"You don't have to come. You should stay at home and rest, it would be good for the babies," Theodore told me as I slipped his jacket over his shoulders.
"I want to come," I said as Theodore turned to me, "I won't let you do this alone." I gave him a look that clearly said that no matter what happened, I wouldn't back down.
"Fine, but don't try to intervene, I have a feeling it's going to get messy, but you better stay put, okay?" Theodore commanded, his voice firm.
I nodded reluctantly just to appease him, but silently made a promise to myself that I'll intervene with guns blazing the moment I sensed something bad was about to go down. I would not let Ian hurt Theodore.
"Yes, I won't intervene," I lied, but the smile of relief I saw on Theodore's face was worth the false words I uttered a few seconds ago.
"Alright, let's go have breakfast, then we'll leave," Theodore said, taking my hand he led me out of our bedroom and to the kitchen for breakfast. There was a breakfast table set in the kitchen for six people. Theodore pulled out two chairs; he made me sit in one of the chairs before he himself sat down.
"Aren't you the least bit worried about this?" I asked Theodore astounded. I was in awe of this man who was sitting right next to me. Did nothing fazed him? Did nothing rattled him? Did nothing shook his perfectly made armor of steel?
"Why would I be worried?" Theodore asked confusion evident on his face.
"Are you kidding?! There is a deranged man who's out to ruin your life and you're asking me what it is that you should be worried about?" My husband clearly had no idea what the word dangerous meant. Otherwise, he would be sweating right through his Armani suit jacket with fear of potential reputation damage.
"Sweetheart, I know what I'm doing. Trust me, Ian would be nothing after today. So no, I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either, it's not good for the babies," Theodore admonished kissing my cheek.
"But what if he does something bad, Theodore?" I murmured softly; my eyes widened in fear and I wrapped an arm around my tummy, protecting my unborn children from the demon's clutches, "what if he does something to harm the babies?"
"Hey now, don't think like that," Theodore ordered gently, cupping my face with his big, warm hands, "I told you to trust me, right?" I nodded, feeling slightly better, "then trust me when I say I've got everything under control; I won't let Ian near you or the babies, okay? I'll kill him even if he so much as looks at you," Theodore said with conviction.
"I love you," I muttered, my voice soft.
"I love you more," Theodore murmured just as Julie showed up with our breakfast. She carefully put the plates filled with panckaes, waffles, eggs, bread and bacon in front of Theodore and I. Before leaving, she placed a couple of glasses on the table next to the plates along with a jug filled with mango juice.
"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Benson?" Julie asked softly.
Theodore shook his head with a small smile. "No, thank you, Julie, you may leave." Julie nodded and promptly and left, leaving Theodore and I to eat our breakfast.
I was in no mood of having breakfast. Simply because my stomach felt like there was a pile of rocks filling it. Anxiety about Ian and what he was going to do killed my appetite, and that was enough of a reason for me to want to kill him with my bare hands.
But there was another thing that I was anxious about. Amanda was suppose to come over and was bringing God only knew what with her. I just hoped she arrived sooner, otherwise Theodore and I would leave and I wouldn't know what she was going to bring.
Last night, after Theodore's story time, I excused myself for a few minutes and left the bedroom to call Amanda. I told her everything and she told me that she would come visit me and would bring me something that would help me against Ian. So that was another reason why my stomach was twisting itself.
"Here, eat up, then we'll leave," Theodore said before slicing his pancakes with a knife. I looked down at my plate and I nearly threw up with the amount of food I saw piled in it. Three pancakes, two waffles, one egg, and three strips of bacon, it was all too much.
"Theo, I can't eat this, I'm not hungry," I whined, gently pushing the plate away from me.
Theodore stopped eating and gave me a sideways glance. He swallowed whatever he was eating and put down his fork and knife before picking up mine and begun slicing the waffle on my plate. He stabbed the waffle with the fork and raised it to my lips. The protest died on my lips the moment I saw Theodore's hardened eyes. So instead of protesting, whining, arguing and complaining, I opened my mouth just as Theodore slipped the fork in my mouth.
"Oh, having breakfast, mind if I join you guys?" Amanda chirped before pulling out a chair for herself and filling her plate with everything.
