Chapter 39

Both of them stood up and faced a furious looking Luke. Eunice murmured his name while Isabelle was just glowering at him. If he was furious, she was angry too. His burning eyes ran on her body but she even tilted her chin. Of course he didn’t like what she did and what she had on. He glared at her one more time before his angry eyes transferred to the other woman.
"You have a lot of explaining to do Eunice! How the hell did you know about that?!" he grated.
She also directed her eyes at Eunice. For the first time she saw the woman looked really scared.
"EUNICE!!"
"I-I j-just overheard your mother talking on the phone," the woman admitted. She knew that she was in deep shit. She didn’t expect Luke to come to the bar. Now she realized, he was the person Isabelle called on the phone before she came to them.
( less than 10 minutes ago)
After another man approached them, Isabelle finally decided to take her husband's call. He won’t stop unless she answered. Anyway she had to talk to him to come pick them up. She didn’t feel comfortable that strange men have been introducing themselves to them especially now that she was tipsy.
"Where the hell are you?" he asked in an angry voice.
She sighed then gave him directions. He uttered another bad word when he learned that they were in a different bar. He also probably also noticed that she was slurring her words.
"Are you drunk?!!" he rasped.
She chose not to reply to his question because she was positive that he would be even angrier.
(End of flashback)
Luke frowned. He cursed and raked his fingers through his hair. A pulse was throbbing in his jaw.
"How could I be so damn stupid?! Now I remember your friend Lynette who lives in Indonesia! It's clear that you were the one who helped my wife fly to Jakarta!”
Eunice’s stepped back with her face full of fear and shock while Isabelle covered her mouth with her hand. In a snail's pace, Luke moved towards them.
"L- Luke," Eunice called in a shaky voice.
Isabelle didn’t know what to say or do. She was indebted to Eunice for helping her that time. She didn’t want to admit nor deny anything at this point.
Eunice was about to say something but before she could do that, Luke rudely said with a shake of his head, " Don't you dare give me f*cking lies! You really have a lot of explaining to do! But I will deal with you after my wife and I talked! You can never get away from me so don't even think about it." he warned her in a very cold voice.
Isabelle gasped when he turned to her and grabbed her by the arm. She couldn’t fathom why he was angry with her wherein in fact, she was the one who discovered what his mother did.
"Let's go home!" he said through clenched teeth as he dragged her .
"Wait! I have to say goodbye to Joyce! " she told him when he pulled her to the path on the side of the bar.
"I already did that for you! " he said without looking at her.
She was about to complain again but a bar staff was going towards their direction so she kept quiet. She also stopped writhing to free her arm. He shoved her inside the car and she glared at him then sulked on the seat.
"Drive carefully!" she hissed.
He didn’t reply but she said a silent thank you when he drove at a moderate speed. They were both quiet on their trip back home.
She marched into the house and ascended the stairs angrily. She had no choice but to wait for him. She was in a fight mode. Finally, after a few moments, he appeared. His face looked really grim as he slammed the door behind him. His jaw clenched as his eyes went from her face down to her body and back.
“So how many *ssholes lusted after you?! " he asked through gritted teeth.
He seemed to want to rip her top into pieces with his glare.
"What a relevant question!" she commented sarcastically.
He advanced towards her but she didn't move from her place. Her anger was greater than her fear. She could stand up to him.
"You ask me that question instead of explaining to me? Tell me why you hired someone to tail me?” she demanded.
He came to a halt. "I don't need to f*cking explain! You know how I am when it comes to you!" he said arrogantly.
"Why you!” She gritted her teeth and Luke’s eyes turned into slits. “So you think it’s just okay for you to hire someone to spy on me?! Even your mom?!"
His expression became impassive. "I hired someone to protect you mainly not only to spy on you! My mother suggested to do that because she knows that I will forcefully get you back! She wanted me to give you space to grow up!" he coldly said.
She was starting to feel tired. All the revelations were too much for her.
"I need to sit down," she said in a weak voice. She moved to the bed and sat on the edge. While looking at her hands on her lap , she said in a small voice ,"So all along you knew where I was."
"Yes."
Luke wanted to come to her and touch her but they need to talk first.
" I almost went crazy when you left me. My mother's report about what you did every day kept me sane for three f*cking years," his voice had became emotional.
She looked at him again and she was speechless.
"That's why I really got furious when she didn't tell me about that Christian!" now his voice sounded angry again.
She still might be mad but she had to explain to him about Christian again.
" As I told you before, I never went out on dates. I had some invites but…” she couldn't finish her sentence when he cursed. "Will you listen to me first?"
He angrily went to the personal fridge to get a can of beer. With his back on her, he gulped the booze.
She sighed. She didn’t want him to drink but she knew that he needed something alcoholic at the moment.
"Ill repeat it again and hopefully you will be able to finally realize that I am not lying! I didn't go out with any men including Christian! We only got to see each other at family gatherings because he is Martha’s nephew. Your mom didn’t report anything to you because I didn’t go out with any guy!"
He turned to her again. "That's what my mother said too! But the f*cking truth was you still saw him often!”
She stood up. She wanted to hit his head with something then maybe he would see sense.
"We didn’t do anything wrong so forget your issue with Christian!”
Luke violently threw the canned beer on the floor which made her gasped.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed as she looked at the white carpet which was now stained.
