Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Six
"Why is it always my turn to make the coffee?" Lee mumbled.
Marella shifted onto her side and watched Lee. "We both know you're the genius in the kitchen."
Lee sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He had no idea what time it was but he didn’t care. He was not going into work today and neither was Marella.
“Fine, I’ll go make coffee.”
“Put some pants on first!”
Lee pulled a pair of sweatpants from the cupboard and pulled them on before going downstairs. He opened the fridge and wasn’t really surprised that it was empty. They had coffee at least and powdered creamer. It would have to do until they could go to the store.
Marella joined him downstairs just as he placed both cups on the kitchen island. “I’m starving, what’s for breakfast?”
“We should go to that diner you like, there’s nothing in the house.”
“We didn’t think about that when we planned on coming back home yesterday,” Marella said and sipped her coffee.
They finished their coffee, showered and finally left the house an hour later. Lee drove them to the diner for breakfast and they hit the stores another hour later. They had to buy everything. All food sources from the house had been thrown out and shopping took them hours. Despite all that, Lee loved doing this with her and he was somewhat surprised at how the suddenly the choice he'd made to be better had changed everything for him.
Lee loaded the last bag into the trunk and took Marella’s hand as she opened the passenger side door. “What are you doing?”
“Come on, you need to pick a ring.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now. No way is my woman walking around without a ring on her finger that gives assholes the idea you’re available,” Lee said as he dragged her down the street to Gustav’s jewellery store. He hadn’t seen anything he liked when the man came to the house and it was better to let Marella choose her own ring.
Lee pushed the door open and walked into the jewellery store. “Good afternoon, Mr Munroe,” Gustav greeted him personally.
“Engagement rings, Gustav, Miss Carter will be choosing her own,” Lee said.
Gustav grinned like the Cheshire cat and walked toward them. “Budget?”
“None,” Lee replied and he saw the glimmer of cash in Gustav’s eyes.
Gustav led Marella over to the exclusive collection displays and Lee made himself comfortable in an armchair far away from them. He scrolled through his phone and read the text from Connor.
Connor – He’s impossible and he doesn’t want Blaire looking for Milana. He was kind of pissed off when he found out Blaire’s been looking for her. He doesn’t want to know where she is and he has no intention of working things out with her.
Lee - He's angry but he loves her. He'll start looking for her in his own time.
Lee sighed as he sent the text and exited the messages and looked up at Marella. She held her hand out in front of her and looked at the ring on her finger. It was elegant, not too big and suited her perfectly. The diamond was square cut with a solitary band.
“Do you like it or do you love it?” Lee asked Marella as he stood behind her.
“I love it,” she said.
Lee handed his card over to Gustav, shaking his head when he asked if he wanted him to wrap it up for them. Lee walked out of the jewellery store holding Marella’s hand with a smile on his face. It felt right, making this kind of commitment was right.
After they’d returned home and packed away their groceries they lay on the couch and watched a movie. Marella turned on her side to face Lee. “What has Kelley done to find Milana?”
Lee clenched his jaw and didn’t answer her, looking away instead. “Lee Munroe. You answer me right now.”
“Nothing. He doesn’t want to know where she is.”
“Why the hell not? Why did she leave like that, no note, no goodbye? Did they fight about something?”
Lee sighed and sat upright, shifting Marella to the edge of the couch. He pulled his phone out and logged into their server and located Norah’s video. He lowered his phone and looked at Marella with a serious expression on his face. “I don’t even know if I should show you this.”
“What?”
“It’s a video that Milana found on Kelley’s laptop and she left after she watched not even half of it,” Lee said.
“Shit, Lee, what kind of video is it?”
Lee shook his head again, turned the volume on his phone up and pressed play before handing it to Marella. Marella gasped when Norah cupped Kelley’s groin and Lee could see the disgust and anger in her eyes. “That fucking whore,” she whispered.
She watched the whole video, glancing at Lee when he spoke on the video. A glimmer of something flashed in her eyes as Kelley dismissed Norah and when the video ended she handed his phone back to him.
“Let’s go,” Marella said.
“Where are we going?”
She was already opening the front door and Lee jumped into the passenger seat as she started the car. She drove towards Kelley’s house and parked in front of the garage. She was a woman on a mission and Lee had to hurry his steps to keep up with her.
She opened the study’s door and Kelley looked up at her as Lee followed close on her heels. Kelley began to stand up but Marella pushed him back down in his chair. The slap against the back of Kelley’s head reverberated around the room.
“Ow! What the hell, Marella?”
“You’re so stupid! Norah! You sat and watched Norah masturbate!”
“You showed her the video?” Kelley asked Lee angrily.
“No wonder your wife left you,” Marella said and walked out of the study.
“Sorry,” Lee said and ran after Marella.
“Congratulations, asshole! Nice ring!”
Lee grinned at Kelley’s words and caught up to Marella by the stairs. He didn’t say a word, knowing that she was probably going to slap him next.
