The dark featured man now sat in the living room as though he fitted right in. Ales, Lennon and Amber all were around hil, talking animatedly about his travels and news. He, as usual, didn't hold back on gifts and souvenirs he insisted to bring each of them whenever he went away.
Wren smiled standing in the doorway and observing this selfless man that always managed to put a smile on her children's faces and, irrefutably, on hers. He left the youngsters to their conversations and walked up to give her a quick hug. Ophelia had monopolised him since he stepped foot in the house, he hadn't even had time to properly greet Helena.
"How are you always so radiant, beautiful lady?" Xavier mused, taking her hand dearly in between his.
"Ever the charmer, Mr. Gregory." Wren chuckked, squeezing his hands and asking about how his last trip had been. She hadn't seen him since that night in his study. He had barely rested that day before he was yet again on another trip.
Xavier, besides being at the top of the business chain, loved travelling and adventuring with a passion and he had taken every opportunity to do it throughout all his young years- even now, it still appealed to him despite the fact he only ever did it for business purposes. Tall with broad shoulders, jet black hair and coffee eyes, he was always popular even when they were much younger. However, Xavier had some policy of no marriage and no relationships. He believed in that one true love, a soulmate that comes along once in a lifetime. He'd always said that once he finds that person, he would show them the world- give them the world, 'As cheesy as that sounds.' He had joked. He wanted to know them in and out, body and soul, but the love he dreamt of, Wren though, transcended mundane conventions. For a business tycoon, he was quite the romantic.
She was listening to him recount the summary of the latest business deal that kept him away the past couple months when the front door flew open, Zach treading inside and the chauffeur following with his suitcases up the stairs.
He looked from his wife to his old friend and then to their joined hands and raised a challenging brow. "Xavier, still pining for things that aren't yours, I see."
Wren gulped down her irritation and pat Xavier's hand before she let it go, giving him a reassuring smile. She turned to her husband. "I won't allow you to speak to my guests like that, Zach. What are you doing here anyway?"
"Now I need permission to return to my house and see my children?" He asked, pinning his wife with a daring stare.
"By all means, do so. It's hard to remember the last time you 'returned to your house and children' unsollicited and unannounced." Wren retorted sarcastically before she smiled dismissively at Xavier's questioning stare, and ushered him back into the living room where he took a seat beside her on the sofa.
Zach stomped inside unceremoniously and sat on the vacant armchair. His children stopped at once and stared at him as though he'd materialized from thin air. Some smiles instantly dropped as they stopped fidgeting with their gifts. Only Amber offered a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. Ophelia scrambled to her feet and took a seat between her mother and Xavier, watching the man in the armchair as he chanced a tentative joyous look at all of them.
Wren cringed inwardly at how awkward and half-hearted it seemed. She shook that mental thought and watched Lennon carefully get to his feet and gather his stuff, going upstairs without a word. Alessandro sighed and excused himself to go after his brother.
Xavier stared between Ophelia and Zach worriedly. He knew his friend of the past had become an unbearable douche, a despicable man who did not deserve Wren's love, time, or tears. He did not deserve the blessing that were the children she'd brought him.
"Do you want to go play with uncle Xavier, baby? You haven't yet heard all the wonderful stories from his travels, how about that?" Wren asked Ophelia whose smile widened as she looked back at Xavier with expectant eyes.
He laughed and scooped her up in his arms as she giggled, "Oomph princess, you're getting quite heavy huh?"
Wren gave Xavier a grateful smile that he returned with one of his own, before leaving the living room. Amber, sensing the tension that descended knew she should give her parents some space, so she went after Xavier and her sister. Husband and wife now facing each other in a stare off that Zach knew he wouldn't be able to win, not when he saw that determined look cross Helena's features.
He huffed and went to the office, followed closely by his wife who shut the door behind her. He was enraged, alright. How could his children be happier to see some other man over him? How are they more comfortable with Xavier than they are with their own dad? Ophelia never looked at him the way she looked at Xavier.
Was this Helena's doing? Was Xavier the substitute she was electing for his children over him? For years he tried to keep his thoughts at bay, and pretend that the visits Xavier paid are as innocent as they seemed. That he was just a friend, but he was past thinking that. He'd be damned if he believed in whatever innocent and platonic play Xavier and his wife were staging. He saw the way his old friend looked at her- he had always had his suspicions even when they were in highschool.
