The Wrong Wife by Maya Alden

Chapter 37

Declan

"Well, this is a cluster fuck," Forest said that evening when he came to the penthouse where Esme didn’t live with Chinese food, Mateo, Raya, and Daisy.

"Where did she go?" Raya used chopsticks to serve herself some noodle nonsense.

We were sitting at the dining table. Calliope had been so distressed to hear that Esme was leaving me that I’d asked to take the week off. I didn't need anyone at home. I wanted to stew in my juices. I'd said as much to the people eating fried rice and chow Mein noodles in my house, but they’d ignored me.

"She's staying with Mark. He said he'll take care of her."

"And we still have the bodyguards," Raya reminded me.

I couldn't eat. I was drinking Scotch.

"You know she loves you," Mateo told me.

I nodded. "Yes. But she needs to accept it, and she's too afraid right now. I don't want to pressure her. If I do, she'll worry about her mother, and…she's hurting. Mark said she's been crying ever since she got there. Refuses to tell him what happened."

I hurt for and with her. She was my woman, and when she was in pain, I felt it too.

"Are you going to just let her leave?" Daisy demanded, glaring at Forest for some reason. "You, men, give up so easily."

"He can't stop her," Forest protested. "How should he? She made up her mind."

"He could have convinced her otherwise. Maybe she needed him to show her that he loved her," Daisy threw back at him.

"Maybe that's because he doesn't love her," Forest responded harshly.

I watched the volley of words between them, and we all knew they were not talking about Esme and me.

"Guys, get a room," I said blandly. "I do love Esme, very much. But I need her to come back to me. If I bring her back…she’ll always be in doubt."

"What's your plan?" Raya asked.

I smiled for the first time in what felt like a very long time. "First, I'm going to deal with that asshole family of hers, so they'll never hold the proverbial gun to her head again. And then, I will nudge her a little—so she can be free of her fears. There is no guarantee that she'll return in the next month before the annulment, though."

Mateo shrugged. "Business will be hurt."

"Big time," Raya's eyes widened.

"We built it up after Gerald left the company half dead; we can do it again," Mateo said.

"Right on." Raya raised her glass of wine to clink against Mateo's.

I had personal wealth outside of the company, which Mateo and Raya didn't have, so the fact that they were ready to battle for me was even more meaningful.

I told them my plan, and they gave their feedback on it. Just like we would for any team project, we honed it and finally laid out the roles and responsibilities.

"What do we call this project?" Mateo wondered.

"Project E for Esme," I offered.

"No," Daisy was looking at Forest, "Call it what it is. Project L. Project Love."

We held our glasses then and cheered, "To Love."

"When do we start?" Forest asked.

"No time like the present." I wasn't going to wait. I had a month before I'd need to sign the annulment papers and announce my marriage to Viv, or we'd lose the merger and probably the company's reputation. I had no intention of doing either.

That night I lay in bed, unable to sleep without her. I missed her. The scene in the hospital played in my head in a loop. She wouldn't look at me when we were there. I knew her now, knew how soft her heart was. If she looked at me, she'd not be able to leave. She loved me. I knew that for certain.

After she'd left, Viv and Julien had descended upon me like vultures.

"We have to plan the wedding," Viv immediately said. "And we'll keep it low key…the media is going to go nuts, but we'll just say that you made a mistake, and now we’re back on track."

I couldn't believe how mercenary she was. Had I been with this woman for a year? I must've been blind.

"Your mother wants to, of course, plan a big shindig, but I managed to dissuade her,” Julien piped in.

Did my mother know how Julien had convinced Esme to leave? Did she know he was a monster who beat his wife and daughter?

"I haven't signed the papers yet, Viv." I tried to stall her. They'd all decided it was fait accompli.

"Oh, I know you're angry with me, Dec." She wrapped herself around me. "But I know you love me. I love you too. I just…lost my way. Can you forgive me?"

I wanted to push her away, but I didn't. I was formulating a plan to bring my life back to order, starting with destroying Julien and Viv Hartley. It would be easier to do if they thought I was playing along.

"We'll announce the wedding to the board at the meeting in four weeks, which should protect us from any repercussions," Julien interjected. "I'm glad you're seeing sense, Dec. Esme, as I told you, is a flake. Look at how she walked away."

I wanted to strangle her.

"Well, I have a tee time, so I’ll leave you both to plan things." Julien left, and after a while, so did Viv and me. I knew Esme would come back to be with her mother. Julien and Viv would not.

I told Viv I was tired and didn't let her enter my home. While I may pretend to play along, there was no way she would sully the house that had become a home to Esme and me. Esme had changed the décor slowly but steadily. She’d bought new rugs and curtains from god knows where because they had no designer labels—but they looked just right. She'd added touches here and there and made it a cozy haven for us. She'd tempered the starkness with warmth. This was no longer a place Viv had arranged with an interior designer—this was home. Esme and my home.

But I couldn’t stand being in that home.

I had bent her over the dining table and taken her from behind. We'd sat on the couch and watched movies while fighting over popcorn. We'd made love in the gym and the pool. In the living room. In the bathroom, both in the shower and the bathtub. She'd given me a memorable blow job on the balcony. I'd eat her out in the elevator.

I'd go mad if I had to stay in this place.

I decided to move into one of the corporate apartments in the Knight Tech office building. I'd tell Viv that I was renovating or some such thing. It would help not to smell and feel Esme in the penthouse.

I texted Baker to have an apartment ready for me and to pack enough of my things to last me a month there.

I wondered if Esme was still crying. And I felt tears fill my eyes at the thought. She was my miracle. I just had to be patient and let her come back to me.