"You want me to forget it? Do you have any f*cking idea why that piece of shit went here?!" he asked, his face was red.
She raised her eyes to look at him and just shook her head.
He menacingly walked towards her. "The bastard wanted to join Hernandez Group of Companies to have a good excuse to stay here so he can be close to you!"
Shocked, she sat down again. Can Christian do that? she asked herself.
"I had him investigated and looks like he did his research well! He wants to kill two birds with one stone! He chose a good company but unfortunately for him, my father's middle name is Hernandez and my Uncle Clyde had the biggest share. Your stepmother’s nephew had probably returned to America! Haven't you talked to your dad yet? Didn’t he not tell you anything?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
She shut her eyes while shaking her head in disbelief. Should she still be surprised at what her husband could do? With his money and family background, anything was possible for him.
"You told your uncle to reject him?" she asked in a small voice without looking at him.
"Yes," he said coldly.
"You did that because you don't want him near me?" This time she opened her eyes to look at him.
"YES! And no one can take you away from me!"
She didn’t know how to react and what to say. She just stared in awe as her husband took hold of her arms to pull her up. He moved her closer to him by her waist. Their faces were just inches apart.
"Babe, I'll say sorry with what my mother did. I want you to forgive us especially me .But frankly, I don't feel sorry for doing that. If you knew how hard it was to be without you maybe you would understand me. Do you know that I had a car accident because I was roaring drunk?" he asked.
He mouth opened. He had an accident? She shivered at the thought. She touched his cheeks. "W-What happened?"
He removed her hands on his cheeks then kissed each palm before speaking again. "I drank every night when you ran away. I was lucky I only had one accident. But after what happened, I stopped drinking too much. I had to be safe because I have planned a lot on your return. Don't worry it was a minor accident so I didn’t have major injuries. I know you are jealous of Victoria but babe, she is really just a friend. She was the one who brought me to the hospital. My family doesn't know about it because I didn’t want them to worry. Believe it or not Vic was like my mom who reprimanded me when I touched alcohol. She kept me company all those years that’s why I brought her to the resort a few times. What we have is just platonic," he explained in a gentle voice.
Her face distorted. She was jealous but she couldn't hide the fact that Victoria helped and saved her husband. He kissed her lightly on the lips when he saw her frown.
"You are my only one Mrs.Contrero," he said huskily.
"I don't know if I should say sorry for leaving you. I was hurt and broken that time. I will say sorry because I left without talking to you to know the truth. But at least I was able to find myself and I had the chance to be with my father. It was also very hard and painful for me to be away from you," she confessed.
He moved his face closer to hers. "Never ever think that you can run and hide from me my wife. I might have left you alone for three long years but I did that for us. You were too young to be married. That bad experience of not being with you made me a better man and a better husband .I realized that I can never be whole without you. We had to go through all that so we can be a better couple. Arguments can’t be avoided but what's important is at the end of the day, we always forgive each other. My life is hell without you. I love you so much," he declared before he claimed her lips.
She needed not say anything after that. She just showed her husband how much she loved him too. Luke was a very happy husband that night. They made love until the morning. He didn’t go to work. It was late in the afternoon when he told her that he would be meeting Eunice to talk to her
"I hope that you realized that she didn't care a damn about you babe. She wanted us to separate because she wanted to take your place," he said dryly as he put on his shirt.
She nodded to agree. She was easily deceived by Eunice. Luke didn’t want to tell her that the woman threw herself at him a lot of times when she left but he had no choice. Now everything was crystal clear.
"I was so stupid!" she said as she brushed her hair.
Luke walked to her. He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.
"No babe. You were just too trusting so you believed her. At least you've learned your lesson now," he said gently.
She nodded. She looked at their reflection in the mirror and she smiled. They have been through a lot but now they were okay again.
“I love you so damn much,” he murmured as he stared at her through the mirror.
“I love you too.”
***
Luke clenched his fist with what Hamilton told him. He was near the place where he was supposed to meet Eunice. It was confirmed that she was the one who helped Isabelle to leave the country. Her friend Lianne is still in Jakarta. But what Hamilton told him about Victoria’s most hidden secret was staggering. He had her followed after he lent her money.
"... that’s the reason why she’s scared of her ex. By the way sir, I saw a woman with Victoria yesterday. They seemed to have a close relationship. I just saw her photos clearly a few minutes ago. Sir, the woman is the same one you asked me to investigate. Eunice Villarama.”
He was slightly shaking from anger when he hung up. The two women were conniving. He was sure that they were planning to do something bad to his wife. He was about to call Eunice to tell her that he was on his way when he saw Beth’s number on his phone’s screen. With a heavy frown he took the call. His hands became clammy. He felt that something bad probably happened. She wouldn’t call him for nothing. When he answered, all the help could say was the word sir repeatedly. She seemed to be in shock.
"Beth will you calm down? Let me talk to Tina!" he demanded.
He heard the older woman’s voice while getting the phone from Beth.
"Luke! Issa was kidnapped!”
(about 15 minutes ago)
Isabelle decided to water the plants outside their gate when Luke left. She didn’t have anything to do anyway. Beth went to the grocery while Tina was cleaning the rooms upstairs.
A black car stopped near her. She turned to see who it was. Her forehead creased when a tall man wearing dark sunglasses and a bull's cap got off. She smelled danger. Her heart started to thump.