Against Her Will

Episode 11

Leilani realized after a certain amount of time that Ricardo was still nowhere to be seen, and she began constantly looking back at the mall in confusion, where was he, she thought?

“Is something wrong?” Grey asked her concerned.

“I don’t know where my…husband is, I mean he should have been out by now,” Leilani said really getting worried considering how cold it was right now, it was clearly going to rain soon and she didn’t know where the house was so where was he?

“Why don’t you call him?” He suggested.

“Uh…I don’t have his phone number.” Leilani said awkwardly.

“You don’t have your husband’s phone number?” He asked with a raised eyebrow but when seeing her uncomfortable expression he changed the topic after one concerned glance. “I can drop you off if you want.”

“I don’t know the address,” Leilani said shuffling even more awkwardly at that.

“OK,” Grey said very slowly with furrowed brows before shaking his head to himself, it wasn’t his business but it was clear to him that there was definitely something wrong here but it wasn’t his place to probe. “Would you know roughly where it would be if I drive, just tell me what’s familiar and what’s not so we can narrow it down, and then it should be easy to find, I mean it’s a Billionaire’s house, it should be pretty easy to spot even at a distance.”

“We barely know each other, I can’t just jump into your car like that,” Leilani said apologetically.

“Look, I promise I’m not a r****t, a terrorist or a Mafia leader, now follow me, it gets dark here quickly and it’s going to rain, you definitely can’t be out here alone,” Grey said as he got up off the bench and held out a hand to her. It was obvious she was really not sure about this so he said, “It’s either me or the druggies and drunkards you’re going to meet later so take your pick.”

She got up and agreed to go with him, not taking his hand though, clearly not to insult him-but because she was obviously a one-woman man, even before, she had grabbed his sleeve, not his hand, and she made sure to keep a distance from him the entire time. He couldn’t help but smile at that as he led her towards his car. She was a loyal one. His mother would have been so happy if he brought home someone like her, but unfortunately, he was stuck with women who were either too desperate, too boring, or would gladly leave their husbands and boyfriends for a pretty face, but this girl was different.

“You really wouldn’t mind taking me?” Leilani asked sheepishly as she shivered, considering she wasn’t really dressed for this weather.

“Of course not. Come sit.” Grey said as he opened the passenger door for her, making sure she got in before entering himself. He switched on the heater after noticing how cold she was and she sighed in relief at that before he drove the car out of there. It took them more than an hour to find the house but they finally saw the mansion in the distance. They both sighed in relief before he drove over there.

She thanked him profusely despite him saying it wasn’t a problem, before she walked off towards the house. He stayed parked nearby as he made sure she got inside the gate safely and once she was inside, he drove back home shaking his head at what had just apparently happened.

Leilani knocked on the door but no one answered. She rang the bell and still no one answered. She tried again but it wasn’t working and she was beginning to get drenched from the pouring rain. Whilst she did love rain, she did not like it when it was this windy, it made her fingers and toes literally throb in pain. She tried knocking on the side windows and calling out to him but it was as if no one was inside, so she sat on the side benches curling into a ball to protect herself from the cold as the rain poured down on her. There was no shade she could stay under, so she had to stay in the rain. She had no idea about the amount of time that passed as she fell asleep on the bench a while later, too tired to even consider keeping her eyes open.

She suddenly felt herself getting roughly shaken by someone and she immediately opened her eyes as she flinched back from the hand and pushed herself back against the bench instinctually in fear. She then looked up into familiar dark eyes and looked at him wearily as she asked, "Where were you?"

"That's no concern of yours," he said, and she nearly flinched at the coldness of his voice.

"What do you mean by that? I was waiting there for more than an hour." Leilani said confused at his behavior. What the hell was going on with him? He was acting nice one minute, then cold the next and this was the main reason she did not want to get attached to any man. Their mood swings were hard to tolerate, it was as if they were pregnant 24/7.

"I'm sure you were fine," he said, and she heard something mocking in his words and furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Leilani asked, looking at him in concern and confusion.

"Like you care," he snapped at her with anger in his tone.

She controlled her instinctual flinch at the anger directed at her, for it only led to one thing. She ignored that as she said, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't and I have every right to ask you where you were considering you left me, in the cold pouring rain, by myself, in a place I have no idea about, with literally nowhere else to go. I don't care how much you seem to hate me now, for whatever reason I don't care about, but that was low, even for you."