"You're going with seconds again, I see. When did this begin?" Zach snapped at his wife as she stopped a couple of feet away from him. "Does he satisfy you as well as Robert?"
Wren was appalled by what she just heard, so much so she could not immediately react. "I beg your pardon?"
"It's just the two of us now, Helena, let's drop facades, alright?" Zach closed the distance between them staring down into his wife's eyes intensely. "For how long have you been f***ing Xavier?"
Wren felt her jaw drop from the choice of words he was throwing in her face. 'Is he actually serious?' She thought with mortification. After everything he'd done, he's the one putting her on the spot now and questioning her fidelity?
Thinking he had her finally where he wanted her, Zach allowed a smug grin to form on his lips. He would get his answers from her, no matter what. There would be no more beating around the bush.
Her lack of response was only fuelling his temper. He spat, "I'm well aware you've moved on from Robert since he is a married man now, but what about Xavier? Were you two timing both? Since when have you been engaged in the act? Since before Ophelia, is that why she's so attached to him?"
Wren felt her face burn in indignation, her chest heaved up and down with simmering emotion. She raised her arm and slapped him without much thought. It had caught him by surprise that his face snapped to the side. She spat, "That's for insulting your brother and your best friend."
She slapped him again- she wasn't a violent person by any measure, but in the white rage that marred her thinking, her only reaction to his words was physical. Just when he looked back at her, she couldn't control her voice as she shouted at him, tears burning in her eyes, "And that's for insulting your own daughter you worthless piece of trash!"
Hand raised again, he captured it in his vicious grip and secured both her wrists pinning them both to the desk. Wren winced but she was well aware he hadn't noticed. The tears were already burning down her cheeks as she looked at him venomously. "I can't believe you're doing this... I can't believe you're questioning your own children, our children! Are you capable of hearing what you just said Zachary Alexander?!"
"Keep your voice down, Helena." Zach seethed menacingly, too close to Wren's face for comfort.
Never in her twenty years of life being his wife and mother of his children could she see the day coming where he'd insult her with their own kids. Never... She could believe many vicious things about him, but this? She never could.
Zach watched the apparent hurt and incredulity in her eyes as she stared at him. It made his blood run cold. Was he making a mistake? Surely not, when she reacted this way.
"Do you deny kissing my own brother, your husband's brother, that day in the study? The day, a seven months old Lennon had a fever? You deny staying over at his house that night? You even dared and took the kids with you! If you're having trouble remembering, we could ask Amber." Zach sneered. "You've always been close to him, and I foolishly assumed it was a brother and sister bond, but you never had that, so how would you know? You only know how to be a seductress. I never imagined the day you would cheat on me with my own brother, Helena. Hell, I loved you!"
Wren's eyes widened impossibly as she took in his accusations, finding it hard to swallow the lump in her throat, her heart beating in her ears and the blood rushing to her head in disbelief and indignation. She hated that her voice came out a mere whisper, albeit a sharp one, "Is that what you think happened Zach? All these years, you were coward enough to believe in the workings of your imagination than face your wife and your brother? Is that what you call love? You f***ing don't know what love is. It was an excuse you were looking for, to make you feel better about your pathetic self."
"Don't f***cking act like a saint and lecture me right now. Tell me, did you enjoy it? Was my brother better than me in bed, or did he offer more riches? He always had his eyes on what's mine, the f***er. Better yet, did Xavier offer a warmer bed?" Zach could only see red as he blurted the thoughts that have swarmed his mind for years.
Wren was biting her lip so hard she felt the metallic taste of blood sting her taste buds. She would hit him again if she could, but the lucky bastard had her hands behind her back. "You're a fool... You're an absolute fool. Not just that, but you're a coward, a hypocrite, a cheat. You, you have transformed into the worst version of yourself, Zach, you became my nightmare."
Zach thought himself smarter than to bite into her trap of accusations and guilt tripping- He assumed she must be very good at it by now. He had been manipulated once, but never twice- never again. He opened his mouth to talk when she cut him.
