The Ex-husband Revenge

Chapter 3

Richard was famous for his unflappable calm, a trait the family had taken full advantage of time and again. Insults, disrespect, unreasonable demands...he always took it all with a placid smile and endless patience. But not today. The anger radiating from his taut frame bordered on frightening.

Nana quickly regained her wits, her brow furrowing into a mask of false terror. If playing wonder woman wouldn't work, she'd simply play the victim card like she had countless times before.

"Help! Somebody help!" she shrieked, flinging her arms up defensively. "He's trying to kill my innocent grandson! Assault! Assault!"

In a flurry of activity, the lobby flooded with security guards rushing to assess the commotion. Their eyes landed on the dishevelled trio - Victor crumpled on the floor nursing a rapidly-swelling cheek, Nana now hovering protectively over him, and Richard looming above them both like an enraged grizzly.

"What's going on here?" Buck, the head of security barked, taking in the scene with a withering gaze.

Nana didn't hesitate. "This psychopath attacked us for no reason!" she cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Richard. "Look what he did to my poor Victor!"

The guard's face clouded over as his eyes flickered towards Victor's mottled bruises. He raised his hand, signalling for his underlings to form a ring around Richard. "You're in a world of trouble, mister..."

Richard held his palms up in surrender, trying to regain calmness despite the growing sense of dread gnawing his insides. "Just let me explain-"

"Shut it!" the guard snarled. "I've heard enough out of you."

This was their chance to suck up to Elena, the company's president. By saving her family in distress. Perhaps a promotion or a raise or both could be gotten.

He jerked his head towards the other guards, silently commanding them to apprehend Richard by any means necessary. As several sets of bulging arms reached out to restrain him, Richard tensed his body...preparing for the inevitable assault.

That was when an imperious voice sliced through the chaos like a whip c***k. "Don't you dare lay a hand on him!"

The guards froze, their beefy hands hovering in midair as they turned to locate the source of the bark. Richard's eyes widened at the sight of the striking woman sashaying through the parted crowd. Even Nana couldn't resist gawking.

The woman moved with the easy grace of a panther, her curvaceous silhouette hugged by a form-fitting silver dress. Thigh-high stilettos clicked against the marble with each prowling step as she flicked her curtain of glossy chestnut hair over one shoulder. Her crimson-painted lips curled into the faintest of smirks, dimples winking into her pronounced cheekbones.

"Wow..." the Buck mumbled reverentially, tugging off his cap in an unwitting gesture of respect and awe.

The woman's dark eyes glittered with undisguised amusement as she knowingly drank in the reaction her appearance elicited from the guards. Used to being ogled as the ultimate feminine ideal, she relished in wielding her beauty and power like precision weapons.

"Mr. Astor," she purred, cutting through the dumbstruck silence as she slinked up to Richard. Up close, her perfectly sun-kissed skin and exquisite bone structure were even more striking. "I certainly hope you're alright."

Snapping out of his trance, Richard searched the depths of the woman's kohl-rimmed eyes. There was something tantalisingly familiar about her delicate features...

"I feel like I've seen you before, but I can't quite place it," he admitted with a bemused frown.

She offered a dazzling smile that could have convinced mere mortals to willingly walk into oncoming traffic. "We've crossed paths a few times, but never been properly introduced. I'm Adele Wilson - Scott's older sister."

She extended a soft, manicured hand that Richard automatically accepted and shook with pleasantries exchanged, realisation dawned across his features like the sun breaking through storm clouds.

"So Scott sent you as backup when I cut our call short?" He huffed out a stunned laugh, shaking his head. "I should've known he'd try something like this..."

Adele shrugged one lithe shoulder, somehow making the simple gesture radiate effortless elegance. "What can I say? He worries about you. And judging by the scene I just stumbled upon, he had good reason to."

Her teasing smile faded into a hardened scowl as she pivoted to face the guards once more. "I hope you boys have a damn good explanation for attempting to manhandle a dear friend of my family."

The scolded men immediately snapped to attention under her withering glare. "W-we were just trying to control a volatile situation, Ms. Wilson..."

"By brutalising an innocent man?" she challenged with a single raised eyebrow.

The guards visibly shrank back like kicked dogs, unable to offer a suitable defence. Even Nana found herself cowed into temporary silence, sparing only a resentful glower in Richard's direction.

Adele sneered at their evident cowardice before clasping Richard's hand. "Come, Mr. Astor. I'll escort you safely out of here while I allow my people to handle these incompetent fools."

