Chapter 26

"Amanda?"

"That isn't the name of your wife."

"Isn't that the name of her sister?"

"What's going on, sir?"

Different questions came from different reporters, he looked away, unable to stand the camera flashes.

Alisha stormed out of the hall; Isobel quickly followed suit.

He avoided staring at his father and signaled some of his men to come over.

His men came over pushing the reporters out of his way while he strode out of the hall.

He saw Isobel murmuring soothing words to Alisha close to his car.

"How could you do this to me?" she asked, angrily.

He shrugged.

"It had to be done. I don't want to see you in my house ever again"

He walked closer to her.

"You'll get the divorce papers as soon as it's ready, make sure you sign it"

"I won't," she slammed back.

"If you know what's good for you, you will," he turned to face Isobel.

"I'm not threatening to take back the resort or ruin your company so don't push me. You shouldn't get involved in this anymore and don't even think of doing what I'd hate," he warned.

To Alisha's dismay, Isobel nodded obediently.

He got into his car and the driver took off.

Xavier walked into his house, he wondered how Amanda would feel about this, he only wanted to know if there was any chance she'll still want to be with him if she knew how much she meant to him.

He was slightly startled to see Cesario sitting on the couch like an ancient king looking livid as hell.

"You foolish son of mine!" he yelled and stood up.

"People are already coming up with different deductions and criticizing you for saying that woman's name, I'll overlook what you just did, I'll call the press tomorrow and you'll tell them you were tipsy, and you didn't even know how that name fell from your mouth. That might earn you another bad name too but it's more preferable to this," Cesario said walking closer to him.

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't take back what I said for anything."

An unexpected punch from Cesario collided with his face.

His bottom lip broke and he spat out blood.

"You'll do as I said!" Cesario barked, grabbing Xavier's collars.

Xavier yanked his hands away.

"You won't tell me what I should do from now on"

Cesario snickered.

"I can see that you've really become stupid. Fine! Go and be with that woman and spend the rest of your life... penniless," Cesario drawled.

"As always, you're using my assets to threaten me, have you forgotten that you now own half of it and not all?"

"And you think I can't make you lose the other 50%, I just have to make some phone calls, Xavier. I would gladly ruin my own son if that would bring him back to his right senses."

Xavier shrugged. "Then take everything. I hope you can manage the companies well enough. I can't continue living like this. Is it too much to ask to just want to be with someone who makes you happy? If I continue living the way you want, I'll wither and die"

Xavier sighed heavily.

"Can't you... can't you even for once let me do what I want? Can't you just be supportive of me and tell me to do what makes me happy." He paused seeing the unmoved expression on Cesario's face.

He continued angrily. "Because you're my father, it's a curse to me." With that he walked away leaving Cesario feeling highly shocked.

"Alisha, calm down!" Isobel yelled.

Alisha had practically destroyed everything in her room.

"Damnit! She has taken him away from me completely, I hate her!" Alisha screamed.

She turned to face Isobel.

"You have to help me, mother, let's take her away and..."

"We won't be doing anything to your sister," Isobel announced.

Alisha's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"You heard me. You should be more than happy that he said he wouldn't take anything from us."

"Mother," Alisha muttered in disbelief.

"Didn't you see the way he talked about her in front of so many people? If we touch Amanda, he'll ruin our lives. Just move on, Alisha. I'm so happy that my assets are still mine."

"Is that all you think about...money? I bet it's more important than your family, that was why you gave Amanda to him, to protect your assets, this is all your fault, because of you, they met... because of you..."

"Oh please, young lady. This is your fault, don't blame me for anything, if you hadn't run off, I wouldn't have had any reason to approach your sister and mind you, if you do anything stupid again that will make Xavier angry, you will ask yourself thoroughly if I'm really your mother," Isobel warned and walked away.

Alisha brushed off the flower vase from the table angrily.

She couldn't accept that Amanda would get to enjoy Xavier's wealth for the rest of her life.

Fine! Since she couldn't hurt Amanda, she would have to make her hurt Xavier instead.

She smirked and brought out her laptop.

If she couldn't have a life with Xavier then Amanda couldn't either.

Amanda walked into the coffee shop. She had seen the news. What Xavier said touched her mightily. It made her want to run to him and be in his arms forever, but she was still scared to take the bold step.

"Isn't that the twin who stole her sister's husband?"

"What does a man like Xavier Da Silva even see in her? Look at her shabby clothes"

"He has all the money in the world yet he's so stupid,"

"She's a disgrace to womanhood, gold digger."

Amanda heard some women saying among themselves, she looked sideways, and they stared back at her irritatingly.

What's going on?

As she walked home, she brought out her cellphone and slid into social media.

What she saw made her froze on the spot.

Alisha had recorded a video of herself weeping miserably with a false story of how Amanda seduced and stole her husband.

Two people passed by her and murmured abusive words, laughed and walked away.

Tears stung her eyes. It wasn't even the comments about her that broke her heart, but the hateful words people were saying about Xavier.

He had always maintained a good reputation, now, because of her, everyone was seeing him as a very stupid and foolish man.

She quickly boarded a taxi.

"Why are you doing this?" Amanda asked, standing opposite Alisha in their family house.

"Isn't it obvious why I'm doing this? You stole my man!"

