Business First

Chapter 46

AMELIA POV

Anger.

It was pulsing through my veins. My breathing was heavy and staggered and my skin stung from the amount of salty tears falling onto it.

He killed my mother.

I knew he didn't do it directly, the memory of my uncle shooting my mother's brains out is something that I could never forget.

But he was the reason.

He was the reason my mother wasn't shoe shopping with me, or making breakfast, or gossiping about cute boys in high school with me.

He snatched my life within an instant.

At this point I was like a corpse. My limp legs were sprawled across the floor and the bed held my back up. Shards of the broken vase and scattered rose petals surrounding me.

How long was I here?

I wasn't sure but it was dark outside now.

Xavier's face came into my mind. His round lips, his curly hair, his sharp jawline. His murderer eyes.

He was sorry. I scoff out loud.

How pathetic.

I could see the pain in his eyes, the hurt he was going through telling me. I knew it was killing him.

But he destroyed me.

It was like the air had been snatched from my lungs. I instantly collapsed. He broke me with no struggles.

I aggressively pulled my wedding ring off my finger, knowing I would leave a bruise there later on. Finally the small piece of jewellery was in my hand and I threw it across the room.

Don't leave me Lia...

I remember his voice on the phone.

I manage to push myself off of the floor and walk out of the room. I hiss out in pain as my foot presses into a broken piece of glass, but carry on walking.

"Don't touch me," I seethe. Xavier was standing in front of me, he was still in his work suit and his eyes were sunken into his face and I could tell he was crying. I had never seen him look so disheveled.

He backs one small step away, but that's still not enough space for me pass by him.

"Li-" he was about to say it but stops himself "let me explain-"

"Explain what Xavier?" I burst "you expect me to stand here and listen to whatever bullshit excuse you going to give me to justify the fact that my mother is dead because. Of. You." I stab my finger into his chest.

He stayed quiet. Probably the best for him.

I could feel his eyes scanned me up and down and widened when he noticed my bloody foot.

"You're bleeding," he said, few words but I could hear the concern hidden.

"I know." I shove past him and walk into the bathroom.

The cold shower water runs down my back, before mixing with my blood in the drain. I scrubbed my body crazily, trying to wash off the memories, the pain, the destruction.

Finally, when the pain of the icy water became unbearable, I dried myself off and changed into some new pyjamas.

But I felt dirty. The guilt of that fact that I'm in love with him was something I couldn't change out of.

Or that I was in love with him.

I opened the bathroom door and saw Xavier crouched down, picking up the pieces of glass from the floor and placing them in a plastic bag.

I somehow waited for him to finish, before slamming the door on his face before he could say anything. I sat on the bed, pulling my knees towards my chest.

The memory of his defeated voice, when he admitted kept replaying in my mind. I could kill him, but that would make me just as bad as him.

Always be kind Amelia, otherwise what's the difference between you and them.

My mother always said that.

I probably sat like that for hours, because soon I could hear the soft singing of the birds as the sun rose.

I was hollow. There was nothing left to feel except contempt towards him. The pain he is putting me through was unforgivable, I'm mourning my mother's death once again 10 years later.

A few days has passed, I never left the room except to use the bathroom. Lauren, the maid who occasionally visited, sent me food which was often rejected by me.

I hadn't seen Xavier, but heard his footsteps around the house, his office was next to our bedroom and from what I could hear he spent most of his time in it.

He made my love for him disappear so fast.

I felt claustrophobic in this house, his scent, his clothes, his voice. I couldn't stay here any longer.

I slipped into some slippers and walked into the office. Xavier is on the phone, probably with an investor.

I watch him. I don't even know who that is in front of me. His cold hard exterior was the only thing I could see.

"I need to leave." I say quietly after he ended the call, I didn't even posses the energy to be loud enough.

An array of emotions flashed through his eyes - pain, resentment, understanding - but they were gone in an instant and his icy, dead eyes were glaring back at me.

"Miss Davis," he refers to me by my maiden name "I don't need to remind you that you've signed a contract, you can't just leave."

That's not Xavier, that's a dangerously cruel stranger.

"You can't expect me to stay here," I fight back the tears.

"I not only expect it, I'm paying you for it," he looks up for second, his eyes meeting mine, before he looks back down at a file. "You're my wife for another 10 months, and if you leave I will press legal charges."

"Press legal charges? Really press legal charges? I'm not the murderer here." I seethe, my voice was laced with venom and I could see he was taken aback.

"Do you really want to go to court against me Miss Davis." He arched an eyebrow "is that something you think you'll succeed in?"

He didn't have to explain himself, we both knew what he meant. I couldn't possibly go against the billionaire businessman, I had no proof except his brother's word.

"What's wrong with you..?" I whisper, "you can't expect to keep me here, to torture me." His face softens for a moment before returning to the insensitive scowl.

"Business is business Miss Davis, you should know that best of all." he's not looking at me.

Is this what he was always like? Was I so blindly oblivious that I couldn't see the real Xavier King.

A monster.

"We need to attend a business event tomorrow, be ready at 8 and put your ring back on." He orders.

My mouth parts in shock. Is he really pretending like he didn't just completely shatter me days ago?

Was all the love fake? He couldn't seriously change this drastically in a few days. Maybe the love wasn't even there in the first place.

He's Xavier King after all.

No explanations, no emotions and absolutely no care.

Did I really think I changed him?

"Yes Mr King," I fall to his command, he is the boss after all.

these characters are really coming to life for me
what do you think of their relationship here?

please vote and comment - it really puts a smile on my face.
-BanditLuva🖤