"No. You shut up and listen to me now. You had your moment didn't you? You despicable piece of trash. I don't know why I couldn't see this- you. How did I ever love you once?" Wren heaved some much needed air to calm herself down. As she looked into those very eyes she thought would be her safe haven once, her heart felt as though it was being stabbed continuously with a ragged dagger. "I never, ever, cheated on you. I never thought about it, even when you went ahead and took your liberties forgetting that you're tied to me in every possible way. I never once looked at another man the way I used to look at you, and you know what? Not because you even deserve it, you haven't deserved it for sixteen years now. It's because I have some self respect, some respect towards my children. I know the closest thing I could give them to a loving family, was a faithful mother... That day Robert did kiss me to calm me down because I was hysteric and losing my mind. My son was burning up with fever, and his father was nowhere to be seen or found, most likely buried in some woman at some luxurious hotel. Where were you? I called and called and you never showed up. My last resort was to drive with Robert and the kids to the clinic in the city, because their father couldn't be responsible enough to show up and take care of his own family that his brother had to do it for him. We stayed over at Robert's because it was late at night and we couldn't drive all the way back to the country house. The children were exhausted and sleepy. I was drained, and Lennon needed to be watched continuously, which Robert offered to help with so I wouldn't stay up all night. That kiss- that peck really, meant nothing to either of us. It was just on a whim, an impulsive reaction, and Robert promised he was clearly not thinking straight. He'd never come onto his brother's wife. His brother who was nowhere to be found."
Zach loosened his grip from around her wrists as though he would catch fire if he didn't. He drew his brows together in disbelief and confusion as he stared in her eyes, not seeing a hint of hesitance or fear.
She went on, "Whatever Amber had thought she'd seen that night was absolutely not what you sick d*** made it out to be. Hell, Robert was engaged! Do you think so low of me that you'd degrade me to sleeping with your engaged brother? Were you just so incredibly insecure Zach, or were you looking for excuses to screw the daylights of whomever you liked without remorse? Amber was young, impressionable. Did you not think your interpretation of her uncle's slip up or caring ministrations would eventually lead her to see and read beyond what actually happened? The innocent kiss that bothered your big baby ego would have never even happened if you had been responsible enough to show up when we needed you."
Zach was completely lost for words as he observed his wife's face looking for lies, for deceit. Surely all these pretty words were just that- words. Words to cover up her mistakes, words to have him under her spell again, like the old times.
Wren pushed him away from her body and he stumbled back. She was completely enraged by his lack of response, by his distrustful eyes, as though he wouldn't believe a word of what she said. She hit his chest with clenched fists. This time he didn't feel like fighting back. He felt like he deserved it somehow. He was afterall not there for them many times when they needed him. He kept his eyes on her as she fumed, "Xavier is the only friend I have had all these years. You... You took everything from me. Xavier was always so loyal to you that he wouldn't dare lay a finger on me. He was here covering up your mistakes and scandals, looking out for my broken heart and our confused children. He was here in hopes you'd go back to the person he was proud to call a best friend, and I was proud to call a husband, until we could hope no more. Despite many warnings and advice, I still hoped you'd find that man that I fell in love with, that you would come back. That's all I hoped and prayed for, but you know what, Zach? You killed that today."
Helena wiped away the tears that had been streaming down her face, feeling like her heart was shattered beyond repair now. He had done that, the one love of her life, her husband, the father of her children. She clenched her fists refusing to weaken in front of him. "There's a damned paternity test you could do if you choose to stoop so low Zach Alexander. I just hope Ophelia never finds out about this. In fact, I hope she never finds out that she was the result of a drunken stumble when no woman could satisfy your needs wherever you were."
"I'm not done. This isn't over. You can't walk out on me... You are my wife Helena. You'll always be." Zach said with a hollow voice as he watched the woman leaving the office.
Wren snapped her head back to him, "Don't tempt me to change that so soon, because I can."
"Never. Do you hear me? I won't allow it!" Zach closed the distance, slamming the door shut and trapping her against it, his face inches from hers. Wren struggled to free her wrists from his iron hold, but he only seemed to tighten it which made her wince in pain. She opened her eyes staring irritably but her protests turned to whimpers as he slammed his lips to hers in an angry kiss, almost punishing, almost desperate.
She pushed him away from her with all her might, heaving in indignation. He could see the blue fire in her eyes and her trembling figure as she spat, "F*** you Zach! Damn you to hell!"
His figure slumped and sagged against the desk chair after Wren left him standing alone in the office, dwelling on every word she said.