His Ex Wife

Chapter 20: Are you my Wife?

Anna had been in constant communication with her lawyer bar-at-law, Jean Oliver, the best divorce lawyer in New York. Her fees was all she could afford but it was worth the risk, the share she was prying from Scott would compensate all her effort- the lengthy and effective planning she had ensured to separate Scott from his first wife Yvonne. She did not have any personal grudges against Yvonne but she did not like her, she just didn’t. Anna’s own personal life had been very complicated since her childhood- being an orphan was not easy; at least being a girl who was an orphan was not easy. Being brought up in a small village in Nebraska, life had been all but easy. The only thing she could take advantage of in a remote place like that was education and Anna had not missed out on that.

To get where she was, she had to step over many; good or bad and now, where she was, the ex-wife of the most powerful man in New York and that tag came with reputation, fame and most importantly, notoriety. Money would come too, she was certain, that is the reason she had hired Jean- the lady barrister could just about manipulate anyone; that was the skill that afforded her lifestyle.

“I sent you the medical papers Jean, he’s in WelKor Cornell! What now?” Anna had been arguing with her lawyer on the phone since half an hour now.

“Yes and until his doctor confirms that he is perfectly healthy to step in the case, being a patient, the court will rule in his favor. Right now, I cannot freeze his properties or assets, all I can do is file the case, the rest of the procedures would take time Anna,” Jean replied roughly.

“And what the heck am I supposed to do until then? Sit and wait for him to get better?” Anna shouted on the phone sarcastically.

“Do as you please, let me know when Scott Anderson is perfectly fit,” Jean cut the conversation short and added, “Till then, I’ve got other clients to attend to,” and cut the call.

Anna’s mouth opened wide in surprise; she had paid Jean more than half of her fees by now and that was how she repays her?! She threw her iPhone on the wooden floor and the loud thud of it falling

made small cracks on the fragile screen.

“This fucking bitch…” Anna shouted in exasperation referring to Jean.

“Language Anna!” someone said from behind her, and Anna toned down her anger immediately.

She plunked down in despair, on the huge puffy sofa in the lavish office she was in now, it was evening, almost everyone was almost gone.

“I’m even running out of the money you had given me…I might require some more,” she reminded him, with a hint of skepticism in her voice. She knew how to get more money out of him, everyone had weak points and she knew his- she was guarding his secrets now.

“You’re only getting money because of Emmett. The money I have given you till now is only to take care of the kid and I know how you have been doing it,” the husky and deep voice spoke from the dark corner he stood in facing the large glass pane that showed half the city from this height, “Taking him to the hospital was not a good idea,” he spoke strictly.

Anna’s face turned sour, she wondered how he must have gotten to know about it.

“Raising your hand over him was worse,” his voice got even deeper.

“I-I thought you didn’t know, he was b-being a mess and I didn’t know wh-what to do…” Anna explained nervously by now, her hands fidgeted with the corners of her purse. She could not afford offending this man, he was her only income right now with the divorce case in pending too.

The shadow of the man turned around and he came close to Anna this time, his face was still barely discernible in the dim lighting of the office room. He leaned over to where Anna was sitting until he was totally shadowing her, just inches away from her face. His mint breath fanned her orange face covered in foundation and blush.

His oval face and blue eyes were not something Anna had been used to, yet, he reminded her of Scott in many cases; she did not even know his name though. But she chose to draw that thought away for now.

“Listen to me very carefully Anna, if you ever touched Emmett again, trust me, I’ll make people forget you ever existed at all!” he said emphasizing every word, looking into her eyes.

His intimidating posture did cause Anna to flinch for a minute, she had not been expecting that, more than that, she knew how well he meant his words; his threatening words would be reality if she did not abide by them.

The man stood straight now and buttoned his dark blue blazer before heading back to the corner where his grand office table had been, he took out his cheque book and signed a blank cheque with his silver Shaeffer pen that shone in the dim corner. He threw the cheque on the sofa where Anna was sitting and turned his back towards her again. Her face full of make up was just disturbing and annoying to him.

“Fill in any amount you like,” he ordered her as Anna greedily picked up the cheque and quickly placed it carefully inside her purse.

She got up cheerfully, forgetting how intimidated she had been just seconds ago from this guy and said, “I’ll keep you on any update over Scott.”

