Love, Helena

Chapter 5

Zach was in the balcony, Helena glimpsed his slumped shoulders when she walked back into her bedroom, previously theirs. She tried not to let the worst of her come out as she sat on the chair opposite him.

There were too many things left unsaid, at least on her end, in the years he left and rarely ever came back. Wren wouldn't even know where to begin and what to say if she chose to go down that lane, and so she didn't. He ran his eyes over her features hesitantly, "Tell me how to fix this."

She almost snorted. 'Fix this?' Just what exactly did he have an illusion about fixing, and since when did he care enough to try?

"I had hopes," she sighed, "that somehow I could put us back together, glue back the perfect family portrait I have always dreamt of. It turns out, Zach, that I am no miracle worker. I can assure you that if I am not able to do it, you wouldn't be either."

He shook his head, but she could see he was in a phase of complete ignorance and denial. "You cannot say that. I can't- I won't lose my children because of whatever petty conflicts between you and I."

"Petty?" Her brows rose, "You call this petty? Go ahead and lie to yourself some more, but I call this a wreck. You and I are one terrible mistake, but you know what? At least I have tried so hard, and I still am, for my children's sake. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Damn it, Helena," he seethed, hand banging on the table between them, "You know more than anyone how much my children mean to me-

"No, I thought they meant the world to you!" she retorted, her voice rising in annoyance, "But I was wrong. Had they meant so much to you Zach, you wouldn't be sitting here asking me how to fix your stupid mistakes. Had this family meant anything to you, you wouldn't have dragged the little respect and trust we had through the mud and showed your children exactly how worthless you've become."

"You don't get to talk to me like-

She cut him once more rising to her feet, "I get to talk however the hell I want in this house, Zach, and if you cannot listen to the bitter truth, then go ahead and walk out like you always do. No one here by any means cares to stop you."

"Why do you do this, Helena?" He asked. She could see plain anger in his eyes, but he had managed to stay in his seat and keep his voice down. He was every bit the business man she'd come to know. "Just because our marriage was a failure, doesn't mean my relationship with my children should be. It doesn't mean you should interfere between us and make this hell for me."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" She looked down at him in disbelief.

"Just what exactly do you want from me Helena, huh?" He got to his feet and held her arm tightly, "What more do you need from me? I'll give you anything to just leave me and my children the f*** alone! Do you want more houses? You got them! Money? Jewellery? You name it! God-

Helena pushed him away angrily and he stumbled back down to the chair he was occupying. It was either get him away from her, or slap him across the face for that audacity. "I am not a gold digger nor a w**re for you and your cursed name and riches, Zach. Who the hell do you think you are to speak to me like that? You could have at least some respect left to not address your wife and the mother of your children that way, but I guess that concept has become foreign to you as of late. Do you really not see why your children are starting to hate your guts? Are you blind or just plain delusional?"

"Helena!" he growled in warning, gaze darkening. Maybe if she was still a young impressionable little thing, she would have shut it, but she was so in her feelings that there no bottom to the well she had dove head first into.