FOUR- THE OTHER WOMAN

CHAPTER FOUR

I groaned as I parked my car in the underground parking lot of Stetson headquarters and stayed planted in my seat for another five minutes trying to talk myself out of the absurdity I was about to do. I scratched at my scalp and moaned in regret. This was not bound to be a good idea, it was a rushed decision and I kept telling myself to put my car in drive and leave but somehow I could not bring myself to do so.

The image of Maria entering my office and trying to put up the front that she was better than me kept playing in my mind and ending up like her seemed like the path that was laid out for me if I did not act quickly. Perhaps not even a trophy wife, I would probably only end up as the bitter forgotten wife with the rate at which Ashton was making public appearances with Dorothy. That was a fate I did not want for myself, to end up worse than Maria.

My hand went to open the car door but I shook my head when I thought of who I was going to see. Sure, Ridley had put forth the suggestion but I had acted holier than thou and turned him down, and even if I was not trying to save face, Ridley was still a terrible person and I was not certain if I wanted to involve myself with someone like him. Besides, I was unaware of what role he wanted me to play in what I could only guess was his plan to bring down his half-brother.

I sighed and ran my hands down my face. “Ugh!” I groaned before putting the car in ignition and deciding to leave. I had to think this through even though seeing Maria had lit something within me, I did not want to push myself into something I would regret.

I ended up driving back home- if I could even call it that. The house was empty and cold just like every day since Ashton had decided to go rogue. A yawn escaped my mouth and I placed my purse on the coffee table in the living room before walking to the wine cellar that was at the end of the lounge just below the staircase and grabbed a bottle of wine. My throat felt dry and parched and this was not the kind of thirst that water could quench, if I could I would go for something stronger that could take me out in less than an hour.

I walked back to the dining area with a glass and bottle in hand and sat, pouring myself the drinking and downing all of the liquid in record time. No matter how many cups of wine I downed, I still could not feel release or lose touch with reality. I laid my head on the table after a while and let my mind run wild with all the possibilities of how my future could turn out to be, none of them were good.

“Fuck all the Stetsons,” I grumbled out amid my obvious stupor.

I looked up when I heard someone clear their throat and I was about to shout, thinking it was Ridley in my house once more. I only half closed my eyes when I saw that it was Florence at the other end of the table staring at me with that judgemental stare she always had.

“What Florence? Want to tell me why you’re always staring at me like you’re judging your problematic neighbour?” I raised my head for a short while and looked straight at her. She was older than me and Ashton but apparently, she had been working for the Stetsons for the longest time, and Ashton could not remember a time when she was not there and that is why I had accepted when he had said that he would like her to be our head maid after marriage.

“Do you possibly think you could handle this better than me? I hate this too…I don’t like drinking like this and feeling like an idiot.” I put my head back on the table when she did not respond right away.

Florence cleared her throat once more. “I thought you would like to know that Mr Stetson’s car just parked up front,” My head rose as fast as the flash would cover the entirety of New York.

“…and it seems he has company.” She added after a pause of letting me take in the information that my estranged husband was home after so long, but he was not here alone. I had no reason to be happy and think he had finally seen reason and sense. I did not need further details to confirm Ashton’s supposed “company” because the door opened barely a few seconds after Florence finished speaking.

I heard Ashton’s voice before Dorothy’s but both of their voices made something tick within me and I stood up and headed to the lounge and met them just as they were about to ascend the stairs.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as I glared at Ashton. He had done so many disrespectful things to me, in public such as choosing Dorothy to be by his side as I stood on the sidelines like an outsider but bringing her into the house, we not long ago had called our home was point-blank disrespectful.

Ashton dared to look at me like I was insane. “What do you think Janelle? I’ve come to my house,”

I laughed bitterly. “Oh, this is your house? With how I’ve been the only one living here, I thought only I have the right to claim it?” I said before turning to look at the blue-eyed whore he had chosen to replace me with.

“What is she doing here?” I asked with pure anger in my tone. The mere sight of her made me seethe. Seeing them joined by the arm in my house only made me want to pummel both of them into the ground. I still loved Ashton but nothing ached me more than looking into his dark brown eyes.

“This is ridiculous and disrespectful Ashton…” I paused to glare at him. “…how dare you bring this excuse of a woman in this house?”

“Janelle, don’t disrespect my guest.” He responded with the threatening tone he used on he was trying to assert dominance. I could not believe that he would use that tone on me and in front of his harlot.

“Don’t use that tone on me,” I fired back. “And you, get out of my house before I make you regret ever laying eyes on my husband.” I pointed towards the entrance while staring at her like the vermin she was.

Dorothy dared to glare back at me and I noticed her hold on Ashton’s bicep tighten. My jaw clenched and before I could think twice, I got rid of the distance between us, pulled at her arm and pushed her to the floor. Before I could relish in the small victory of pulling her away from Ashton or cause any further damage to her face, Ashton’s hand pulled me back and I fell to the other side of the room.

For a second, it looked as if he realised his mistake of pulling me so roughly but he looked away and rushed to Dorothy, who was still on the floor with fake tears in her eyes. I chuckled bitterly at how dramatic my life had become. In the same position, on the floor, I watched the man who was supposed to be my husband help another woman before he turned to me with a murderous look in his eyes.

“Do you have no shame?!” He exclaimed as I slowly stood up.

“I could ask the same,” I retorted.

Ashton sighed as if he had the right to be frustrated and tired of what was happening. “Stop being a delusional and irritating child and get out of the way.”

There it was again, the comparison to being a child. To him, I must have seemed like a child, not emotionally or physically developed after all Dorothy was built more womanly compared to me. Maybe that was it, she had the better body and outlook.

“Is that all I am to you? A child? Someone that you can dismiss and overlook?”

“Maybe we should leave?” Dorothy butted in and I wanted nothing more than to show her what kind of scum she was.

“No, this is my house.”

“And it’s my house too, and I don’t want her here.” I countered Ashton’s words. “I will call the police on both of you if you don’t leave.”

Dorothy tugged at his arm once more and Ashton rolled his eyes before accepting defeat. “This is my house too, Janelle.”

“Take your trash out of my house.”

With one last huff, Ashton took Dorothy’s arm and walked out of the house. I released the breath I had been holding and met Florence’s eyes, she stood by the entryway to the dining room obviously having seen everything that transpired. Silently, I walked up the stairs and went to my room but I felt more and more like I was being choked by reality and the past, I decided to leave the room and went to lie down in one of the guest rooms.

I still could not believe that the man who had pushed me barely minutes ago was the same man who had waited for me at the altar and promised to be by my side until our skin was wrinkly and our teeth would fall out. Could someone’s feelings change so drastically? It was not possible, right? Even when he had pushed me, I had seen the look of regret in his eyes…a flash of the Ashton I knew very well.

But did I really know him very well, from the beginning?

I curled my body on the sheets, my knees up to my chest and wept. My marriage was done, I could not lie to myself any more. Ashton did not love me anymore, that was how fleeting his emotions were for me.