My Ten Years Was A Lie?

Brielle

The owner of the company was Axel.

"Bri—" He started.

"Don't Brielle me. Firstly, you knew my husband was a cheating skank, yet you kept it to yourself. I know we weren't... we aren't close, but still, I expected some respect. And now... now I'm finding out that she used to work not only in my husband's company but yours too." I said in one breath.

The look in Axel's eyes. His surprise.

"Okay firstly, it's not fair that you keep bringing up the cheating part. I already told you why and I thought we were past that."

A wave of shame caught me because he was right.

"Secondly, yes. She used to work for both of us. I fired her because I found out that she was blackmailing staff. A lot of them. I couldn't let such a toxic person stay... or should I? The only reason I didn't tell you was because I didn't see the need to. I didn't feel it was important. If I did, then you would have surely known."

Okay, now I was feeling like the biggest jerk on the planet. He had been so supportive to me in this whole Jason debacle even though we weren't related. And here I was.

"I'm sorry. For accusing you," I said meekly, the fire doused from me.

He raised my chin and my eyes met his. A small smile appeared on his handsome face and I was awestruck for a minute.

"It's okay."

We remained like that until I removed my eyes from him. Impossible task, might I add.

"Now. I wanted to speak to you about something. I thought you were asleep so I wanted to wait till morning but now that you're here..." His face turned serious.

"From what I know of Shayla, she is a very manipulative person. So maybe Jason was her target all along. After getting fired, she found a rich man to take to bed and you can connect the dots from there, right?"

He was making sense.

Shayla had been fired from Axel's company about seven years ago. And then she moved to his brother's company. And the child was five years old. The same period she stopped working for Jason.

This was like a cliché romance novel and I was getting frustrated.

Well, I couldn't really care.

A gold digger had entered into his life and she had let him. Maybe this was his karma.

The ringing of a phone shattered the silence and I patted myself down only to realize that my phone wasn't with me. So it was...

"What do you want?" Axel answered his phone.

"Why the fuck is my wife with you? What the fuck are you doing to her? You brought her into your house as some what? Knight in shining armor. You listen to me rig—" Jason's voice sounded from the phone.

Why was he calling Axel?

Probably because he left 18 missed calls for you and you answered none.

I rolled my eyes at his outburst and turned to leave.

But it was Axel's voice that stopped me.

"You think you deserve her? After what you did, how you treated her and made her feel that you deserve to call her yours? Listen here Jason. You're the one at fault and instead of apologizing to the woman who you say is your wife, you're worried because she's staying with me. That's just stupid. Your mistake will cost you everything, Jason. Mark my words."

With that, he hung up the phone. He turned to look at me, his drink now in hand, took a sip and then turned back.

I found both his outburst and the way he drank sexy as fuck. My throat worked overtime.

I wasn't ready for this.

I turned around, went to my room, hoping to get a good night's sleep.

★

Although he had done nothing to make me doubt him, I still didn't believe him. I guess it was due to the fact that he was well... Jason's brother. Or because he was a man...

Yeah, right!

It was because of Jason.

So one afternoon, when he went to work, I snuck into his study.

Why?

I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't trusting the wrong person again.

I searched the shelf first. Removing books to see if anything was there.

When I found nothing, I went to his desk. Drawer by drawer I searched till I found a thick stack of folders in the first drawer. It was labeled HER.

It didn't seem like he brought his work home. And I didn't find anything.

But I wanted to know what was in the folder. Call it snooping but I called it wanting to know what he was up to. And there was also a tiny, very tiny part, that wondered if it was his girlfriend.

But as I opened it, all I found, or rather who I found, was no one but my humble self.

I stood frozen, the file still in my hand, its contents seared into my brain.

Pages upon pages, reports of me. My movements, my habits, places I went to, even cafes I barely even remembered visiting. And then there were pictures. Of Jason. In hotels. With her. With others.

Axel had been keeping tabs on me and Jason and even Shayla for years now. 

My hands trembled as I slammed the folder shut and stormed out of the study.

I heard the front door open and stormed downstairs with the folder in my hands. He was in the kitchen, his back to me, pouring himself a glass of water.

“Are you insane?” I snapped.

He turned to look at me. His eyes widened when he took in my state and they widened even more when he saw what I was holding. 

“Brie—”

“Don’t!” I raised the folder. “You’ve been watching me? And it's all dated to ten years ago. For ten years? Ten fucking years? Axel, that’s.....that's stalking.”

He finally turned around, his jaw tight, eyes calm but unreadable. “It’s not like that.”

“Then explain. Explain why you know about every goddamn doctor’s appointment I’ve had, every time I changed gyms, every coffee shop I went to......just why?"

“I had to be sure,” he said, voice low. “Sure that you were okay. I had to make sure that you were always provided for and safe."

“Oh, wow. So you just played silent guardian all these years? And I never even asked you to. You had no right!”

“You’re right,” he said without flinching. “I had no right. But I did it anyway.”

The nerve.

I was shaking. Not just from the invasion but from the sheer intensity of everything. “Why do you even care so much?”

His gaze didn’t move.

“Because I should’ve been the one you married, Brielle.”