Chapter 36

"What happened Belle? " Dianne asked her.
She had her head lowered as she was thinking what to say.
"We better sit down and talk. I will switch on the coffee maker. Don't worry I am like family so you can trust me," Eunice said as if she was implying something as her eyes were directed at Isabelle. That was when she raised her face to look at her.
"Eunice is right Belle. You can tell us everything," Dianne agreed.
***
Luke was in Victoria’s unit. He was seated on the sofa.
Shaking her head, Victoria put the bowl of chips on the table in front of him. "If you didn’t bicker with your wife you had no plan of seeing me!" she accused him with a scowl as she sat opposite him.
He let out a quiet sarcastic laugh. "It's not the same anymore Vic. My wife is here so unlike before, I can’t hang out with you anytime,” he told her before gulping some of the booze.
He looked at his phone and read Isabelle’s text again. He had read it more than five times but he hadn't replied yet since he was still angry. Victoria’s brow arched because his eyes were fixated on his phone.
"You have been staring at your phone for ages! For heaven’s sake why not call or message her? Tell her that you are here and hear what she has to say about it,” she said with a smirk then munched on some chips.
Frowning, Luke put the phone on the table. "I will call her later! She will be mad once she learned I am here!” he gulped more of the liquid.
“Just my two cents, why not tie her on the bed or lock her in your bedroom?” she suggested sarcastically and Luke let out a sneering smile.
"Good idea,” he agreed and Victoria rolled her eyes.
"No Luke! Seriously! What is wrong with you? When I was still in Thailand, I heard that you haven’t been serious with any of your f*ck bodies then all of a sudden you got married to a naïve country girl..." she was cut in when he cursed.
"You know I don't want you calling her like that! If you don’t want me to leave then stop it!" he ordered irritably as he put the empty can of beer on the table with a thud. He opened another can and drank almost half of it straight.
"I know you so well Luke! You only married her so you can f*ck her! That was so stupid!”
"Shut up Vic!" he rasped.
Victoria also opened a can for herself but unlike Luke, she wasn't planning to drink a lot.
"I came here to ask you about your problem with your ex not to discuss my marriage with you. Since I arrived you haven’t stopped asking me questions about me and my wife!" he complained in a cold voice.
"Duh?!Why won’t I do that? If you have only seen your face when I opened the door, you would understand because your scowl says it all! You looked like you were ready to pounce on someone so I guessed you argued with her! And now you sound like you want to start a fight with me too! Are you forgetting who I am? I am Victoria okay? I hope you haven’t forgotten. That’s what you get from letting your wife enter your life again!” she said angrily.
"Dammit! Can we drop the f*cking subject?! Now can you just talk about that bastard ex of yours?!" he asked in an irritated tone.
The woman sighed. "He is blackmailing me!"
***
Isabelle didn’t know how to handle the situation. Eunice and Dianne had been asking her about what happened between her and Luke but she chose not to say anything. She would really tell Luke to talk to Beth because what she did was out of line. She gossiped too much.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell us? We could help,” came Dianne’s voice but she just smiled and say thank you.
She didn't want to tell her husband's family about their problem.
"I haven't seen my brother's violent side. I was really shocked after hearing what he did to Reed years ago.”
"Since you mentioned that Dianne, I want to ask Issa a question to Issa. Is it okay Issa?" Eunice asked and she just nodded. "What really happened between you and Reed? Luke wouldn’t hit him for nothing."
She shook her head. " Nothing. I have only seen Reed twice and that time he was just really helping me settle comfortably on the couch since I was dizzy."
"Well maybe you haven’t thought that by being too friendly at him you were giving him the impression that you find him attractive,” Eunice added and Dianne frowned.
"It was just my second time to meet him but I don’t think he is that kind of person. And I never planned to do anything that would anger Luke.”
Eunice tapped her hand on the table as if to apologize. "I know. Don't get me wrong. I was just curious. Don’t forget not to do what Luke dislikes to avoid problems. It would be a waste if you end up having a very big fight again. You just got back together.”
Dianne agreed to what Eunice said but they were not aware that the latter was actually seething.
The woman thought when Isabelle left, Luke would give her more attention. She did everything including shamelessly throwing herself at him multiple times but he said no. She didn't know why because she was almost perfect. Luke's continuous rejection was all too much for her so she went to Canada to heal her broken heart. While she was there, Dianne told her about Luke's childhood friend Victoria. According to her, he spent a lot of time hanging out with that woman which was so unfair. She had done much effort to be closer to Luke and his family than that woman. Although Dianne said that the two only have a platonic relationship, she didn't believe it was possible. She felt that it was time for a revenge. If she couldn't have Luke, no one could have him not even Isabelle. She pretended to have concern for Isabelle as a part of her plan but today she seemed to not want to talk about their problem. Finally, Dianne decided to leave. She walked next to Isabelle to go outside of the house. When Dianne opened the car, Eunice carefully but quickly handed Isabelle her business card.
