A week had passed and not a single word had been heard from Cathleen, which was highly unusual for the girl who was known for her constant phone calls to check up on others. Mr. Knight, feeling increasingly concerned and anxious, couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong with his dear daughter-in-law. Each time he tried to reach out to Xavier for an update on his wife's whereabouts, he was met with silence. Growing more and more determined to find answers, the old man summoned his driver and made his way to Xavier and Cathleen's lavish home, hoping to uncover the truth behind her sudden disappearance.
As the old man arrived, he was welcomed with open arms by Olivia. Her wide grin stretched from ear to ear as she swung the door open for him. The moment his eyes fell on her, he knew without a doubt that Cathleen and Olivia would not get along. She exuded a different kind of energy-one that did not match Cathleen's refined tastes.
"Good morning, Father." As Olivia stepped into the aging man's presence, a glimmer of hope fluttered in her heart. Perhaps with Cathleen gone and no one knowing her whereabouts, she could finally have a chance to be with Xavier. Not that she wasn't already physically with him; her body was always by his side. But he belonged to Cathleen, not to her. The man standing before her, with wrinkles etched deeply into his weathered face and eyes that held stories untold, was not meant for her. She couldn't help but feel a pang of longing for something that could never be hers.
As Olivia stood before the old man, he slowly took her in with his sharp, discerning eyes. She could feel his disapproval radiating off of him, like a palpable force pushing against her. He didn't see the need to talk to her or acknowledge her presence, making it clear that he would never accept her as his daughter-in-law. After completing his thorough scan of her, he shifted his gaze to the side without so much as a greeting. His body settled onto the couch, one hand resting heavily on his knee, and he waited in silence for his son to appear. Tension hung thick in the air, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere that Olivia couldn't help but feel suffocated by.
As the old man spent time observing Olivia, it became even more apparent that Olivia was nothing but Xavier's concubine-a mere possession in his extravagant collection.
After a while, Olivia noticed that the old man wasn't going to give her an answer, so she let out a quiet sneer and went up the stairs. She didn't bother to tell Xavier that his father was waiting for him on the ground floor. The old man wasn't surprised that the girl didn't want to tell his son that he was waiting for him, and since he wasn't in a hurry, he just waited. An hour later, Xavier came down the stairs and saw his father sitting on the couch in the living room.
"Good morning, Father. When did you get here?" Xavier asked, and the old man looked at his wristwatch and replied.
"About an hour and a half ago, I thought your girlfriend could have told you I was here because she saw me." Xavier looked down the stairs and saw Olivia coming down.
"Why didn't you tell me my father was here?" Olivia's voice was on the edge of a smile as she spoke.
"Oh, baby, it was a slip of the mind. I'm sorry." The old man looked at the girl; he knew that she hadn't forgotten anything at all. Her problem was that he didn't accept her.
"Well, I'm here to have a word with you about your wife. Something isn't right." The man expressed his concerns.
"What about my wife, Father?"
"You wouldn't want me to have a word with you about your wife in front of your booty call, would you?" The old man said it with a wry grin on his face.
"Olivia is a nobody. Cathleen is my wife, Father. So what is it with Cathleen?" Olivia stopped dead in her tracks. At first, she had thought that Xavier would come to her defense when the old man called her a booty call, but he didn't; he went on to call her a nobody. She felt like a piece of shit on the spot. No matter what she did, Xavier would never be able to leave Cathleen and marry her. She had no understanding of the nature of their relationship. Cathleen has been gone for some time now, so she thought her presence in the house would make a difference. But clearly, Cathleen was the most important.
She watched Xavier and his father go upstairs to his study and followed them.
"And what of the woman you have chosen for me, Father? One who is busy whoring around the world. I wouldn't be surprised if she..." There was a pause. He initially wanted to know if he was also one of Cathleen's clients, as he believed that Cathleen was selling her body.
"I don't have any idea what you did to her that day. Unlike Cathleen, she didn't call, and I know very well that, my Cathleen would have called to check on me. Especially if she had known that I wasn't feeling well." When Xavier's father said, "My Cathleen," Xavier scoffed. Now, more than ever, he was convinced that his father was actually sleeping with the woman he had chosen for him.
"Father, why didn't you marry her yourself if you like this girl so much? I mean, Mum died a long time ago, and I don't think that any of us would have a problem with you finding yourself a younger mistress."
Slap!
"You do not have any respect for me, my son. Cathleen is like the daughter that I never had. Right now, I know that something's not right, and all you can think of is that I'm with a girl that I love so much as a daughter. You really do not deserve her. I hate myself for having forced her to get married to such an idiot as you. What happened between the two of you on the day that she went away?"
"Asked her if she was fucking you and if she liked older men?" The old man looked at his son. There was so much disappointment in his face. He knew he was an idiot, but right now he was of the opinion that his son had no heart.
"Xavier, I want you to divorce Cathleen. It was a mistake to marry her to you. She had been missing for a week, going on two weeks, and you don't even care about her. If you were the one who was missing, no matter how much she hated you, she would have been on the lookout for you by now. Cathleen deserves better than this, and I want you to set her free. There's no question in my mind that she's not in love with you one bit. So do her a favor and divorce her."
The moment she heard the man tell Xavier to divorce Cathleen, Olivia, who had been listening to the conversation between father and son, jumped up and down. And now, even if Xavier didn't divorce Cathleen, she knew that their marriage had been arranged, so if there was no divorce between Xavier and Cathleen, she was going to make sure that she revealed this piece of information to the press