In sickness and in health

I have had the shittiest day, and to top it off, it feels like I am coming down with something; my limbs ache and I feel hot and shivery at the same time. I don't think I have ever been so grateful to have my front door in my sightline. All I want to do is get out of my sodden clothes and have a cup of tea and a warm bath. Why is it that February weather always has to be so foul?

I have just closed the door and am in the process of hanging up my coat and towelling my hair, cursing the fact that I forgot my umbrella when there is a short knock at the door. I am so not in the mood for visitors but slap on a smile because, hey, you never know who it might be. Yet when I swing the door open, I seriously wish I hadn't bothered.

Sofia stands on the doorstep, not a hair out of place, looking resplendent in her dark coat and slash of bright red lipstick across her thin mouth. Before I have a chance to say anything, though, she pushes past me into the hall. After you, I think sarcastically to myself.

"Alex isn't here," I say, fixing Sofia with a glare. Right now I seriously wish that Alex wasn't on his business trip to Zurich with his mother. After the impromptu flight to come and tear strips off us, Sheila decided to stay for a week and then head back to Australia via Switzerland to tie up a couple of international deals they had been working on. Cursing the fact that he will not be back until tomorrow, I know I just need to suck it up and deal with Sofia myself.

Sofia narrows her eyes at me, looking me up and down and taking in my bedraggled state. "I know," she hisses, before stalking off in the direction of the kitchen. Damn, I wish that I didn't know that she had been with Alex before because right now jealousy is starting to rear its ugly head, making me even crankier than I was feeling before. I follow in her wake, almost feeling like an intruder in my own house, such is the confidence that she is projecting.

"What do you want, Sofia?" I ask, trying to keep my voice calm and neutral in an effort to not let her know that she is getting to me.

She turns and plants her hands on her hips. "I have come to warn you."

"Warn me?" I ask, wondering where the hell this is going.

"Yes," she spits at me in a viper-like hiss. "Alex is mine. And when your year is up, you will be out on your arse and then Alex will come back to me. Where he belongs."

My mind is spiralling as I take in her words. "Alex broke it off with you, Sofia. I really don't think he has any interest in going back there." I say, the snarkiness I am feeling creeping into my voice.

"You know nothing, Olivia. Your little arrangement that you have going on…that's all it is. He might have pity-fucked you at New Year's, but that is all you will ever be—a wife to keep his family happy. But you will never be enough for him, enough for his tastes." And there she has hit on my weakest spot…my fear that I can't give him what that sadist in him needs. It is as if she senses my inner unease because she continues, her voice harsh. "Because I am. We are yin and yang. Our connection is true to the core. I gave him everything he needed and he loved it." She stresses the words 'everything' and 'loved' and I feel like I have been punched in the gut.

"Yet he still left you, Sofia," I counter harshly, my inner bitch finally making a proper appearance, and I am somewhat gratified when I see her wince slightly.

"Whatever!" she responds, bitterness lacing her words like poison. "It was only ever a matter of time before he came back to me. But you," she says, pointing her finger at me, her blood-red nails talon-like, "You had to go and get mixed up in our business. When my cousin saw your prenup"—gotcha, I think to myself, as the final piece of the puzzle falls into place—"I knew that I just had to bide my time. A year is doable, and then Alex will kick you to the curb and I will finally take my place as the proper Mrs Davenport."

Oh. My. God. This woman is unhinged. Sofia is shrieking at me, garbling about soulmates and yin and yang again, her eyes wild. I am starting to wonder whether I should be trying to make a swift exit when, suddenly, she stills, her eyes growing wide as she stares over my shoulder in the direction of the door. I whip my head around to find Alex filling the doorway, barely suppressed rage rolling off his tall frame.

"Enough, Sofia," he barks, his voice ice-cold. "How dare you come in here and talk to Olivia like this." Funny how Alex always seems to call me Olivia when he slips into Dom mode, I abstractly think to myself with a weird sense of amusement at the situation playing out in front of me. In a couple of strides, Alex is at my side, winding his arm around my shivering frame. "You have caused enough trouble with all your stunts and now you have the audacity to come into my home, behaving like this." I notice Sofia shrinking back a little, and even though I know it is not what nice girls do, I feel a nasty sense of relief that she is finally getting some payback for all the crap she has brought into my life.

With a harshness that makes even me wince, Alex continues, "You are going to regret messing with me like this. You knew exactly what the arrangement was when we got together. You wanted more, I didn't, and that was the end. I tried to spare your feelings at the time, Sofia, but the real reason we broke up was because you are a narcissistic bitch. Good for a fuck and a whip, but if you thought I would ever let you near my family and friends, then you were sorely mistaken."

Alex strides forward and grabs Sofia's arm. She emits a low groan as, I guess, the reality of her situation begins to sink in. "Now you are going to get the fuck out of my house," he says as he drags Sofia bodily out of the kitchen and into the hallway, "and out of my life. If you ever come near Olivia again, you will seriously wish that you had never crossed me." By this point Alex is opening the front door and pushing her out, Sofia's previously immaculate hair now dishevelled and tears falling down her face. She tries to apologise, pleading with Alex for forgiveness, but his jaw is set. "And you can let your cousin know that she should expect to be fired," Alex says as a parting shot before slamming the door behind him.

I sink down onto the bottom step in the cold hallway, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, as I watch Alex lean back onto the door, his eyes closed as he rubs the bridge of his nose. I can see from the stress lines around his eyes just how tired he is, and from the look of his crumpled suit, I guess that he came straight from his last meeting.

As the adrenaline begins to leave my system, I am suddenly struck with just how unwell I am feeling. My skin is clammy and beaded with sweat, yet I am shivering. I close my eyes and lean against the bannister as my vision starts to swirl, desperate to keep the nausea at bay. I am just about feeling like I am going to pass out when suddenly I sense Alex in front of me. "Liv, open your eyes," Alex asks gently as his hands smooth my forehead. I crack open my eyes, wincing at the harsh light flooding the hallway. "Jesus, you are burning up," Alex says.

"I don't feel so good," I respond as, weirdly, I am now seeing two of Alex. The next thing I know, I am being carried up the stairs and deposited on our bed. Everything is kind of hazy as I feel cool hands stripping off my clothes and a cold cloth on my forehead. I hear a low moan and somehow realise that the sound is coming from me.