He hated the guilt he felt at that. She was right, leaving a girl alone like that was pretty shitty of him, but who the f£$% cared? It was entirely her fault. She shouldn't have been talking to another man when she was in a relationship with him. She had said she cared about his parents' reputation. How was that caring? That was literally asking the public to make a fool out of him and his family. Didn't she understand that? She had lived with her uncle long enough to know how this all works. Clearly, she hadn't cared as much as she said she did. It made him rethink a lot of things, like when she had said she was forced into this marriage, did she mean she was forced because she didn't want to go back to the life she had lived before, was that forced in her eyes? Had he misread things and thought she meant her uncle had forced her into this? Had his guilt blinded him?

He had honestly meant to go home but on the way, he'd had a call from one of his booty calls. He had honestly meant to ignore it but then he remembered how the girl, his apparent wife, was enjoying herself with another guy and he accepted the call in anger. He hadn't been with anyone since he got married, in his guilt for what happened that night and because, despite how the marriage had happened, he wanted to at least be loyal, and yet seeing her touch another man, and in public no less, he just couldn't be bothered to go through with being celibate for the rest of his life. Because that's what would happen, the girl would never let him get close to her again and he just didn't have that kind of commitment to not go to anyone else for how long this marriage was going to remain intact. He had already instructed one of the people who worked for him to get the divorce papers filed because they couldn't live like this. He had previously done it for her peace of mind, but now it was more for his sake.

When he had gone to the girl's home, he had meant to actually go through with it, he really had, but when he was about to enter the girl, his head immediately filled with familiar screams. He had thought it was the girl below him and immediately pulled away, only to realize that she was fine and was looking at him in confusion. He then realized it was all in his head and frantically got dressed, ignoring the girl's call for him. F£$%, he couldn't even do it anymore because of her. The screams were still in his head even now.

He had arrived earlier than he would have been only to see the girl curled up on the bench and realized that he had given his servants a day off today as he always does the day before his ninito's birthday because they weren't needed, since he was mostly out all day with Daniel. And the previous day they spent getting everything ready for his birthday before he gives them the rest of the day off so they have more time with their families. He then had come home only to see her curled up on the bench in the rain and he went over and shook her awake, feeling a little guilty at how much she was shivering in her drenched clothes.

"Ricardo!" Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts as she waved a hand in front of his face. He turned towards her and she sighed as she said, "Thank God! I've been calling you for the past 5 minutes, you were lost in your head. Can we just go inside now? I'm freezing."

He stiffly nodded at her before furrowing his brows and asked, "How did you get here then?"

"There was this really nice guy, he dropped me off," Leilani said thinking it was no big deal until she was roughly pulled up by the arm and pulled towards him as he glared down at her in anger.

"You went in another man's car?" Ricardo asked enraged. What the f£$% was she thinking?

"Well, I wouldn't have needed to had you not left me there," Leilani snapped at him, feeling her breath shortening at the tight and restraining grip on her arm. She tried pulling away from him but he wouldn't budge, instead his arm only tightened around her.

"You absolute b***h! Do you know what you did?! The public are going to have a field day with this! What the f£$% were you thinking?" He roughly shook her as he spoke.

"L-Let go of me!" Leilani said, beginning to feel lightheaded. She hated being restrained with a passion because of her dear uncle, and right now, she felt the stirrings of a panic attack and willed it away with any and all strength she had.

"Is this what you call caring about my parents reputation? About mine? First touching another man in public, then getting into his car, and the next thing I'll find out is that you were f£$%!& him too!" Ricardo snapped at the girl, not expecting her to manage to pull her hand out of his grip and smack it right across his face, his head snapping to the side.

"How dare you! I've been nothing but kind to you after what you did, understanding that it wasn't your fault and this is what you think of me! Judging a woman's character without even knowing them is disgusting! Have you no f£$%&! shame! He just reminded me of my brother, the same personality and, coincidentally, the same name too and it was so nice to speak to him, it was as if I were talking to Ade. Then you went God knows where, and it was about to rain. I was freezing, and then he offered to take me home except I had no idea where the hell we were. I declined at first because we barely knew each other, but then he said that it gets dark here really quick and it was either I choose to go with him or stay there waiting for the druggies and drunkards to come out and obviously I agreed when he said that. You have no f£$%&! right to say that I would...I would never do that. This marriage may be a sham, but as long as it's valid, I will remain loyal. That's my promise, whether you believe it or not, I don't care, but never make assumptions about me when you barely know me. It's only going to cause more problems for both of us, and like we need any more of those," Leilani snapped at him before sighing tiredly as she rubbed a hand over her face.

Ricardo didn't know what to say as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, before snapping it shut when Leilani said, "I'm tired. Can we go inside now?" He didn't say anything as he turned and walked to the door, opening it for her as she entered, keeping as far away from him as possible before he entered himself and closed the door behind him.