"And I agreed to avoid him. He didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't deserve this."

"You think. Well there’s more coming his way. He doesn't want to give up on you, so he has to suffer."

"I'm begging you. You can do anything you want to me instead. I won't see him again, I promise, just please stop this madness," Amanda yelled.

"This isn't madness. Even if you promise not to see him again, he will still run after you like a lovesick puppy."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Disappear! Leave him totally, go to a place where he can never find you."

Tears streamed down Amanda's eyes.

"I just..."

"Look at the bright side of it, Amanda, if you leave, his life will return to normal. People would always ridicule him anytime they see you two together. You've ruined his life, Amanda, and you can only fix it by leaving," Alisha walked closer to her.

"I know it hurts to leave, Amanda. But think about it, this is the best decision to make."

Amanda turned around to leave, tears burning her eyes and falling down rapidly, she stared at Isobel who was leaning against the banister.

That look raised up a pang of guilt in Isobel but before she could say anything, Amanda walked away.

Miguel stood in front of her apartment waiting for her.

He saw her walking up the street, looking emotionally wrung out.

"I heard what happened. Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Am I okay?" she asked bitterly.

Miguel sighed. "I know this is a tough time for you but..."

"I'm leaving, Miguel," she announced.

"What? Why?"

"This is the only way that everything would be okay."

"I know you're hurting, and I can't believe I'm saying this to you. I'm not his biggest fan. I don't even like him but after what he did last night, it shows he loves you more than anything, he's willing to risk everything for you and you're just gonna leave, that man loves you so much, Amanda, don't..."

"That love is ruining him right now. I don't want this kind of life with him. I don't want him to be insulted every time he's with me, and his father might take everything away from him just because of me. I love him, but I don't want him to suffer," she cut in, breaking down into tears for the umpteenth time.

"You'll hurt him...alot," Miguel assured.

"And he'll get over me, eventually," she wiped her cheeks and walked past Miguel.

"I don't even deserve to know where you're going?" he asked.

"No." And then, she hurried off.

Amanda slowly arranged her clothes in her luggage.

Tears threatened but she fought them back. She was doing the right thing. If you love someone, you'll always have to make sacrifices, even if she'll be unhappy for the rest of her life, she would okay with the fact that she didn't ruin his life.

Her doorbell rang, she walked out of her bedroom and to the front door then opened it.

"Hey," he began nervously.

Her heartbeat accelerated, why did he have to show up before her again?"

"You shouldn't..."

Her words halted seeing the bruise on his lip. Her thoughts scrambled.

"What happened to you?" she asked framing his face in her hands.

Xavier smiled. This was a good sign, at least. She still cared about him.

"I hit my lip against something," he replied.

"It looks bad," she said leading him into her apartment.

"I'll get the first aid kit." With that, she walked out the sitting room.

Xavier sat on a couch, he looked around the room, it was fairly furnished and comfy. He silently hoped she would allow him to spend the night with her.

She came back and started treating his lip.

"You can't fool me, Xavier. What really happened to you?"

He sighed. "It was my father, but it doesn't really hurt though, he has grown older, so his fist doesn't hurt like before," he assured.

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing much."

"Xavier," she pressed on.

He groaned. "Fine. The usual, he wants to make me lose my assets, but I really don't mind, I can always get back to my feet."

"And you think it's that easy?"

"Well..."

"You'll have to work under someone, you'll have to obey instructions from people, you'll be bossed around, something you aren't used to," she pointed out.

"I can cope, cara, I just..."

"I don't want you to lose everything because of me," she cut in, putting away the first aid kit.

"I'm not losing everything. If I lose you, then I'll be losing everything," he said affectionately.

He slowly held her hands.

"Please, let's fight for this."

"I'll always be seen as the woman who stole her sister's husband and you'll always be seen as a foolishly whipped man; do you want that kind of life?"

"I'm sorry about what your sister did. But talking about you to the public was to make you give me a chance. I don't care what people think of me. I know it bothers you but soon, everyone would forget about it, it'd be a thing of the past. I don't want all the riches in the world and still feel miserable."

He stared at her intensely.

"Aren't I worth fighting for?" he asked with tears filled eyes.

She bit her bottom lip hard; everything hurt...seeing him like this hurt more.

"Only with you can I be happy, I don't want to live a lonely life, please," he begged.

She looked away from him.

He slowly let go of her hands.

"Maybe I'm being selfish... just tell me what I should do, I just need you so badly, if you leave me, I won't survive. Don't you want me anymore, do you even love me?"

She drew in a deep breath.

"I love you, Xavier, and I don't regret loving you."

He smiled, joyfully.

"Does this mean that you're giving me a chance?" He asked, half hoping and half doubting.

She swallowed hard and nodded.

"Let's go to your cabin” She said, suddenly.

He frowned, he had told her once about the cabin before they got separated and had promised to take her there someday.

"Why do you want to go there all of a sudden?” He asked.

"I just want to be alone with you, far away from everyone” She replied.

He loved the sound of that too. He stood up and hugged her, tenderly stroking her hair.

"Thank you for giving me this chance, Amanda. I promise, you won't regret it” He assured.

She buried her head on his collar bone.

Just one last day with him. She wanted to spend just one last day with him to make him think of all the happy memories when she would be far gone.