With a subtle nod, four brutishly-built men materialised from the gathered crowd...her personal security detail. Wordlessly, they upholstered their batons and advanced on the guards with purposeful strides, their bulging muscles and steely expressions promising no mercy.

Wisely, none of the guards attempted to retaliate, simply backing away with their hands raised in surrender. Engaging Adele's trained protectors would be a fruitless battle ending in shattered bones at best.

Richard allowed the raven-haired stunner to guide him away from the scene, feeling an unexpected surge of gratitude for her intervention. She'd sauntered in at just the right moment to save him from an unjust beating...or worse.

His relief was short-lived, however, as the furious squawks of his ex-mother-in-law pierced the air.

"I hope you're satisfied with yourselves," Nana spat in the guards' direction as Adele and her entourage made their retreat. "Letting that raging lunatic slip through your grasp like that. And after he assaulted my grandson right before your useless eyes!"

The guards traded sideways glances, guilt and embarrassment etched into their features. They remained silent, unwilling to argue with the sneering crone.

"When my Elena hears about this injustice, you feckless oafs will be looking for new jobs!" she threatened, brandishing a gnarled finger like a weapon. "Mark my words!"

“But she's a Wilson; we dare not annoy the Wilsons." Bucks said defensively.

"It never ends well for those who did." One of the security guards added with the remaining guards nodding in agreement.

As if by some cosmic twist of fate, the universe chose that precise moment for Elena herself to arrive - signature scowl firmly in place as the elevator dinged open.

"What's going on here?" the imposing woman demanded, taking in the damage to Victor's face with narrowed eyes. "Buck, explain yourself!"

The head of security immediately snapped into a rigid salute, opening his mouth to hastily offer his version of events. But Nana once again beat him to it.

"Oh, thank heavens you're here, darling!" she cried in a sickly-sweet whine, instantly reverting to the role of frail victim as she latched onto Elena with both hands. "That dreadful Richard came charging out of the elevator like a rabid dog and tried to kill us all!"

Elena's icy glare tore between her brother and grandmother, silently demanding clarification. Nana frantically nodded along, thick tears welling up in her rheumy eyes.

"He flew into an uncontrollable rage the second he laid eyes on Victor," she continued breathlessly. "Just started beating the poor boy senseless right here in the lobby! When I tried to pull them apart and calm your husband, he turned that vicious temper on me! Screaming, throwing punches like a wild animal..."

She daintily dabbed at her dry eyes with the corner of a lace handkerchief that Elena instantly recognized as her own. Always playing the martyr to perfection. It was almost impressive, really.

"Buck managed to restrain the lunatic before he could do any more harm," Nana finished with a wheezing shudder, layering on the performance with thick brushstrokes. "You simply must fire those worthless guards for allowing Richard to escape after his violent outburst. He's far too dangerous to be roaming the streets freely!"

Despite her feigned tears and trembling hands, Nana's eyes gleamed triumphantly as she gauged Elena's conflicted reaction.

Elena pinched the bridge of her nose, struggling to make sense of the polar opposite accounts. Elena knew her husband - ex-husband's - character better than anyone. Richard wasn't a naturally aggressive man. In fact, she'd often envied his ability to remain unflappably calm in even the most infuriating of circumstances. For him to snap in a fit of violent rage just didn't add up...

Then again, perhaps his human side had finally reached its breaking point after months of her family's verbal abuse and the shame of a failed marriage. Maybe all those internalised frustrations had finally bubbled over into an explosion of blind fury.

Could Richard truly be capable of such wanton violence? Had she secretly married a monster without ever realising?

"He's turned into an unhinged lunatic, that's what!" Nana cries shrilly, seizing upon Elena's apparent inner turmoil. "I always warned you about that sanctimonious fraud's deceitful nature! Comes slithering into our family under the guise of a selfless do-gooder, strutting about like we should all be grateful to bask in his presence..."

Her vulture-like gaze sharpened into a leer. "Now that you've finally divorced his sorry ass, he's showing his true depraved colours. Calling up all sorts of trashy w****s and parading them around like purchased escorts."

Elena recoiled at the venomous insinuation, disgust and disbelief warring across her patrician features. "What are you talking about? Richard with a...a p********e?"

Nana flapped a dismissive hand. "One uppity haggard looking woman showed up with a gaggle of thugs and whisked your lunatic ex away before the guards could subdue him properly." She clicked her tongue in a noise of pure disdain. "Clearly that ingrate has managed to buy himself all sorts of unsavoury companionship with our family's money!"

"Enough!" Elena erupted, voice like a clap of thunder in the cavernous space. Her icy veneers melted into an explosive rage, instantly quelling her grandmother's hysterics.