Chapter 14: The Husband who won't Bend

Alexander's POV

I've watched the surveillance footage from Connecticut at least twenty times in the past two hours.

Marcus Rivera arriving with gifts, playing with my son, sitting close to my wife on the garden bench, that hug at the door that lasted three seconds too long.

I tell myself I'm watching for security purposes, monitoring threats to my family, but the scotch glass in my hand and the tightness in my jaw tell a different story.

Elena smiled more in that three hour visit than she has in months with me.

 Julian laughed, really laughed, the kind of pure joy I haven't heard from him in I don't know how long.

I close the laptop, pour another drink….

Elena will break soon..

she needs me more than I need her, she has no money that isn't mine, no life that isn't connected to my name…..

A few more days and she'll come crawling back properly humbled.

My office phone buzzes, Jennifer's voice comes through.

"Mr. Harrington, your three o'clock is here."

"Send them in."

I spend the next hour in a meeting about overseas expansion, numbers and projections that normally would have my full attention.

Instead I keep seeing Marcus's hand covering Elena's on that bench, keep hearing Julian call him by his first name like they're friends.

After the meeting Jennifer stops me.

"Sir, Mrs. Harrington has called sixteen times this week, should I put her through next time?"

"No," I say coldly, "let her wait, she needs to learn patience."

"Yes sir," Jennifer looks uncomfortable but doesn't argue.

Back in my office David knocks and enters without waiting for permissions.

We've been friends since business school, he's one of the few people who can get away with it.

"You look like hell Alex," David says, dropping into the chair across from my desk.

"Thanks for the observation."

"How long are you going to keep this up with Elena?"

"Keep what up?" I ask, pulling up reports on my computer.

"This whole exile thing, sending her to Connecticut, not taking her calls, it's been almost a week, maybe you should talk to your wife."

"She needs to learn," I say firmly, "she thinks she can defy me, embarrass this family, and face no consequences.

 I'm teaching her how marriage works."

David shakes his head, "That's not how marriage works Alex, that's how dictatorship works.

 She's your wife not your employee."

"She signed a contract agreeing to certain terms."

"A contract isn't a marriage," David stands up.

"Look….. I'm saying this as your friend, you're pushing too hard, you're going to lose her if you keep this up."

"She has nowhere to go," I say dismissively.

 "She'll come back when she's ready to behave."

"Or she'll stop coming back at all." David says quietly.

 "Think about it Alex, is your pride really worth losing your family?"

After he leaves I sit in silence, his words echoing uncomfortably.

 I'm not losing my family, I'm maintaining order, there's a difference.

That evening I have dinner with potential investors, some tech startup looking for capital.

I drink too much wine trying to focus on their pitch, by the time I get home it's past eleven and the mansion feels emptier than usual.

I pour myself a scotch, pull up the surveillance feed on my phone, Elena is in Julian's room in Connecticut, reading him a bedtime story.

 Julian is curled against her looking peaceful, content, they both look fine without me.

Something uncomfortable twists in my chest, something that feels dangerously close to loneliness….

I scroll back through my messages, those words, your son misses you, do you even care.

My thumb hovers over her contact, I could call right now, could apologize, could ask them to come home.

Pride stops me, I send a text instead.

Discipline is part of parenting, he'll be fine, children are resilient.

The message goes to delivered but not read, her phone must be off.

The silence bothers me more than her anger ever did, at least when she was calling and texting I knew she still cared, this silence feels different, final.

I wake up the next morning on my office couch, head pounding, empty scotch bottle on the floor.

My phone shows three missed calls from my mother and a text from Cassandra asking to meet for lunch.

I drag myself through a shower and two meetings before Cassandra shows up at my office unannounced.

She's dressed impeccably as always, her smile sharp.

"Brother, you look terrible," she says, settling into the chair across from my desk.

"What do you want Cassandra?"

"I saw the most interesting thing yesterday.

" she pulls out her phone, shows me photos, Marcus at the Connecticut estate, playing with Julian, sitting with Elena.

"Playing father to your son, comforting your wife, how does that make you feel?"

My jaw clenches, "It doesn't, Elena will come crawling back soon enough, she always does."

"Will she though?" Cassandra tilts her head.

 "because from where I'm standing she looks very comfortable with Marcus,happier than I've ever seen her with you."

"What's your point?" I ask coldly.

"My point is for you to throw her out ," Cassandra stands up, smooths her skirt.

 "You're so busy trying to prove you're in control that you don't see she is cheating on you , and once she's gone, she will steal all your properties and run away 

"She's my wife, she's not going anywhere."

"Keep telling yourself that," Cassandra heads for the door, "but I've seen that look in her eyes. Be warned Alexander

After she leaves I sit in silence, her words digging under my skin like splinters, I pull up the surveillance footage again of what had happened between them all

For the first time something that feels like fear creeps into my chest, what if Cassandra's right? 

Well…..I don't care my wife can't leave me she love me more than. Anything in this world