Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ex wife’s Revenge : Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

THE OFFERAaron did not have the second board meeting of the week in his calendar.That amounted to all that he had to know.He walked into the executive conference room in his normal,calm manner, although his instincts were already aroused. The air felt different. He might feel the same when the members of the board would not look at him directly when he entered the room, and when their conversation came to an end as soon as he sat down.This was not a discussion.It was a decision.The chairman cleared his throat. “Thanks, Aaron, I am glad you have come on such notice.”Aaron clasped his hands on the table. "I assume this is urgent.""It is," the chairman replied. The recent events have only increased the pace.Aaron narrowed his jaws a bit. Progress in relation to my wife.No one corrected him.This silence was a response enough.Another member of the board added that the volatility is on the rise. The public opinion is changing at a faster rate than expected.And the media story i

THE TRUTH BLEEDS OUTRaina was not searching for answers that morning.The callings appeared in search of her.She had almost finished her breakfast when the name of Margaret Kingston came to her phone. Raina briefly thought of not answering the call. Recently, each discussion was like a new delicate ballet with the truths, which no one wished to mention openly. Something in her chest tightened, a kind of instinct that was saying this call was important.She answered."Good morning, Margaret."Raina, said Margaret, in a chosen but repressed voice. "Are you home?""Yes.""I'm nearby. I'd like to come over."Raina hesitated. "Is this about Aaron?"Another pause. Longer this time.It concerns you, Margaret answered.Margaret sat facing Raina an hour later in the living room, as graceful and repressed as ever. She was, as she always was,perfectly dressed, absolutely calm, but there was some difference in her eyes this day. Tension. Guilt.You haven't said much, Margaret said. That is norm

WALKING AWAYThe house was still asleep.That was what Raina needed.She slipped slowly through the mansion barefoot on the cold marble. The walls, which seemed big before, were heavy now, as though they were keeping an eye upon her. Each move was a flashback — jokes, midnight conversations, dark promises.She did not cry.Not yet.Raina tapped on the bedroom door. Aaron was lying on the bed, with one side of his back toward her. He had gone to sleep many hours later than their fight, fatigue tugging him down, and her intellect remaining as alert as ever.She stared at him for some time.This did not necessarily have to be so, she said to herself, but knew that he could hear none.She turned away.It was a suitcase that she drew out in the walk-in closet. Just one. She didn't want attention. She didn't want drama. She put clothes in the laundry painfully, taking only what was necessary--easy dresses, infantalia, papers which she had covertly been collecting during the last few days.S

A WOMAN REBUILTThe office was tiny, compared to the glass towers Raina would be strolling up and down on, with her head held high and cameras flashing on her face. The floor was not marble, the elevator was not personal, and the assistants were not standing outside the door. Nothing more than a hired room on the fourth floor of an ageing building, bare desks, a noisy air conditioner, and a sun peeking through semi-open curtains.And yet when Raina was in the centre of it, and she was holding her phone in one hand and a notebook in another, she experienced something which she had not experienced in a long time.Ownership.Now this is ours, she said to herself.Her aide, Lila, her faithful companion even after all had gone wrong, smiled as she put a pile of files in place on the desk. It might not be so much, but it is... sincere.Raina nodded. "Honesty is more than enough."She put aside her bag and got her notebook open. Plans that were in her own handwriting were filling the pages.

THE PRICE OF SILENCEAaron had always thought silence was some sort of control.Silence in boardrooms was something that made people jittery. It made the other party divulge excessively in negotiations. He had earlier believed that silence was protection and in doing so, he wanted to protect Raina in his marriage not to turn her into the kind of politics that she did not want to be in. He knew how mistaken he was now he sat alone in his office long after night had swallowed the city.Silence was no defense to anything.It only delayed damage.He was at the window looking down the lights below but faintly reflected in the glass. The office which was a kind of continuation of his power was now a cage. All the decisions he had postponed, all meetings that he had evaded were repeated in his mind with savage clarity.He recalled Raina that appeared before him some weeks ago, her head also firm yet hurt, and accusing him of when she ceased to be his partner. He had not answered her then. He