Fifteen Years of Love

I met her gaze, my voice as cold as ice. "You should address me as Mrs. Stark.""Oh, I must have forgotten." Skylar feigned surprise, her hand fluttering to her mouth in a mockery of coyness. "But then again, you're on the brink of divorce. I suppose the title barely applies anymore, doesn't it?"She was nothing more than an employee at the Stark Group, yet she stood before me with no trace of fear.She knew my status was hanging by a thread, and she was eager to snatch it away."Roland," she snapped her fingers, "fetch the necklace. Anton just landed and will be here shortly. He's dying to see me draped in this little bauble."The thought of my mother's necklace around her neck made my stomach churn, but I kept my composure for my father's sake."Skylar, every piece has its price. Name yours, and I'll pay in installments," I said.She pouted, a grotesque parody of innocence. "But I promised Anton that I'd wear it to our candlelit dinner tonight. Why don't you come along and ask

He gazed at me and suddenly pulled me into his strong, warm embrace. "Erica, I like you. Will you let me protect you, forever?"I melted into his arms, my mind drifting back to that day in senior year. He had looked at me with such earnest eyes, promising. I couldn't help but nod....After graduating from college, I married Anton.Our first year of marriage was marked by a challenge. A major virus outbreak swept through the country.He was away on a business trip when the crisis hit, leaving me home alone. Pharmacies were stripped bare, and I watched the death toll rise on my phone each day, a cold dread settling in my stomach.One night, a soft knock echoed through the silent apartment. I peeked through the peephole, and to my surprise, it was Anton standing outside.He was panting like a guardian angel who had just descended from the heavens."How did you get back?" I asked.He had been hundreds of kilometers away just that afternoon."I drove back," he said, his voice muf

...A familiar voice pierced the fog of my consciousness."Erica, care to share with the class how to solve this equation?"My eyes flew open, the sudden brightness of the classroom a stark contrast to the darkness of my thoughts.Around me, students in uniforms laughed and jostled, and a blackboard filled with chalky equations loomed large.This was a scene I'd dreamt of countless times since Anton brought up a divorce.I'd yearned to go back, back to the hallowed halls of high school, back to when Anton loved me.'Is this just another dream?' I thought."Erica, back to earth." A slender, elegant hand waved in front of my face.I turned to see Anton's smiling face, his lips curved into a heart-stopping arc. His eyes were sparkling with a soft light as he gazed at me.I was taken aback. 'How long has it been since I've seen that smile directed at me? A year? Two? More?'I couldn't recall. This dream felt different, more real, yet something was amiss.Even in my most vivid d

Anton wasn't really into any particular type. He was just bored with me.Even if it hadn't been Skylar, it would have been some other shiny new toy that caught his eye."Erica!" Anton spotted me and called out, his voice echoing down the hallway like a drowning man who had just found a lifeline.I breezed past him, ignoring his plea, and caught the sudden stiffness in his face from the corner of my eye.For the next few days, I gave him the cold shoulder.Eventually, my coldness seemed to get under his skin. One day, after school, as I was walking home, he stepped in front of me, blocking my path."Erica, why have you suddenly become so cold to me?" Anton stared at me, his eyes rimmed red and shadowed with dark circles, clear signs of sleepless nights."Is it because that girl confessed to me yesterday?" he guessed, taking a step closer. "I turned her down. I...""I just want to focus on studying right now," I cut him off.Anton looked taken aback. Then, he seemed to relax a b

"I'll keep a hawk's eye out from now on!" the security guard vowed.I spun around, intending to express my gratitude to the boy who'd come to my aid, but he'd vanished into thin air.Days turned into weeks, and Anton was nowhere to be seen.Then, one day, I heard through the guard that he'd been lurking around the school, only to be chased off. The school had even called his parents and issued an ultimatum: shape up or ship out.They had to go over and had Anton under watch.But despite their best efforts, he flunked out of more classes than he passed. By the time I graduated and attended our first alumni reunion, he was still stuck in the same grade.I used the connections I'd forged, the ones I'd initially helped Anton with, to recruit top talent into my father's company.Together, we turned that little enterprise into a powerhouse on the brink of going public. My mother's belongings found their way back to us, and for a moment, everything seemed to be falling into place.But