Chapter 22
Natalia
Shortly after Eloise’s hospital visit, Helen insisted on taking me on a trip. I found myself in an oversized waiting room of a luxurious naturopathic facility. The sterile space with high-end gadgets was cold and intimidating.
Water in expensive glass bottles was given to us, the liquid tasting like mint and cucumbers. Soothing music played at a low decibel, seeming to ebb and flow throughout the space. Even the air felt cultivated; heavy with the smells of lavender and eucalyptus.
Everyone spoke in hushed tones, forcefully maintaining an atmosphere of relaxation.
The decor, the pamphlets, and the signs all had the same message: Restore and rejuvenate, reclaim your youth and vitality.
No matter the cost. After a short wait, a nurse brought us into an office where a woman named Aurora greeted us.
“Okay, so here’s what you do,” Aurora declared, sliding the bottles across the desk. “Mix the horny goat weed and tongkat ali and give them to him daily. Morning is best, since it might increase his energy. This combo is powerful.”
The bottles made a soft scraping sound against the wood, labels unreadable from where I sat.
“What does each one do?” I asked, my voice thinner than I intended.
“Tongkat ali helps boost testosterone. And this is Epimedium, also known as horny goat weed. It’s derived from a Chinese plant, and it improves blood flow and performance.” She leaned back in her chair and gave a knowing wink.
Helen nodded beside me as if it were perfectly reasonable.
“Is it safe?” I asked quietly. “I don’t want to hurt Max. I just…” My throat tightened. “I’m running out of options.”
“For heaven’s sake, Natalia.” Helen sighed. “They sell it at supplement stores.”
The nutritionist’s smile didn’t waver. “All natural,” she added, tapping one bottle lightly. It rocked once before settling. “People swear by it.”
Sliding the bottles into my purse, anxiety and doubt seemed to add extra pounds to the leather strap digging into my shoulder. Ready to leave, I was startled when Helen put an arm out to stop me.
“Is there anything else you would recommend? There’s… quite a bit at stake here. Wouldn’t you agree, Nat?” Helen gave me a serious look, so I nodded in agreement.
She pulled out her checkbook, the glossy monogram for Townsend Helen, Max, and me, an awareness of something coming, what that was, though, was still to be seen.
There had been small changes in Max’s behavior. He was up earlier and working later, but he hadn’t touched me. He had taken to sleeping in the guest room and hadn’t made a move to come back to our shared bedroom. The one time I brought it up, Max shut me down in more ways than one.
One morning, I woke up to an empty bed and made my way to the kitchen. Taking far too much time, I finally figured out how to use the barista espresso machine and prepared a cup for Max, who had just made it downstairs, dressed for work.
“Cappuccino for you, darling,” I told him, and he gave me a wary look.
“I drink americano,” he said coldly, reluctantly taking the frothy drink.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I can make you a new one,” I told him, trying to keep a smile on my face.
“It’s fine. Deidra can get me one. She knows how I like it.” Max walked over to the cabinet, where he went about taking his multivitamins for the day—pills I had replaced with Aurora’s prescriptions weeks before.
“Maxwell, I’ve noticed you haven’t been sleeping in our bedroom. Is there something wrong? Do we need to look at new bedroom sets?” I asked, trying to come up with a solution to any argument he might come up with.
“Nothing wrong with the furniture. Just been sleeping better in the other room,” he replied, not even bothering to face me during the conversation.
“I miss having you next to me, having access to you whenever I want,” I purred, stepping up behind him to slide my hands over his back before wrapping around to his stomach.
“I don’t have time for this, Nat. I like the guest room. You toss and turn so much. It keeps me awake. Don’t overthink it. I’ve got to get to work.” Without so much as a kiss goodbye, he walked away from me, leaving me cold inside.
Up until then, I had been wary of using the Spanish fly, but I was running out of options. I had one last trick up my sleeve before I gave in and tried the rest of Aurora’s magic potions.
Deciding to pull out the big guns, I planned to bring Max lunch, dressed in a raincoat with only lingerie underneath. It was risky, but I was desperate.
When I got to his office, Dede wasn’t at her desk, and I let go of a breath. One less person I had to walk past, one less person to judge me. As I made my way toward Max’s office, I pressed a hand down my hair, preparing to enter, when voices caught my attention.
Once again, I found myself as a silent observer, forced to stand in the dark to find out the truths of my life. Max was arguing with a blonde woman I had never seen before. She was tall and thin, with a spray tan and oversized tits. Her voice was sweet and utterly fake.
“Max, please, you have to forgive me. I’ll do anything you want. Let me make it up to you.” The last part was said in a lower register as the woman closed the space between her and my husband.
“Let me take care of you, Max. I’ll be so good to you,” she continued, and I waited for him to push her away.
Instead, his hand reached for the woman.
Grabbing her by the back of her neck, he pulled her close before pressing a brutal kiss to her lips.
Pink nails dug into his shoulders as the sounds of their breathing increased.
“Beg me to fuck you. I want to hear you say it, Lindsey,” he told the woman, and her whimpering plea was the last thing I heard. Stumbling away from the door, I kept my head down as I made my hasty escape. Time was running out.
All of it would be for nothing if Max wound up knocking someone else up.
Remembering the small vial, hidden carefully in the back of my vanity drawer, I knew it was time to use it.
I wasn’t about to let another gold-digging Barbie rip my place out from beneath me.
This time, I was prepared, and I was going to fight back.
Maxwell
“Please, fuck me, Max,” Lindsey’s high-pitched voice whined as her nails dug into my shoulders.
My blood was on fire. It felt like I was crawling out of my skin. All I could think of in those days was sex, fucking, a deep, animalistic need to get my hands on a woman, to slake my lust until I felt some relief.
