To Err Is Human

The Right side

Juliana watched Angelo for a while, his silence was deafening. Why was he so surprised she had come to him with a divorce letter? Of course she knew what was inside the file, she prepared them.

"I don't - I don't understand-"

"We can't get caught up in all this mess. Soon word about your wife's present situation would get out and people would begin to talk. We need to make sure she won't be in charge of our company when that time comes. The board is going to vote her out and vote you in as the head CEO."

Angelo turned to look at her

"And you are going to ensure Michael becomes the assistant CEO."

Angelo scoffed as a tiny smile covered his face. He knew there had to be something Juliana was going to benefit from all of it. Everything she did, asking him to divorce Anna, it wasn't just about protecting the company. This was a perfect time to get Micheal in the executive team and she was milking it perfectly.

"But for all of that to happen, you need to get rid of her first. Sign those letters and I'd have my lawyers work on them as soon as possible. We can't have a link to that woman ever again."

Angelo exhaled. He closed the file slowly and glared at the front cover for a while. He didn't even want to think about it, he wasn't going to. He slowly turned to Juliana

"So this is it? You just want us to force her out of our family? Out of my life?"

"What?"

"And what happens after Micheal becomes the assistant CEO? You'd get rid of me too?"

Michael exhaled as he walked closer to them

"Brother," he placed a hand over Angelo's shoulders with a huge grin on his face. "You're becoming too sentimental about this."

"Sentimental?" Angelo slowly turned to Michael as he took off his hand from his shoulders immediately. He frowned even harder. "She's my wife."

"On contract." Juliana corrected. "Angelo, I know in the course of carrying out our plan, you grew fond of that woman but let's not forget the reason I let you get married to her in the first place."

"Let me?"

"You only married her to make me happy Angelo, to save this family so when I ask you to stop this marriage to save this family, that's exactly what you're going to do because you owe this family everything."

Angelo scoffed. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe he was listening to all that.

Was this it?

Were they just going to ruin his life whenever they wanted all in the name of repaying some debt? What did he mean to them? What did his life mean to them? How could they ask this of him? Was he going to let them?

"You will sign those papers, and you are going to step up as the CEO of Trusk industries with Michael as your assistant. You'd do this without ever trying to disobey me."

Of course
It was always about her, it always had been. Angelo was sick of it. Nothing he thought mattered, nothing he felt or was going to say was going to change anything because whatever Juliana wanted, Juliana got. He had to spend all his childhood getting used to that.

But this was his reality now, and that was a term he was never going to get used to anymore. He had gone too far now to just throw everything away. There was no way he was going to leave Anna behind, he promised her.

Angelo turned to Michael slowly

"I can't." He stretched the file to him, Michael scoffed, he never saw that coming. Angelo had all the patience in the world but he wasn't going to waste it all on their nonsense. He dropped it in Micheal's arms till he caught it right before it fell

"I'm not going to abandon Anna."

"What?" Michael asked "since when did she matter Angelo? She's an Atian. She's probably never getting out of there alive."

"You don't know that."

"How dare you?" Everyone stood still, everything as Juliana's stern voice filled the room. They all turned to her.

"Mum." Angelo exhaled

"How dare you chose that alien wretch over your own family? Over the people that accepted you when no one else did? I let you into my home, I clothe and took care of your illegitimate ass and this is how you thank me?" Juliana's frown widened

"How dare you Angelo?"

"That's the point mum ." Angelo snapped. He was really getting tired of everyone telling him what he needed to do and how he was supposed to live "this has never been about me."

Angelo glared at her

"All my life only one thing ever mattered to me, and that was getting you to accept me. I did all I could for years. , I jumped when you asked me too. I played dead when you asked me to, I left my family behind, my life behind so you wouldn't have to deal with the heartaches of having me around. I got married to a woman I barely even knew, a woman I had no feelings for, betraying the only woman that had ever truly loved me all for you and this family but none of that matters now because I chose to see how much of a blessing all those sacrifices I made led me to. They led me to Anna. I love Anna and it's not just because of some stupid words in a contract, I love her because beyond all those things we've been through, beyond all those time I spent living the way you wanted, these past few months with Anna made me realize that I can be more than all of that. For the first time in my life I was looking at a future for myself. You didn't let me be with her mum, I chose her, and I'm choosing her again. And I'm going to get her out of that hell hole, so no. Not this time mother, I think I already paid all my debt to this family the day I chose to walk this path. From now on, I owe myself one thing and that's to be happy."

An awkward silence filled the room right after got about five seconds before Micheal clapped his hands. For a second he pretended to be excited after hearing Angelo say all of those things.

"Bravo brother , bravo. "

He kept clapping loud so they could all hear him. He chuckled for a while

"That was such a nice speech I must admit, I almost fell for all that nonsense "

"Do you actually think you can play this off?" Juliana asked him "do you think I'd let you ruin this family for your own selfish reasons?"

Angelo scoffed

Here we go again,

"I gave you everything ! I let you run my company. This company was built under my sweat and my husband's blood and you think I'd let some bastard and his filthy alien wife take control of it? Never . Over- my -dead -body."

Juliana was almost at the top of her lungs

"You think you're so tough Angelo? You think you're in love? You think you don't need us anymore? " she scoffed

"I own you Angelo, together with this company and I never forget to take back what's mine. You just made the biggest mistake of your life and I'd make sure you spend the rest of your life repaying all you owe me, every last one of it."

Angelo stood still, he wasn't as scared as Sam was, he wasn't scared at all. It wasn't something he hadn't heard before.

"Come on Micheal, lets leave this place."

Juliana stormed out without saying another word. Angelo could feel Micheals stern eyes on him, it was almost as if he wanted to punch him more in his face. Micheal and the body guard left soon too.

Angelo exhaled

"That's a whole lot of complication Angelo." Sam was dying to let that out the whole time. "What are you going to do now?"

Angelo looked away.

That was one thing he hadn't thought of at that time but whatever it was, Anna was going to be in every part of it. Juliana was wrong, they were all wrong.

He made his choice. It wasn't everyone's favorite but it was his choice and he was going to stick with it anyway. He rolled his years, scoffed and then stormed out of the office without taking another look at Sam.