinking the next day. He felt as though a truck had run over him.

“Take this' ' his wife handed him a cup of hot black coffee, which he took and drank hastily, his face contorted as he drank because of how strong the coffee was.

“We need to talk,” Ella said as soon as he was through and handed over the mug to her.

“Later.” he snorted

“We have to talk now.” Ella insisted. She had an angry frown on her face.

“Later, let me be .”

“The more you wait, the more you lose.”

“What do you mean by that.” David looked at his wife, he read between the lines and stood up?

“Why did you drink to stupor, it's unlike you to lose control?” his wife said, shaking her head.

David walked away from his wife and went into the bathroom, and locked the door behind him.

“I’m still talking to you. Open the damn door,” Ella shouted, hitting the door.

He did not respond to her and when she heard the shower running; she stopped and went to sit on the terrace and waited. Her mind worked overtime on how to gain back the control she and her husband had over the family business and the mansion.

Her father had refused to help them since he got a business deal with a man that had insisted he break ties with her husband or lose the deal they had. First, they lost the contract from Delacroix and now her father had also stopped helping them, too.

“What did you want to talk about, that could not wait,” David said like a grumpy child, immediately he walked up to where she was sitting, he quickly ran his hands through his wet hair.

“You said you received a call from a man the other day at the office,” Ella stated, without looking at him.

“I receive a lot of calls daily,” David replied, looking at his wife as though she had lost her mind

“Be serious for once. This caller said something about ruining you. Don't tell me you forgot.” his wife scoffed at him.

David thought deeply as he remembered. “Do you think Sophie has anything to do with it?”

“I don't know what to believe anymore.” Ella raises her hands as if in surrender “we just have to be smart.”

“I will kill that girl, that's for sure,” David shouted

“Keep your voice down, you don't want to draw attention to yourself.” She gave him an angry glare.

“What do you suggest we do?”

“I have a plan, if we go down we have to drag as many people as possible down with us.”

“Are you for real? What would then be left of the company?”

“Whatever that is left does not concern us, we would have taken enough to live a good life with our daughter.”

“You are evil.” David smiled at his wife, already having ideas of his own.

“Thank you.” She smiled at him.

“I feel better already, let's go to Pershing square cafe for breakfast, I’m in the mood for pancakes.”

“The stomach always wants to be fed after the mind has cooked up grand plans.” They both roared with laughter.

“I love you, especially the way you think.” David held his wife closer and looked lovingly at her. He knew she would do anything to save him from himself and the world.

“I guess, I love you more. Since I seem to be always getting you out of trouble.” His wife giggled. She had always been beautiful, even as she aged. She did it with grace.

“We complement each other.”

“You can say that again. Now about that breakfast, you promised me.”

“Let go then.” he wrapped his hands around her waist and they left their room. On the way out, they bumped into Caleb, who had just come back from his early morning walk.

“Here comes the homeless man,” David said loud enough for the house servants to hear, even Caleb

“He lives off his wife, pathetic lots,” Ella added mockingly

Sophie heard them as she was about to leave for work and heat flooded her face as her eyes and that of Caleb met.

Caleb ignored them all and walked towards Sophie's room, where they both pretended to live as a couple.

“That was unnecessary, uncle.” Sophie chided.

Both David and Ella ignored her they continued laughing and left the living area.

Sophie was torn between seeking Caleb or just forget it ever happened. Then she remembered the smile he wore on his face when he introduced Angela to her. Without another thought on the issue, she left home.

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Sophie brooded all the way to her office. She was starting to feel, that Caleb was not the man she thought he was. And she had her doubts about Angela, too. Thinking about her made her cringe. She was probably a loose woman, she reasoned, if not why would she agree to follow him to a party organized by his wife, and he still had the audacity to introduce them to each other.

“Why did I have to run into uncle David and his wife, now my day is ruined, all thanks to them?” She hit the steering of her car as she drove along the high road. There was no traffic, so she offered the air-conditioner and opened her windows, allowing the fresh air to come in.

As she passed the mall, she decided to go in and get the test kit. She had to find out once and for all if what she was suspecting was true or not; she hoped she was wrong because she would not carry the spawn of a cheater like Caleb. Well, she tried to reason that he should stick to her even though their marriage was faux.

“I hate you Caleb Thompson.” she almost screamed her lungs out as the two red lines showed brightly on the test kit.

Sophie drove to her office as fast as she could and locked herself in once she arrived, after instructing her secretary not to interrupt her and to hold all her calls

She took her phone out of her newly purchased leopard skin saint Laurent sunset crossbody bag and dialed her doctor friend's number.

“It's a pleasure to hear from you Sophie, isn't it almost 4 months since we last spoke?” DR Miriam said into the phone.

“Sorry for being incommunicado,” Sophie replied, pacing her office.

“Is everything okay? You sound worried.”

“I need to book an appointment with you, it's kind of urgent.”

“Hope nothing is amiss.”

“Not really.” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I want a D&C.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“you can come in tomorrow, by 11:45 am.”

“Thank you,” Sophie replied and after some pleasantries with the DR, she cut the call.

“Why now, why me.” putting her head on her table she sobbed quietly.