“Have you come to mock me?” Ethan stared at his wife with hatred in his eyes.
April smirked as she took in the remains of what happened to be her husband.
“It’s surprising you still have the strength to be rude to the only one capable of saving your life.”
Ethan hesitated for a moment, wondering if she meant it. The flicker of hope in his eyes did not go unnoticed by April who let out a small laugh.
“I curse the day I met you,” Ethan said with pain-riddled eyes. “You’ve ruined my life.”
“As much as I’d like to take credit for that, we both know you did that on your own.” She scoffed, “Talk about a man who cheated on his wife with her sister, you did this to yourself, Ethan.”
“So what? Why are you here, April? Have you come to kill me like you did my father?” He growled, much to the hearing of the police officer who supervised their interactions.
April was not fazed. She had done the groundwork before making a trip here. The policeman was under her payroll and no matter what her failure of a husband did or said, it was as good as useless.
“Tempting.” She shrugged, “But I’ll pass.”
April’s face turned hard as she continued. “Since you got caught as a murderer, I have been out there, trying to clean up your messes.” She feigned a distraught look. “You can’t imagine the amount of pain your pregnant wife has been put through since your arrest.”
Ethan felt like hitting the woman in front of him, but his hands were cuffed and the glass between them hindered any contact.
“Recently I have been in touch with the Joseph family. They plan to create a new family house and I tried to clean up the mess your arrest has created and secure the deal.”
“I even went as far as getting the team to produce a one-of-a-kind model for the project, but do you know what happened? She tsked, eyes blazing as she said, “I find that June had somehow manoeuvred her way into the race and got Joel freaking Patel on her team!”
A smirk bloomed on Ethan’s face, one that died as soon as April said the words,
“Were you trying to get on my nerves or are you so incompetent you can’t get anything right?”
“Since you are so competent, why don’t you try to get Joel Patel on your team?” Ethan gritted, “Why waste both our time?”
April gauged the man before her as her anger rose to an all-time high. With all she had done to Ethan, she expected he would grovel and beg her when she came around. But it seemed like the man in front of her only lived to defy her.
He didn’t even care about the non-existent child in her womb. He didn’t give a fuck about her and for some reason, that drove her insane. She searched for a way to break him all over again.
A victorious smile appeared on Ethan’s face when she didn’t respond. “Oh yeah. You can’t.” He added as an afterthought. “Just like you are incapable of doing anything good.”
The iciness of his tone portrayed the severity of his anger. All of which were washed down by the next words she uttered.
“Just like I am incapable of carrying a child that belongs to you, Ethan.” She smiled, “It’s almost comical how easily I fooled you. If there is any child in my womb, you should know better than to think it carries the dirty Lontoc family blood.”
“W-What? W-what are you saying?”
The shock on his face made delivering the final blow more satisfying.
“What do you think I’m saying? Do you want me to spell it out? I am not pregnant.” She picked up her bag, while he shook his head in disbelief. “At least not for you.”
“While I go back and find ways to clean up the mess you created, you will rot in here, and your mother will remain in a mental hospital.” She turned round and muttered to his hearing. “You were right about one thing. I have wasted my time.”
April walked out of the prison feeling better knowing Ethan was having a worse time than she was. A text dinged into her phone and she smiled. It was time to get her plan off the ground and if things went through without problems, she would have found a solution to the Joseph family limbo.
****
June dressed stylishly in a printed skirt and floral top. Her eyes were covered in a black shade and she navigated into a hotel with Thomas behind her. Lucy had informed her about a high-profile client who wanted to work.
Prepared and ready to bag another project, June headed to the lobby, asked directions, and was soon seated in the lunch area of the five-star hotel, waiting for her prospective client.
June sipped her Juice when she felt a shadow over her. “Mrs. Ambrose?”
She looked up immediately and came face to face with Mr Joseph. “Hello,”
June tried to hide her surprise at the man who sat opposite her with a wide smile. “I didn’t realise you were the prospective client.”
Mr Joseph’s eyes widened a bit and he cleared his throat. “I didn’t know you were into these sorts of things.” He reached for her hand over the table and flattened her skin. “Does your husband know about this?”
June blinked in confusion at the odd character of the man before her. She could have sworn the man in front of her was hitting on her. She had to be going crazy because something was not right here.
Unknown to them, a few tables away, some man dressed in a black assemble took photos of them, smiling when he saw the perfect results of the shots. June withdrew her hand from the table.
“Are you talking about the contract for your new family home? I already met your wife and-” She was cut off by Mr Joseph who acted creepy.
“Drop the act.” He reached for her legs underneath the table, “We both know we are not here for that. Maybe this was a surprise, but we don’t need to stop. Our spouses don’t need to know.” His smile irritated her, “We can be our dirty little secret. Besides, I can make you feel good.”
June felt his hand roam her skirt and she slapped it away, standing up. “I don’t know what has possessed you, but I will tell you one thing. I have zero tolerance for cheating scumbags.”
“Your wife is a decent woman dedicated to building a new home to preserve your legacy. You should not disappoint her in this manner. She deserves better.”
With that, June left the table, leaving the older man shocked at her words. This was his spot for having extra-marital affairs with the various young women that were arranged by his assistant and everyone who ended up on this table often got between the sheets with him.
June walked out of the hotel with a frown. Her frown deepened when she met April at the front door, making her way inside the hotel. A smile appeared on April’s face at the sight of June.
“What an unpleasant surprise.” She muttered, just then, Mr Joseph came bursting through the door.
“Mrs Ambrose!” The older man stopped when he saw April in front of June.
“Hello, Mr Joseph.” April greeted with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She turned to June, “I see you are busy.” Her tone was suggestive as she looked between them. “Please have a wonderful time.”
June didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She could feel something was out of order but she couldn’t figure just what it was. She made to leave but was stopped by Mr Joseph who held her by the arm.
“I apologise. There’s been a mistake somewhere. Please don’t tell my wife.”
A few seconds after June walked out on him, he received a message from his former secretary. His flavour for the day had bailed out last minute and his now-fired secretary only told him after he had made a fool of himself.
When he saw his boss’s wife on the table allotted to him, he gained a power boost at the thought of sleeping with the powerful Rafael’s wife. He intended to exploit the opportunity and now he had to apologise.
“You are not sorry for cheating.” June scoffed, unable to stop the anger that clouded her heart. “You are only sorry because you got caught.”
Mr Joseph didn’t see reason, all he knew was his wife couldn’t hear what transpired between them. Neither could her husband find he had groped her without shame.
“Please! Please, forgive me this once!”
June didn’t care to humour him with a response, instead, she headed for her car parked out front with Thomas standing beside it and left the place.
Unknown to them, Mrs Joseph was on her way to the said hotel for a private meeting with April, who handed over the pictures and told a pretty compelling story to go with it.