Entangled (Phoenix 1)

CHAPTER 6

As soon as the meeting was over and their lunch break started, James rushed to the terrace to have a word with Fiona.

The scene that he witnessed in the morning was not appealing. And, given Fiona and Justin's current situation, he doubted Fiona would inform Justin about the abuse.

On the other hand, Fiona desperately hoped that James would not remember the morning incident, which was highly unlikely.

She was on the office's rooftop waiting for his arrival, as he requested. She was frantically pacing around for a few minutes before standing in front of the wall railing, soaking in the view and letting her thoughts freely flow. She was thinking of nothing in particular, yet everything at the same time.

"He did hurt your hand, bad."

Fiona turned around when she heard James' voice. "It is not that bad. It will be back to normal in a day or two."

"Fiona, you sprained your wrist. It looks terrible. You will take at least a week to make a normal movement. I am calling Justin now. He needs to know about this." James told her sternly.

The incident between her and Noah is irrelevant to the situation in which she and Justin were stuck, so her husband did not need to know anything about it.

"Don't worry about it. I will speak with Justin when he is free. This is not a..."

But he interrupted her. "I am aware of your situation with Justin. I am his best friend for a reason."

This made Fiona relieved. She was tired of pretending to have a good married life. "Well, in that case, he does not have any right to know about this. It is pointless to involve him in a matter which is not his concern."

"Come on, Fiona. He is still your husband." James tried to reason with her, but she was adamant.

"Only on papers." She sighed, "Look, James. I am not keeping him out of the loop because of our so-called circumstances. I am doing this because it is not a big deal. If you want to tell him, then go ahead, but I am not going to stop you neither I am going cry to him and tell him about Noah and me and how he twisted my wrist in the spur of the moment because he was upset that he didn't get the job."

"Fiona, I did not mean it like that. As a husband, Justin has a responsibility towards you and..." James badly wanted Fiona to understand Justin, but she had already formed an opinion that was not exactly prejudiced.

"No, James. This is where you are wrong. Justin is not responsible for me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. As I have said before, we are merely married on paper. He is free to do as he pleases. He is not accountable for me, and neither am I for him. You talk about your ex or share your problems with your friends, not strangers. Justin is simply my boss and, of course, the owner of the house where I presently reside." Fiona made herself clear. She felt compelled to clarify her position for some reason.

"I am not trying to justify Justin's actions. But I do want to tell you that he is not a bad person. I don't know exactly how things will turn out between the two of you, but one thing I can bet on in my life is that Justin is a decent guy. Idiot big time, but he is a good person." James told his best friend's wife so that she could give Justin a chance.

He knew their marriage would crumble if Justin didn't approach her sooner. That too, without giving it a fair chance.

Fiona, however, was sceptical of James' words because she barely knew her own husband, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"You don't believe me, do you?" He asked Fiona.

"James, I am not sure what to believe anymore. I don't know Justin well enough to pass any judgement about him. But if I catch him cheating or if he ever physically abuses me, then the next thing he will get from me is divorce papers sooner rather than later. But for the time being, I will take your word for it." Fiona told him honestly.