CHAPTER FOUR

                      LALIYA’S POV

“Look, that’s the boss’s brother’s wife.” I heard the whispers as I walked into Elio’s office. Pretending not to hear them was hard, but I tried my best to keep my expression as vague and distant as possible.

“You mean ex-wife?” another one said and giggled.

“Oh shut up, it hasn’t been announced that they broke up. But yeah, she’s going to be an ex one day.” The second one joined the first one in giggling.

I strode past them and walked straight into Elio’s office, ignoring the secretary who tried to stop me, saying I must get a reservation first. She ran after me anyway.

I pushed open Elio’s heavy oak door, my heart even heavier than the door. Never in my life did I think Elio was ever going to betray me like that, but he did and I felt stupid once again for even trusting anyone. I was never going to learn, was I?

Elio sat behind his desk, a folder in his hand and glasses sitting on the brim of his nose. His expression was guarded and professional, totally different from the playful best friend I knew. He had a striking resemblance to his brother, from their piercing gray eyes, to their sharp jaws. But while people could tell Santiago was a cold man, Elio had a warm inviting aura. That was how I was deceived by him.

Once the door shut, Elio lifted his head off the papers in his hands. He looked confused when his secretary ran in almost immediately, bowing down to him to apologize. “I’m sorry, sir. I tried to stop her, but she didn’t…”

“Why would you try to stop her? Don’t you know who she is to me?”

“Uh-uhn?” she stuttered, looking both lost and scared. “Well, earlier you said you didn’t want a visitor who didn’t have an appointment, so I…”

“Just leave,” he motioned, dismissing her. She gave another bow and rushed out. He diverted his attention to me, his gaze softening as he dropped the papers with him. “Hi, Liya.”

He sounded like my best friend, the one I knew, the one I ran to whenever I had minor or major inconvenience. But he wasn’t the one seated at the moment. This one seated had betrayed me so badly that it was even hurting me to be in his presence.

“You knew,” was all I said. His brows furrowed in concern and he titled his head at me. 

“I knew what?” he asked carefully, his voice barely above a whisper.

“You knew why Santiago wanted a divorce.”

“What are you talking about, Liya? I don’t…I don’t know what you mean by…”

I threw the pictures I had gathered on the desk and watched as his expression shifted from confusion to realization to shock. “Liya…”

“You knew why he wanted a divorce, you knew who this was, and you know…you know what’s going to happen next. You know everything.”

“Liya, I didn’t…”

“Don’t lie to me,” I yelled, my emotions starting to get the best of me. “You knew that my contract husband has a girlfriend. A girlfriend who was waiting for him to get married to me and divorce me after three years, because to them, I’m just a tool to get Santiago the ownership of his company. Not only that, but you also know that they are going to get married after I sign the divorce papers.”

“Liya, listen to me, please. I didn’t know he still planned to get married to her. I thought he left her after he got married to you. I never knew. I would never do that to you. In fact, I went to confront him about it yesterday, that was when I found out.”

“But you have always known that he has a girlfriend, why didn’t you tell me?” He kept quiet, while the full weight of the betrayal crashed down upon me like a tidal wave. I didn’t have any logical thinking at the moment, I just wanted to get it off my chest before I left. “So many times, I told you about how I didn’t know anything about my husband, yet you never told me he has a girlfriend. A lot of times, I told you of my suspicion that my husband could be relieving himself with some other woman, yet you said nothing. I didn’t matter to your brother, but I thought I mattered to you.”

“You do, Liya. You matter so much to me. You are my best friend.”

“Am I?” he nodded hysterically and I scoffed. “Maybe you don’t know the meaning of best friends. Or maybe I was the one who read too much meaning to the word.” Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill, and I turned away from him. “I can’t believe I got used by the Meadows brothers. My brothers would never believe me if I told them, considering how much I was a menace to them.” I let out a sad laugh.

“Liya.”

“It is now Laliya to you. I never want to see you and your brother again. I’m returning to Texas. Avoid me if you ever see me.”

With a heavy heart, I turned on my heel and left Elio’s office, tuning out his voice as he called my name over and over again. Anger and betrayal warred within me, and I clenched my teeth and drove to the house I shared with Santiago.

Once I returned home, I picked up the divorce papers in my hand and made a vow to myself that I would not go down without a fight. Santiago and his girlfriend might have played me for a fool, while the one person I thought I could run to, protected the truth from me, but they underestimated me and thought of me as a nobody. It was time to show them who I was.

I signed my name on the dotted line at the right side of the papers, and dropped it in a place where Santiago would find it quicker. He barely searched around the whole house, because he was too busy avoiding me, so I needed to place it in a space where he wouldn’t have to look twice.

I stood outside the house and picked up my phone to call my safe space. He picked it up on the third ring. “Liya,” he yawned out. I couldn’t say anything even though I wanted to. My heart was heavy and so was my mouth. “Are you okay?” His voice was clearer now and I heard rustling. I could picture him sitting up on his bed worriedly.

Not ‘what’s wrong,’ but ‘are you okay.’ Stupid of me to think I didn’t have anyone to fight for me and protect me.

Overwhelmed by emotions, I burst into tears, sniffling and wheezing. A much familiar voice was all I needed, to let out all my pent up emotions.

“Liya, please talk to me.”

“Crone.”

“Yes, it’s me,” he assured. “I’m here, what’s wrong?”

“Come and pick me please.” I sniffed. “I signed the divorce papers already.”

“That fucker.” I heard more rustling. “Hey, It’s okay. We all knew it would happen, right? It’s time for you to come home. I’ll send the jet over to pick you up, and I’ll be waiting at the airport, okay? Find a hotel to be in. I cannot wait to see you. I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

“I know you do, I’m your favorite brother after all,” he joked, successfully pulling a laugh out of me. “I love you, see you soon.”

“Hey Crone,” I called out before he could hang up.

“Hm?”

“Remember when you promised to ruin Santiago down to crumbs if he pulled a hair out of me.”

“Yes,” he replied with no hesistation.

“Please do. Ruin Santiago Meadows down to crumbs.”