Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Mikaela:

My eyes widened and I knew. I knew there was venom in them.

Call me the villain but I'd rather be cruel than to lower my head to cruelty.

I raised my hand, slamming it on her face. Sharp. Hard. With all the strength I had in me that morning.

She fell to the ground, coughing, and I remained there, watching her suffer, watching her break, watching her regret.

So this was how she felt when she hit me. This feeling. I couldn't describe it but it was overwhelming. I didn't know if it was satisfaction or superiority.

I turned swiftly, not because I was mad. Not because I was satisfied. But because I was going for him next.

The man who gave me sleepless nights and made me regret loving him. The man who accused me of killing his mother. The man who would hurt me, broke me, shattered me, destroyed me, with a smug smile on his face.

He enjoyed it, didn't he?

We'd see who would get the last laugh.

I stormed into the building, heading straight to the elevator. I didn't need anyone to tell me before I remembered where his office was. I remembered every damn thing like it happened yesterday.

Without knocking, I slammed the door open. Without a smile, I entered.

There he was. My husband, no, ex-husband sitting behind his desk. He raised his gaze, smiling.

“Oh, you're here. Please have your seat.” He offered.

Of course. I will. Even before you invite me.

I pulled out my chair and sat across from him.

He set aside his laptop. “I'm glad you came. I thought you were not coming.” He still kept his warm smile.

“Why are you smiling?” I blurted casually.

“Because of the meeting of course. It's such a pleasure meeting you again after the incident at the hospital years ago, Mikaela” He stretched out his hand for a handshake.

I took the handshake, forcing a smile. “It's such a pleasure meeting you, Ex-husband!”

His hand went stiff and silence reigned. Heavy silence.

I heard a ball of saliva stumble down his throat.

“You- you remember?” His smile melted, his eyes widening.

“Thanks to your wife.” I pushed my hair to the back of my ears, showing him my face that probably already had finger imprints on them.

“How?” His voice broke and he stared at me in disbelief.

“Don't be shocked.” I crossed my legs.

"You've changed, Mikaela" He whispered, his eyes pinned on my face.

"I know. I know you never thought you would find yourself pleading to sign a contract with me. The same wife you never wanted," I nodded.

"I loved you, but-" The rest of his sentence remained stuck in his throat.

"I didn't make it this far to believe in your lies. I came this far to make you beg. To make you lie. Just to have me back" A devilish smirk curled at the corner of my lips as I raised my eyebrows like the Queen of the room. "Everything you possess today is rightfully mine. Only if I hadn't trusted you and given them to you."

"You're not the same woman I married." He shook his head.

"Exactly. That woman gave you everything. This woman is taking everything back. You were nothing before me, and now you're nothing without my signature!"

"You're not taking everything back, you're destroying what's left"

"What's left? Your pride? Your dignity? Your name? I'm destroying everything, including you, Ethan. We should draw the battle line, shall we?” I stretched my hand for another handshake.

“I-”

“You even tried taking advantage of my memory loss. Did you think I was stupid? Maybe I was, but not anymore.”

Of course, just as I expected, he didn't have a comeback.

“Let's begin the meeting, shall we? I'll give you the signature, that's what I came here for. But I'm going to show you I'm powerful enough to defeat you despite having my signature. No matter what position or whose signature you have, I'd still trample on you. You are nothing to me”

He broke eye contact, his shaky hands travelling to the left side of the desk to pull out one of the files.

He slid it to my side of the table, his fingers trembling.

“Don't be scared. I don't bite. At least not yet.” I scoffed, pulling the file towards myself and flipping it open to go through the terms.

I nodded at the content in the file even though I could feel his eyes roaming me.

As soon as I raised my head, his eyes darted away.

“This seems okay so far but I can't go through all the pages now. I'll be taking this with me and will let you know if I'm okay with the terms. If I am, I'll sign it and send it back to your company.” I nodded, closing the file. “I guess I should take my leave now, or is there anything else you'd like to discuss?”

“Mikaela,” He called, but I already knew where this was going to and I wasn't going to take that. At least, not now.

I was already having a bad day, he shouldn't make it even worse.

“No, Ethan. We can't talk about that now. I have other things to do.” I raised my body, about to leave.

“I understand but can you just give me some time. I swear it won't take that long.” He stretched his hand across the desk, grabbing my arm. “Just listen to me at least.”

My neck tilted down to look at his hand in disgust. Without having to say a word, he got the message and quickly took his hands off me.

I pointed my index at his face. “Next time, keep you filthy hands and don't even think about touching me.”

After shooting him a death stare and making sure he felt it in his bones, I took my leave without turning back for another glance.