"Call me soon. I have something to tell you. It’s something important,” she whispered.
***
Isabelle didn’t know if she would get angry or feel sorry for herself and cry. Until now, she hadn’t heard from her husband. It was already past 11:00. She lost her appetite so she just decided to go up to their bedroom. She felt so sorry for herself because it seemed like Luke’s anger was really at its peak. He usually punished her with rough sex but this time, what he did was worse. He ignored her calls and messages and she had no idea where he was spending the night. She was tired, frustrated, sad and stressed. She couldn’t help crying.
***
Victoria started to collect the empty cans of beer. Luke was drunk and he fell asleep on the sofa.
"You are not meant to be together! The sooner you accept that the better," she whispered angrily as she glared at his sleeping form.
Her eyes narrowed when she saw his phone on the table. She took it. She was dying of curiosity. Her forehead creased when she saw Isabelle had a lot of missed calls.
“Pathetic!” she uttered.
She then began to read his old messages for Isabelle and shook her head. She closed the inbox and looked at his gallery to check pictures. She tapped on the photos. She frowned when she saw different pictures of Isabelle. Most of them were candid shots. There were even a sleeping images of her.
"You are really obsessed with her you f*ckboy!" she angrily uttered as she glared at Luke. She got her phone while still holding his in her left hand.
***
It was 6 a.m. and Luke just got inside the house. He was about to go up their room when something caught his eye. He frowned. The table in the dining room was set beautifully. He walked towards its direction to take a closer look. He groaned. His wife made special dinner for him last night. She cooked a lot of delicious food which were his favorite.
"Sir Luke? Did you just come home?” Tina who came from the kitchen asked him. "Isabelle spent hours preparing all the food. She didn’t even want us to help because she said she would want to cook everything for you by herself,” she added.
He raked his fingers through his hair. He felt really guilty. "Tina would you heat all these? I will wake up my wife. I want us to have breakfast together,” he said before turning and going up the stairs.
He took a deep breath when he saw her lying on their bed. She had her eyes closed and she seemed to be thinking of unpleasant things. Her forehead was creased and her mouth pouted. She looked like she was about to cry. He moved closer to her. He cursed under his breath when he realized that she was fast asleep. She was definitely having a bad dream which made him mad at himself more. He hadn’t forgotten that she asked him not to see Victoria anymore but the woman had been messaging him about her problem with her ex- boyfriend. He felt she really needed his help so he finally went to see her. Because of his anger and the feeling of jealousy for Christian Smith, he drank too much and slept over at Victoria's. He also didn’t reply to his wife’s messages and calls. It was his first time doing something like that out of jealousy. He was very inconsiderate of his wife and he felt like an *sshole. He leaned forward to touch her cheek lightly before he decided to take a shower to wash the smell of alcohol on his body and clothes.
***
"Babe..." a voice woke Isabelle her up.
She moaned then slowly opened her eyes. She saw her husband's handsome face. He was sitting on the side of the bed and was staring at her intently. He was only in a pair of boxer shorts. His upper body and hair were still a little wet from the shower. She sat up and looked at the clock. It was almost past 6 a.m.
"Where have you been? Where did you sleep?" she asked frowning.
He touched her left cheek." I just had a little drink somewhere to blow off steam. Sorry babe. I saw the food you cooked," he held her nape to kiss her lips. "I asked Tina to heat the dishes so we can eat together," he added after the light kiss.
She nodded while his hand was on her chin. "Are you still mad?" she asked in a small voice.
His narrowed his eyes then check his feelings. He was still jealous but seeing his wife's effort to mend things between them touched something inside him.
He smiled naughtily. "There's one thing you can do so I won’t be angry anymore, " he said huskily.
She chewed the inside of her bottom lip as she smiled sexily at him. "Do you want to make love to me babe?" she asked seductively.
His eyes darkened. "Oh f*ck babe!" he groaned then laid her on the bed to kiss her on the lips again.
They could always have a late breakfast.
(after less than an hour)
Luke pulled her to him. He had his arms around her while he kissed the top of her head. He was normalizing his breathing. They just had their second round.
"That was awesome again Mrs. Contrero," he whispered. He put a little distance between them so he could gaze at her pretty face. "I am sorry. I won’t go to the office today so we can spend the day together," he told her.
She smiled. "I love you babe," she whispered.
His brows creased with what she said then after several moments, he grinned before pulling her to him for a French kiss.
***
Victoria was angrily staring at her cellphone. She sat on the sofa which Luke occupied. She just discovered that he left while she was still sleeping. She was now reading his text for her.
Sorry Vic if I didn't wake you up anymore. I have to make it up to my wife. I didn’t know that I had fallen asleep here. Thanks for everything. Call me when you need me.
"Damn you to hell Luke Contrero! F*ck you! " she hissed as she stared at the screen of her phone.
She won’t let Isabelle and Luke be happy. They don't belong together!