Relief washed over me at seeing Mandi in my home. I was glad she wasn't late. Also, now that she was here, I wasn't as anxious as I was before and actually wanted to eat whatever was still in my plate.
"I don't like her," Theodore mumbled and shoved a forkful of pancakes in his mouth, sulking, while throwing a glare at Mandi who kept eating, totally oblivious to Theodore's sour mood.
"Stop sulking, she came to give me something," I chided softly, not wanting Mandi to hear Theodore complaining about her presence and hurting her feelings.
"She couldn't have come at another time?" I was actually wondering whether Theodore had turned into a child all of a sudden.
"Stop it, she is my best friend," I warned softly, throwing a glare for good measure, which had an immediate effect on Theodore, who huffed then went back to eating.
"You know I can hear you guys," Mandi said, causing Theodore and I to lower our heads in embarrassment.
"Mandi, he was just kidding, no need to get offended," I tried to explain but Amanda cur me off with a small smile.
"Relax, like his words would be enough to get rid of me." She threw a pointed look at Theodore who narrowed his eyes in return.
"Unfortunately," Theodore grumbled under his breath, but it was loud enough for me to hear. I threw Theodore a glare and stood up.
"Before you two end up fighting, I'm going to take Amanda to the guest room and then we'll leave, okay?" I grabbed Mandi's forearm and all but dragged her out of the kitchen ignoring her protests about not finishing breakfast.
"Ouch, woman can you go easy on my arm, these arms are going to be photographed and I don't want your nails scarring my skin," Mandi complained rubbing her arm as I closed the guestroom door softly behind me.
"Quit complaining, and tell me what you got for me," I demanded.
Amanda huffed before rummaging in her bag. My eyes widened when I saw what Mandi held in her hand. Gleaming under the sunlight that was filtering in through the window, the sharp, pointy knife made me cringe in fear.
"Here, take this and stab that son of a b! tch if he dares to do something you don't like," Amanda said coldly, her eyes hard with vengeance and hatred.
"Uh, Amanda, I'm not taking this. I don't think it would come to stabbing, Theodore said he got everything under control," I told her, desperately wanting to believe Theodore, but there was a part of me that was in doubt of my husband's capabilites.
"Pssht," Amanda scoffed, "All men say that to make the woman feel better, when in reality they've got nothing planned when things unexpectedly go south," Mandi commented as if she had all the experience in the world.
"Still, I'm not taking a weapon with me, I'm not capable of hurting anyone," I responded, gagging at imagining Ian's lifeless body on the ground, blood oozing from the gash made by the knife. However, with disgust, came a sick feeling of pleasure, knowing the man who was out to ruin my husband's life had finally left the world. I had a feeling, that by stabbing Ian to death, I would be doing the world a favor.
Mandi's eyes widened at my response. "You are saying you're not capable of hurting anyone?! Yeah right! Remember the time when scratched my arm and it started bleeding? Or when you pushed me off our tree house because I wasn't letting you play with my barbie? Or when-"
"Alright, I get it, I'm a very violent person," I conceded, "But still, a knife, you can't be serious." I really didn't want to carry a knife to Theodore's work place. What if there were metal detectors-even though there weren't any-I didn't want anyone to be suspicious of me.
"You need the knife, trust me," Amanda stated pushing the knife in hands, "These men, they act all strong and invincible, but trust me, without us ladies they would be nothing. We need to protect our men, Lee, and right now you need to protect yours, so take the knife, and call me when you stab that ugly cretin to death," Mandi said and walked out of the guestroom, leaving me staring at the knife in bewilderment.
Quickly leaving the guestroom, I hurried in my bedroom and quickly shoved the knife deep in my bag. Then I covered it with all the other things in my bag and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw no traces of the knife in my bag.
"You ready to go?" Theodore asked entering the bedroom making me jump.
"Yes, let's go," I said with a small smile, doing my best not to act weirdly.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Theodore muttered, taking my hand he led me out of the house and into the waiting car.
"Now, you better stay put, okay?" Theodore ordered and I nodded in agreeing, secretly glad that I had decided to stuff the knife in my bag.
"Yes, don't worry, but are you sure Ian won't do anything?" I asked, my forehead creased with worry.
"Trust me, Ian would be crying and begging me on his knees to show him mercy, so you've got nothing to worry about," Theodore pecked my forehead, "I'm going in my office, get me a cup of coffee, will you?" he asked sweetly.
