43. Chapter 43
Chapter 43
-Annabella-
I sat in my old childhood bedroom, staring out the window. I had nowhere else to go, so with the tail between my legs and my head hanging, I returned to my parents’ home.
They had asked me about what had happened, wanting to gloat and make everything worse, but I didn’t want to talk about it. So I locked myself in my bedroom and did not leave for weeks.
Kace had been calling me all the time, but I blocked his number after a week. I had nothing to say to him. I didn’t even know what to do with myself now.
I just stared out of a window, eating whenever I found the power to do so, and barely sleeping. I smelled awful, but I couldn’t move from my spot. I was all curled up with my arms around my legs and frozen like a statue. How could he do this to me?
I could have understood if he wanted to keep the pretense for maybe a week or two, just to see if I might turn out to be a real bitch, but for almost two months?
Maybe it would even have been longer if his grandfather had not ratted him out. It didn’t make me like his grandfather at all. I knew why he did what he did, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
“Anna?” I heard my mother knocking on my door. When I hadn’t given them much to use against me, they had left me mostly alone. But now she was coming to find me.
“I’m not up for visitors,” I told her.
“Anna, the white party is happening tonight. You need to shower and dress.”
I sighed. I didn’t want to go to this party, but I also knew my mother wouldn’t let her stinky and depressed daughter stay up here, giving the people a chance to find her and make fun of the family because of it.
So I had no choice. I had to go to the party. I finally left my position and went to shower, brush my teeth, and dress in a white dress that clung to my body.
I put on my shoes before going downstairs, where everything had been set up. I walked out into the backyard, where my mother was still instructing a few people to get the last things ready.
She smiled when she saw I was dressed and looking pretty again. “Oh, good, you got cleaned up.”
“I’m here,” I mumbled.
“And so are we!” I turned around, seeing my sister and Zac appear.
I sighed deeply, not wanting to talk to anyone at that moment. I knew it was going to be a humiliating evening.
“So, I hear you have been living with Mom and Dad for a little while,” she said, crossing her arms and looking smug.
“Really none of your business,” I told her, seeing the shocked look on her face as I spoke back.
“Excuse me?”
“Just focus on your own future marriage and leave mine alone. You have tried to do enough damage, and I'm sick of it.”
I walked away, shocking them both, but I went with my mother into the kitchen. My father was already there, and she found a bottle of wine. But when the cork went off, I grabbed it and poured myself a glass, shocking them too.
“Anna, that was for us,” my mother said.
“Well, now you share.” I lifted my glass, then took a sip.
They both shook their heads, but then the first guests started to arrive, and they got distracted.
-Kace-
My wife refused to talk to me, so I decided to come find her. I was going crazy without Anna in my life. I had no idea just how attached I had gotten before she left and wouldn’t even speak to me.
My grandfather had tried to get into contact with me, but like Anna ignored me, I ignored him and instead focused on my wife. I walked into the huge mansion her parents lived in.
There was no longer any need to keep up the pretense since it had been all about testing my wife. People looked at me, shocked, snapping pictures as I walked by, looking around.
I came into the backyard, and soon Anna’s parents saw me, looking at me like I was a ghost rising from the dead. I walked over to them, hoping they could tell me where Anna was.
“Kace?” her mother inquired, stunned.
“Hey, I'm looking for Anna.”
She kept staring at me, and so did her husband.
“Anna?” I urged.
“Oh, she is here somewhere,” her mother said, looking around, but we couldn’t find her.
Suddenly, her sister appeared, clearly going to tell her mother something. But when she saw me, her eyes grew big, and she looked me up and down.
“Have you seen Anna?” I asked.
She shook her head, snapping out of her trance. “No, I was actually looking for Zac as well.”
I didn’t care about where that slippery fucker was. I just wanted to find my wife. I nodded to them and began looking through the garden to see if I could find her, but no matter where I went, I couldn’t see her.
Cody had been invited to the party as well, and he soon found me, coming over to me. People were trailing a little behind him, clearly wanting to speak to me, now seeing me as a person worthy of their “friendships” again.
“So how is it going? Did you talk to her yet?” he asked.
“No, I can’t find her,” I admitted.
“What?” Cody looked around.
“Yeah, I can’t find her,” I repeated.
“Maybe she snuck away from the party,” he suggested.
“Could be.”
“Maybe go inside and look?” he inquired.
“Or maybe she is trying her best to avoid me and saw me coming,” I said.
“Wouldn’t blame her if that were the case,” he admitted.
“Seriously, I need some backing up, not taking down,” I told him.
He smiled a little at me, then pointed to the house. “Go search. Maybe she is in a bathroom crying.”
“Or maybe she has pictures of me with the eyes scratched out,” I mocked.
“Could be, but that is all on you. Now go,” he told me.
I sighed, but I knew I hadn’t looked everywhere. If I was going to win my wife back, it required some serious groveling.