Not just any person would do, though; it had to be Sophie. I would prove to her that she was it for me. Everything I was doing was for Sophie, for our family. Lindsey was rubbing against me like a cat in heat, and I pushed her away with disgust.
“What?” She looked confused. “But… I thought—”
“You thought wrong. I didn’t bring you here so I could fuck you.
You have a job to do, and I expect you to finish it.
You told me Linc would come running if given a chance.
Now, how are you going to get that money back to me?
And don’t even try to offer your pussy again.
That would barely shave a few hundred off.
” Her face flushed red as she pressed her lips together, holding back whatever retort she wanted to say.
At first glance, she was attractive, her figure taut and well maintained.
She was too harsh, though, too aggressive.
She was beautiful, in that California girl way, trying too hard to appear relaxed and laid-back and easygoing.
The blonde hair and airhead attitude were just part of the costume.
It was all part of a scheme. Lindsey was playing the long game, always trying to keep up with the latest trending ingénue in order to secure the role of a lifetime: trophy wife.
Lindsey would reinvent herself in any form, for whichever stage of life she entered.
She was finally lowering herself to consider dating someone close to her real age, but she didn’t realize I saw through her.
Most importantly, though, she wasn’t my Sophie, and no one would be a suitable replacement. I had learned that the hard way.
From what my PI had told me, Lindsey had been sleeping her way through life so far. Hopping from man to man, based on whichever need she was prioritizing at the time. I didn’t need Linc’s used goods, and I definitely didn’t need that wannabe actress.
“You’re going to help me. Until you get me Sophie, you owe me.
There is nowhere you can go where I won’t find you, and I’ll make you pay every cent back.
What I need is a chance to talk to my wife alone.
You will help me with this. You will do whatever is needed so I can speak to Sophie without your ex-husband hovering over her.
Follow her, sit outside her house, and find out when she’s alone. Do something useful, for fuck’s sake.”
“H-her house?” she stuttered out, confused.
“Yes, her house. That brainless thug can’t spend every second around them. He has to go home eventually.” I had to explain everything to her like she was a fucking kindergartner.
“But they don’t live there anymore. Linc said they moved in with him,” she told me. Her tone was casual. I didn’t miss the way her eyes watched me, enjoying the way that news hit me.
“Since when?” I gritted out, not trusting myself to open my mouth too widely in case I started screaming and couldn’t stop.
Control used to be the one thing I could count on.
I was playing chess, while everyone around me was playing checkers.
The only time I had ever been thrown off guard was when Sophie left me.
Since then, my equilibrium had only barely settled, and it was always teetering on the precipice of demise.
Based on the whims of the women in my life; Natalia, Mother.
Lately, though, it felt like a fog had lifted.
I was unsure about what was behind my recent revelations, but it didn’t matter. My body was clearly responding to what my mind knew was right: Sophie was mine.
“I don’t know! When I visited Linc at work, he told me.
” Feigning innocence, Lindsey just batted her lashes as she continued to speak, each word another dagger to my heart.
“I’m too nervous to remember what he said word for word, but he told me not to go near Sophie or the kid.
That they were under his roof and under his protection.
” Lindsey licked her lips, her overly white teeth looking ghoulish as she gave a sad smile.
“Oh, and that he loves Sophie. Since she moved in… I think it’s safe to assume the feeling is mutual.” Lindsey had wormed her way closer to me, one nail trailing down my chest. I grabbed her arms before I finally shoved her away from me. She stumbled on her heels before regaining her balance.
Quickly regaining her composure, she was pulling her coat on before I realized what was happening.
Pausing, her hand hovering above her purse handle, she added, “I’ll see what I can do about getting Sophie alone, but this isn’t as easy as you thought, jackoff.
Not to mention, looks like you’ve got more working against you than you ever had behind you.
And knowing what Linc’s packing? Yeah… You’re gonna need a whole lot more than a wallet and a wish if you think you’re getting her back. ”
With that parting jab, she left my office, the door closing with a loud click behind her.
The silence in the office echoed off the walls, mocking me.
Dropping my head, a picture of Nat and me on our wedding day caught my eye.
In an oversized Waterford glass frame, it was the only thing besides my computer on the large mahogany desk.
All the anger and frustration came pouring out of me as I swiped my arm across the desk, sending the expensive frame flying into the wall and shattering before it even hit the ground.
Ignoring the mess, I pulled out the bottle of whiskey I kept in the office for late meetings and downed a glass before stripping off my jacket and tie.
Collapsing into my desk chair, I dug into the bottom drawer—one I had studiously avoided until then.
Pulling out two frames, I dusted them off before carefully placing them on my desk. One was an obnoxiously purple frame with the word Daddy in beads draping from the corner. A picture of Eloise as a newborn sat inside. It was given to me shortly after she was born.
The other picture was one of Sophie and me at our wedding. It was candid; we were laughing over a piece of cake. Holding it in my hands, I stared at it, taking in the pure love and happiness in Sophie’s eyes. How could I have given this up? Why did I betray such pure devotion?
The devil tempted me. I had been tested, and I had failed.
How long will I have to pay for my sins, though?
I was sweating, restless. Images of Sophie in another man’s bed haunted me.
I could see clearly now, was able to shake off the shackles of perception, reaction, and realize what it was that I wanted.
She was my wife! That should be me. If that ogre insisted on locking her away and standing guard, I would find a way to get around him.
I would bring her to me. Maybe I could use the event next month.
She had no reason to decline attending. Eloise had been on the mend for a while.
I would talk to Grandfather, plead for a chance to see my daughter.
With Lindsey’s help, I would get Sophie alone, and finally bring my family home.