Chapter 23
“I saw him too,” Lucille replied flatly. She had watched him go.
“He was sitting by the lake alone. I’m not sure what he was doing.”
Lucille thought, “What else would he be doing?
“The deal was dead. He needed to cool off.”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry.” In the past, she would’ve been deeply concerned.
Those five years of marriage were also five years she spent supporting Cedrick as he built his business. She was always worried if he was tired, if he was treated unfairly, if he was losing money, facing setbacks, or if the stress was getting to him.
Her heart beat with his.
So she prepared his meals, managed the household perfectly, and tried to create a warm refuge for him. Even when he came home late, she wanted him to feel relaxed the moment he stepped through the door…
But he didn’t seem to need it.
Well, now someone else could worry about him.
She decided to take a shower, look up graduate programs abroad, and go to sleep.
But sometimes social media was irritating, always showing her things she didn’t want to see.
She opened an app, and there was Maricela’s post again.
It was uploaded just minutes earlier that night.
It was a picture of their hands intertwined. Cedrick’s fingers wrapped around hers.
The caption read “He’s always been so strong and proud, unbending no matter the storm. But tonight he endured shame for me. Thank you for standing against the whole world for me. Even if everyone condemns you, to me, you’ll always be my hero.”
Lucille smiled bitterly. She tapped “Not Interested“. Maybe it wouldn’t pop up again.
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Thank goodness she never compared herself to Maricela in Cedrick’s heart
Otherwise, she would’ve lost a long time ago.
Cedrick treated his career like his life. But he was willing to drop everything the moment Maricela might be slighted without hesitation. In her words, he “stood against the whole world” just to protect her.
She thought Cedrick wouldn’t come home that night. But he did after she was already asleep.
She slept in the guest room, figuring he wouldn’t come bother her. After all, she had “cost” him a major deal tonight, if that was how he saw it.
But once again, she was wrong.
He pushed the door.
It was locked. Then he knocked.
When she didn’t answer, he knocked harder. “Lucille. You think a lock can keep me out of my own house?”
It was true. He could break the door down if he wanted. But that would be excessive.
She got up and opened the door.
She thought he might be drunk as he seemed unusually agitated.
But again, she was wrong.
He didn’t smell of alcohol. Instead, he carried the cool, damp air of the lakeside night. A single leaf clung to his shoulder.
“What is it?” she asked, her hand still on the doorknob.
“This is my house. You’re my wife. Do I need permission to enter?” His eyes were bloodshot, shadows lingering beneath them.
“Do what you want, then.” She was tired of this back–and–forth. Arguing led nowhere. She wanted out, but he didn’t. There was no point in talking.
She turned and went back to bed.
“That’s all you have to say?” He followed her into the room. “My project fell through. After
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all those countless late nights, all those meetings, proposal after proposal? That’s your
reaction?”
“God, he is so hung up on this. It’s exhausting,” she wondered.
“What else? What do you want? Go beg for you?” She wouldn’t
of course. go,
“No.” He stood beside the bed, undoing his cufflinks. “I don’t take back what I walk away
from.”
Lucille almost laughed. “He should’ve added: Except Maricela,” she thought.
Maybe he’d never really let go of her in the first place. Maybe she was the one who left.
“Then why are you here, causing a scene?”
“Causing a scene?” He grabbed his shirt collar and yanked it hard, sending buttons flying. “Let me show you what a real scene looks like.”
She truly had no idea what Cedrick looked like when he lost control.
From the very beginning, he always had a quiet, distant quality, like mist on the mountains, always present yet always veiled and out of reach.
Even after they got married, it remained that way.
But right now, he was acting unusually out of control.
She stared in alarm at his unbuttoned shirt and the toned muscles visible beneath it.
“Cedrick, what are you doing?” She wrapped herself tightly in the blanket.
“What do you think?” His gaze was uncharacteristically fierce. “You’re my wife. You live off me, and yet you teamed up with others to cheat me. What do you expect me to do?”
“I didn’t…” She hadn’t thought an explanation was necessary, but given his aggression, it seemed he was using this as an excuse to truly lose it.
As Cedrick suddenly unbuckled his belt, Lucille scrambled to the other side of the bed, still wrapped in the blanket.
But he caught her, pulling her and the blanket back toward him.
“Cedrick, let me go!”
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It was as if he didn’t hear her.
Soon, the blanket was yanked away, and he began tearing at her nightgown.
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