Revenge on my Billionaire Husband

Chapter 2

I pretend to be fast asleep. Papa bear walks slowly into the room as if he was walking on eggshells. He watches me sleep and plants a kiss on my forehead. I open my eyes and we both laugh, for that was our little game.

We hugged tightly and he let me sit on my favorite seat, just in front of the dressing mirror. He stands behind me and brushes my long hair. Our eyes meet in the mirror.

‘Sweet pumpkin, what’s wrong? Talk to me, he asks.’

‘Oh! Nothing! I am worried about you. Are you dying?’ I ask with tears forming a pool around my eyes, one wrong word away from breaking and rolling down my cheeks.

‘What do we say to the god of death?’ He asks, laughing.

‘Not today!’ I say with conviction, relieved that his death bed is far from him for a while.

‘I am a tough man. Don’t worry about me!’

‘What should I worry about? What did you have to say that couldn't wait?’

‘The future of our family, With your mum and your brother gone, it’s…..’

‘It’s okay Papa bear.’ I say, reaching out for his hand and holding it tightly.

‘Scarlett!’, he calls my name with some sort of authority.

Now I am scared. He never calls me Scarlett, even when I am being a pain in the ass.

‘Papa bear!’

‘Do you remember everything I taught you about family values?’

I dither and flounder for a while before answering.‘The family is the first and greatest institution. I say with my voice laced in uncertainty. Why are you sounding so serious?

‘Keyword Scarlett, “first”.

‘Can you go straight to the point please? I am having palpitations at this point.

‘Do you love me Scarlett? Do you love our family, even though it’s just the two of us now?

Where are all these coming from? I wonder

‘I love you, I love us. You know that without doubt.’ I say reassuringly.

‘What do we do for the people we love?’

‘I am confused, Papa bear.’

‘We put them first. We protect them with all we have got. We make sacrifices for them; for we are nothing without them.’ he says, in full blown tutor mode. Scarlett is time for you to put all those lessons to good use. I have been grooming you for this.’

‘What do I have to do?’ I asked, for that was when it dawned on me that what he was going to ask of me was going to be difficult. But nothing prepared me for the next sequence of words from his mouth.

‘Uncle Rhodes and I have agreed it’s time to unite our families in marriage. It is an agelong agreement. You are to marry his son Tryrion, to keep the business in both our families.’

‘Tryrion bloody f*****g Rhodes?’ Papa bear please, I said crying. Ask me for something else, anything, I will give you. But not this.’

‘I know, this is a lot to process.’

‘I can’t do it. It’s an impossible ask,” I break down into uncontrollable tears.

‘If you don’t, you will lose your inheritance. The business will be sold-off. You know how hard we have toiled for it. We can’t let it leave the family.’ He says, not meeting my eyes.

‘I thought you loved me, Papa bear.’

‘I love you. I always have. I always will’

‘This is not love. What happened to you?’ I say releasing my hands from his grasp.

‘Please, I need you to understand.’

‘Understand what exactly? Why are you forcing my hand? I say, storming off and kicking everything in my path.

I ran out of the property. I keep running till I am out of breath. I have palpitations. I stop and lean against a wall, take deep breaths till I can’t hear my heartbeat. I let out loud screams from the depth of my lungs. I cry, scream and kick.

What have I done to receive the wrath of my gods?

I blame myself for staying in that toxic relationship for so long. I should have left when I could, but I stayed hoping I could make a better man out of him.

‘Look at you, an emotional wreck. If you had left, you would have met someone else and properly gotten married. Now, Tryrion Rhodes is shoved down your throat.’

I haven’t seen Tryrion in over fifteen years. I was ten and he was probably twelve. It was Mr Rhodes' birthday party.

I remember wearing a short pink paneled circle dress. It had ten large conical panels pleated around its tiny waist.The dress was made of the finest damask and silk, hemmed at the neckline,torso, and sleeves with the most beautiful rhinestones.The ten panels stood firmly with butterflies decorated all around them.

Tryrion pulled one butterfly after another from my dress. I asked him to stop but he didn't. I excused myself from the company of him and his friends, but they wouldn’t let me be.

I tried to run but they chased me. I fell down and brazed my knee. I cried out in pain while he and his friends taunted me with their laughter. I vowed to deal with him in my own way, except I never saw him again.

Mr Rhodes had him shipped off to a boarding school abroad. Tyrion was a bully and I knew for sure he had remained one.

‘How was I going to survive another toxic relationship?’

‘Young man, come over to the house by 9pm, there are pressing issues at hand’ Mr Rhodes tells Tyrion over the phone.

‘I have made plans for my evening, Old man. I can’t cancel my plans without at least a twenty four hour prior notice, save for an emergency. And this is certainly not an emergency.’

‘Do yourself a favor by being here by 9pm and on time.’ The call ends abruptly.

‘Why do I have a pain in the ass for a Father?’ Tryrion exclaims.

He is tempted to punch a hole through the wall, brush off all the papers on the desk, smash the glass plaque against the wall save for the fact, his office is a see-through glass wall. Everyone will gawk at him like he was a star in a block-buster movie. Instead, he calls his secretary to cancel all his meetings for the day. He was in a bad mood and could not afford to project that energy to potential investors.

‘Drive to the entrance of the building now. We are going home.’ He texts his driver Caleb, while storming out of his office.

‘Make sure you are here by 8:30pm, he says, alighting the car.

He angrily throws his jacket on the couch and collapses right into the bed without undressing or taking off his shoes. He falls asleep and wakes up with a throbbing headache. He heads to the bathroom and allows the shower to run over his head for a little too long.

‘I hope that crazy old man has a plausible reason for wasting my time tonight.’

It’s 8:00 pm and he is clueless on outfit ideas.

I should wear something that will piss him off.

So, he reaches for a see-through shirt, loose joggers and sneakers. The old man was sure to go bonkers seeing him dressed like that.

‘I am here sir’, a text from Caleb read.

He heads to the car, wearing a conceited smile.

‘Take me to the Villa.’

‘Yes sir.’

The Villa stood majestically on the outskirts of the city. It remained at its impeccable standard over the years; the Old man made sure of that.

‘Welcome home boy’, Ms. Alice, their Housekeeper said.

‘I am not a boy’

‘I am sorry sir.’

‘Where is he?’

‘He is waiting by the poolside, sir.’

Tryrion walks to the poolside and finds the Old man talking over the phone.

Hurry up with the damn call. I do not desire any more of my time to be wasted’.

He helps himself to a glass of scotch.

‘What are you putting on? I can see that you are intent on pissing me off,’ Mr Rhodes says.

‘You can not dictate my choice of clothes.’ Tryrion quips smugly. ‘What do you have to say that demands no respect for me or my time?

‘I should send you away and speak to you when you are better clad, but it’s close to my bed time. I can’t stay up waiting for you. You will drop that nasty attitude of yours and talk to me with respect. Am I clear?’ Mr Rhodes says stomping his foot.

‘Yes’ Tryrion says in hushed tones

‘Am I clear?’, Mr Rhodes repeats , this time with more aggression in his voice

‘Yes sir’

‘‘You are to marry Mr Stone’s daughter, Scarlett.’

‘What!?’ His eyebrows furrowed in displeasure.