He did not say anything, this stupid woman was not the only source he relied on to get any new information over Scott. It was enough if she would handle Emmett, already like she was doing a great job at that…

Right before she was about to open his office door to leave, he said loud enough for her to hear without even turning around, “Get a new phone.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Anna looked back at him and wondered what kind of a guy he was, shedding money away like water, she had been with Scott, even he would not give a penny to a stranger he barely knew. She wondered whether this mysterious billionaire knew about her own back story- even if he did, he would know that she was harmless to him; all that mattered to her was money- she was ready to be anyone’s until she got what she wanted, and those dollar bills are the only things that brought joy to her.

But he intrigued her strangely enough, she wondered what it was that he wanted and then what relationship he could have had with Emmett.

She shrugged all these silly thoughts away…Everything was good until she had money, she grinned at the blank cheque she had gotten from him; it was now in her hand as she stood on the lift to go down.

Scott had been under the observation of the specialist Dr Andrew. He was still shaken at the thought of her mother having died 11 years ago; he could still not believe Mariella had been gone for so long now and he was still trying to make sense of who this young woman who had been selflessly caring for him since the past 3 days was.

He had tried to ask her this on different occasions, but she had denied his question, sometimes she had an urgent call to make and on others, she turned a deaf ear to his words, but the nurse had informed him that she would be one taking him with her, and he was certain about one thing- he was not going to just walk out the clinic with a stranger he knew nothing about.

The door of his private ward opened again- the door was securely locked and only accessible to specific people whose fingerprints had been stored in the system- it was Yvonne. Being a VIP patient, only 4 people had access to Scott’s private room- his in charge specialist, a nurse who came to check on him from time to time, Dr Lolark who oversaw the reports and Yvonne, whom Dr Andrew trusted now with Scott.

Yvonne had been tirelessly serving Scott’s every need but every time he tried to make a personal contact or interaction with her, it freaked her out. She just did not feel like she was ready to answer him about his tragic life- if only his life had been as straight but it just was anything but straight- loving someone, marrying someone else and then divorcing that woman to marry someone he still didn’t love. She had wondered in these past few days if she should just blurt it out that she had been his wife.

But looking at his condition, torture him with guilt was the last thing she wanted to do to him.

“Dr Andrew says you should get ready, you’re better now but you need rest, and you get home now,” Yvonne said looking at Scott.

There was one thing he liked about Yvonne though he did not even know her yet- that he could just keep looking at that face of hers without pause all day, she was that beautiful. It was practically the only thing that attracted him otherwise he did not like those who did not obey to him- authority was in his blood.

“You haven’t answered me, who are you to me? I feel like I know you, like I am used to your touch but my mind…it’s almost like I’ve never seen you yet I know you,” his words seemed so genuine as he spoke with his forehead wrinkling in confusion again.

It had been only a few days since his accident but Scott, from the young boy that he felt he was, stuck in 2009 at the death of his mom, to the man he was 4 days ago, the man who had admitted to Yvonne that he had probably never loved her, Scott had aged. Maybe it was his uncertainty and anxiety that had been eating him up from inside, she could try to understand what he was going through. For some strange reason, despite all her feelings having neutralized for him, she had wanted to bury him in her arms and assure him that nothing was wrong, that she was there for him.

But the words he had said that night immediately came back to her and that name…Mariella, resounded in her mind like a bell ringing in a temple.

She sat next to him reluctantly and patted his fractured hand in compassion before she started, “Scott, it is not easy to make you understand what I am to you,” she was not sure where she could lead this conversation with this opener but before she could even continue, she was cut off by Scott.

“Are you my wife?” he asked with curiosity, Yvonne noticed his eyes strangely lit up at that thought but his face expression remained rather neutral. It surprised Yvonne how he could even get to this but she could not deny what the facts were.

Yvonne smiled sadly at his words and was about to reply that she was rather his ex-wife, but the words of Dr Andrew came to her mind, and she held her tongue. Scott still having a fresh wound to his nervous system was not in the position to take shocking news all too well. She knew instinctively that she would have to lie about this- though she did have no wish to, but the circumstances had compelled her to this.

“I am your wife, Yvonne Scott Anderson,” she said looking into his eyes.