My Perfect Marriage

Chapter 12

"You're insufferable. Go take a hike." His words hit a raw spot; the one vulnerability Sophia wasn't sure she could conquer; if he ever violated their marriage in that manner. She grabs the contracts from the top of the pile he's already signed, her hands trembling but her voice filled with resentment as she tries to maintain her composure.

Leon grabs her wrist and pulls her towards him over his desk before she can make her gloomy exit, causing her to stumble on her shoes. He stands up to confront her, their faces just inches apart over the wooden surface.

"Show some decorum, VP Hale. We're in the office. Get a grip, stop behaving like an immature and insecure jealous spouse because you forfeited that right a long time ago." He flings her wrist aside, causing her to lurch forward and she has to slap his desk with her palm to prevent herself from falling. She glares right back at him, meeting his cold and emotionless gaze. His eyes, so dark and focused on her, cause her to momentarily hesitate. She lets words spill out of her mouth, using them as a weapon to hurt him in return.

"Johnny suggested I leave you because he's in love with me, and I should start afresh with him." She throws this at him, even though Johnny has said it numerous times before, but never has she used it to hurt Leon. Leon recoils, his eyebrow twitches, and his jaw tightens noticeably, causing a dimple to appear. Sophia knows deep down this isn't because of her, but because his younger brother would want to betray him in this manner. It wounds his heart deeply, even with their tense relationship, and she catches a glimpse of sadness in his eyes for a fleeting moment. A wave of guilt washes over her, and she regrets uttering those words to him.

"Perhaps if you had married him initially, our lives wouldn't be this messed up. What's your point in telling me this? You thought it would make me jealous? That I'd care? You think I'm not aware he's been smitten with you since we were kids? Whether he is or isn't, I know you don't reciprocate his feelings, so it's irrelevant." Leon walks away from the desk, the atmosphere becoming dense as his mood darkens. He moves towards his window and stands rigidly as he gazes at another dreary, foggy city day that seems to mirror her emotions recently. His stance is stiff and distant, and she despises him as she stands here, overwhelmed with a myriad of conflicting emotions about how he makes her feel.

"You married me without feeling that way... why can't I do the same. What do you think? You want a divorce, so I can find happiness with the one Hale brother who actually has a heart?" She doesn't mean it, but sometimes she just wants to hurt him with whatever she can find. No matter how petty it makes her, or foolish, or how pathetic she is for doing this. She just wants to elicit some reaction from him beyond his resentment. She wants to feel something within her beyond this void.

"Do you think I'd let you move on to my brother to ruin his life and happiness the same way you destroyed mine? Not on my watch. You're toxic, Sophia. A dark, invasive toxin that infects and grows and never lets go. Once you get into the bloodstream, you're a lifelong disease that can never be fully cured."

Even for Leon, that's the harshest thing he's ever said to Sophia and the most spiteful. In all these years, he's never been so nasty about her, especially not directly to her face, and it takes her breath away and leaves her speechless. She's momentarily dazed and shocked that he harbors this kind of venom.

"I love my brother too much to inflict you on him. I hope he sees sense and finds a nice girl and forgets all about you in time."

"Why are you still here then? Why are we still in this if you hate me so much? The shares of the company? This...?" Sophia blurts out, tears welling up inside of her as she gestures around his office, fully aware that their equal shares are a significant reason their families forced this marriage and pushed them together.

She holds twenty-eight percent that her parents left behind, only rivaled by Leon inheriting all his father's and mother's on top of his inheritance to match her. Johnny has eight, being the youngest who was never born to take over, and the board and shareholders have the rest. So in terms of control, either of them could take the helm.

Johnny is gentle, and if Sophia married him, she doesn't doubt he would give her his shares to overtake Leon and oust him from his own corporation if she wanted to be that spiteful over this. It's been there in the back of her mind all these years that Leon knows the only way to keep things as they are now is to stay married and keep her on side. He leads because she lets him. After all, he is her husband, and she was raised to respect the marital home and family hierarchy. Without a marriage, she could ruin him and take everything away.

"We promised our parents we would marry even if it kills us. Till death do us part, darling. Doomed love and all that." Leon sounds sarcastic, with a sneering hint in his voice, and he throws Sophia a cold glance over his shoulder.

Sophia returns to her calm and indifferent demeanor as though he's said nothing more than good morning and lets it all slide back into that cage inside her heart where she doesn't let things get to her. To shield her from pain and numb the world away so nothing can get to her. It's been failing these last few days, and she knows it's making her unstable. She needs to eat more, sleep more, and maybe she'll be able to control it much better like she used to. She huffs under her breath, unable to say anything.

"Pick up your food from Dee, don't waste it. The last thing I need is you passing out in the strategy meeting because you skipped another meal. You look like a mess.... Go do something about that."

And there it is, the ups and downs of Leon Hale. He delivers crushing cruelty in a few sentences and cold standoffish hate for her. Then, he tells her to eat in the next moment and points out she doesn't look well while still hiding behind his uncaring attitude. It's no wonder she lives with constant whiplash and can't get a handle on whether she loves this man or not.