Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning with a headache that felt more like a hangover and, after seeing what I was wearing, realized that last night’s events were real. Not a vivid nightmare. I forced myself to get out of bed and take a shower. After I put on a pair of jeans and an old T-shirt, I went to my home office and turned on my laptop.

As I sat at my desk. I turned around and looked out the window. My backyard is my favorite place on this property. It was a blank slate when we moved in. I designed the shape of each section and what I wanted in it. It has a small waterfall at one end and a small stream wandering through each section, ending with a small pond with Koi in it. It also has my favorite midnight water lilies.

It’s too bad I can’t stay here. This house has been my prison for the last two years. I was not allowed to go anywhere without my spy/driver. I wasn’t allowed to meet with my friends. My friends were not allowed on the property. I found out about that one day when I called Lacey to find out why she hadn’t come over. I confronted Victor about it and he just shrugged, “Hmm… Must have been my mother.

Winifred would have her bridge club come to my house so that I would have to play hostess. I would have to make and serve all the food, serve all the drinks and clean up all their messes. The worst part of it all was that she would do everything she could to degrade or humiliate me.

She would constantly try to make me fall by tripping me. She would always find a way to bring up the fact that my parents were never rich, so I didn’t know how to act around people like them. She would point out that my clothes were not designer. I would tell her I don’t wear designer clothes while cooking or cleaning.

Our maid was really good at cleaning, but Winifred would tell me it always looks better when I scrub the floor on my hands and knees. She would insist that I do that while she was there. Usually, while I was scrubbing the floor, Winifred would “accidentally” spill some wine in a spot that I had just mopped, making go back to it.

If Victor happened to come in while the floor was still wet, Winifred would pretend to slip and fall and start accusing me of not warning her on purpose. That would cause Victor to come over and slap me for endangering his mother intentionally. I didn’t dare try to argue with Winifred. I just lowered my gaze and tuned out the yelling until they were done. I would apologize to both of them and go to bed.

Many times, when things like that happen, usually once or twice a week, Victor would tell my driver that I was not allowed to go anywhere besides work and home. I had no choice but to stay at home and none of my friends, besides Lacey, could come to me. More times than not, Victor didn’t even come home, so I was left alone in the house with no way to go anywhere without my husband’s approval.

I worked for Victor for nearly three years before Victor and I got married. I was one of his best fashion designers, although he never knew it. The supervisor of my department would always try to pass my work off as someone else’s. I really don’t know why she hated me, but she did. I think she knew that something was going on with Victor and me.

That ended when Victor showed up in my department and asked me directly why he hasn’t seen any designs from me lately. I told him that I didn’t know why. I had been handing in a minimum of one per day. He asked me to come to his office and I followed him there. When I got there, he asked if any of the designs on his desk were mine. I pointed to eight of the ten sitting there. He told me he wanted me to hand my designs to him from then on.

That was when things started getting terrible. I would walk off the elevator on his floor and see him openly flirting with his secretary or walk in his office to find him fucking his secretary as she bent over his desk. I would just turn around and wait for her to walk out and take the designs in his office.

Usually, I just put them on his desk and leave. One time, I sat the designs on his desk and turned to leave but he stopped me and asked if I enjoyed the show. I turned to face him and had a tear falling down my cheek. I just turned around and continued walking. I wasn’t supposed to let anyone know we were married, so I couldn’t talk to him like we were married there.

I have no doubt that if I stayed in this mansion, my mother-in-law would make life even worse for me. I just can’t stay in a house that never felt like home.

I turned back to my desk and decided, after the divorce was final, I was going to start my own design studio. I decided to switch from clothing design to jewelry.  I purchased the software I needed to start designing, then opened a fresh document in Word. I immediately started listing the steps that would be required to start my business.

I had decided I was going to get client information from Cross Corporation. I also decided that I was going to resign when I went back to work. I went on the company’s employee portal and logged in. I went to my personal folder and I listed all the clients that I had worked closely with. I sent each of them an email announcing the creation of my jewelry design company, asking if I could count on their support.

I went back to my list of things that I needed to do. I was starting to make progress when Annie, our maid, knocked on my door. I forced a smile, “Come in, Annie.” Annie walked in, a tray with coffee and a sausage, egg and cheese croissant for me. I smiled, “You are a saint. Thank you.” She chuckled, “You’re welcome, ma’am. Can I ask a favor of you?” I furrowed my brow, “Of course.”

She explained, “I overheard your conversation with Mister Cross last night. He is an idiot for letting you go. I would greatly appreciate it if I could go with you when you leave. I will not work for a man who has no respect for you. You do everything for him and he has no appreciation for it. I can’t work for a man like that.”

I nodded, “I would be happy to have you come with me. You are one of the few people in this house that I know I can trust. Thank you for not just quitting. I was hoping to have you move with me. You are the closest thing I have to a friend. I hope we can be actual friends soon.” She smiled, “I would like that but for now, I should get back to work. Thank you so much.” I smiled and nodded at her, “See you a bit later.”

I started eating my sandwich while shopping online for all the tools I would need to make the jewelry I design. I saved all of the things I would need until I found an address to ship it all to. I didn’t mind using Victor’s money to get it started, I just needed a place to go with all of it.

I decided that I would get out of here before the weekend was over. I needed a total reset on my life.