Without saying anything I went to the kitchen to prepare his coffee. This time, however, I had no intention of wanting to kill Theodore by poisoning his coffee. My mouth curved in a smile at remembering the times when I loathed Theodore with all my heart. How I was afraid of him using me and then discarding me like trash. Even though I tried hard to resist his persistant advances, I was helpless. My heart was helpless. Theodore cracked the walls around my heart until the walls crumbled to dust, leaving my heart bare for him to claim. To conquer.
And he did.
Shaking my head to rid my mind of wonderful memories of our past, I focused on Ian and what he had planned. Was he really going to release the video to the world? Did he not care about exposing his equally demented wife to the world, naked and drunk? Was he so greedy that he was willing to let the world see his wife naked and lost in the throes of passion?
Yes, yes he was!
I knocked softly on the door of Theodore's office, and entered when I heard his deep voice telling me to come in. Theodore was sitting behind his desk typing away on his keyboard, his eyes glued to the computer screen. I ran my eyes over his face searching for any signs of worry, but found none.
Man, he was hardcore.
Clearing my throat a little to gain his attention, I placed the cup of steaming coffee in front of him. I smiled when he looked at me and was about to leave when he called my name, stopping me in my tracks.
"What is it?" I asked softly.
"Come here," he said softly.
Just as I came near him, he took me wrist and with a gentle tug, pulled me over his lap. He nuzzled my neck while placing soft kisses below my ear, making me wish we were in our bedroom instead of here.
"What's wrong, Theo?" I focused on the here and now. I couldn't let my desires and fantasies interfere with reality right now.
"Nothing, I just wanted you in my arms," he continued nuzzling my neck, "I like you in my arms."
"When is Ian going to come?" I questioned, wanting to get this over with, so I could finally put this all behind me and enjoy the rest of my life.
"Stop asking about him," Theodore tightened his hold on my waist, "he isn't important; but if you really want to know, he will come in a few hours, so we've got plenty of time," he kissed me softly before murmuring seductively, "why don't you go and sort out my meetings and schedule…be a good little assistant, good assistants gets rewarded by their boss."
"Oh stop it, if you just wanted me to do your work for you, you could've just told me," I teased which earned me a bite from Theodore.
"Go and sort out my schedule, what am I paying you for?" Theodore teased back making me roll my eyes.
"You haven't paid me, yet," I pointed which earned me another bite, this time right below my ear.
"Well that's good, with your performance, I would be bankrupt soon." He shook his head in mock terror.
"Continue talking like that and you're sleeping alone tonight," I threatened.
"Never." Theodore kissed my cheek and gently pushed me off his lap. I straightened my blouse and skirt then strolled out of his office and into my cabin.
Turning on the computer I opened the appointment notebook as the computer booted. Putting the notebook back in the drawer I typed in the password and the computer screen lit up with lots of icons of various softwares. Not wanting to waste my time and energy doing nothing except worrying about Ian and allowing my brain to come up with all sorts of crazy, scary scenarios, I begun sorting through Theodore's schedule; letting myself get absorbed in the mundane task of being an assistant.
I didn't know how long I kept working. Sorting out more than seventy appointments that had piled over in our absence. But, the sudden sound of struggling, and shouting of explicit words had me breaking out of my work bubble. I stood up and peered out of the glass door of my cabin to see a furious Ian fighting against the security guard that stood guard on this floor.
My eyes widened and I clutched my ears as the sound of gunshot resonated in the corridor. Ian had shot the guard who fell on the marble floor clutching his leg, his face contorted in pain. Without giving the guard a backward glance, Ian stormed over to Theodore's office and threw the door open, his face a mask of red hot fury. Ian entered Theodore's office and slammed the door shut, making me jump in fright.
Terror gripped me, coiling around my heart until my mind could do nothing but focus on Ian, the gun in his hand, and my husband who was in his office with that disgusting creature…unarmed.
Without thinking, I opened my bag and pulled out the knife. I looked at the gleaming blade with satisfaction, and a sadistic smile curved my lips when I imagined Ian lying in a pool of his own blood, the silver blade imbedded deep in his black heart, now bathed in his blood. I kissed the blade softly and walked out of my cabin with a purpose.
It's show time.