Chapter 13
Dean:
My heart raced against my ribcage as I sat in the car, unable to drive to the house. Hell, at this point, I was barely able to see the street ahead of me to be able to drive.
Mariana’s questioning from earlier not only annoyed me, but was enough to make me want to punch a wall. However, I was thankful that I contained myself enough not to hurt her, otherwise, I knew that things would have taken a different turn that neither one of us wanted to deal with. And I knew that it would be one that not even Mariana could handle.
The fact that somewhere deep down I knew that Iris was telling the truth didn’t make things easy on me. At this point, I wished that she was the type to be lying about it. I wished that she would have been the type to cheat. It would have made things a lot easier for me.
But I knew that judging by the little girl’s age, Lillian. It was a name that I remembered her telling me about when we first got married. She told me that if she ever had a daughter, she would name her Lillian. I remember telling her off that night. I had married her based on agreement and despite knowing that it was my duty to fulfill my part as her husband, I knew that I didn’t want to start a family with her. I regret that more than ever right now.
“Why, Iris? Just f**king why?” I asked myself out loud. I didn’t know what to say or do about this. All I knew was that it wasn’t something that I liked at all. If anything, it hurt me a lot, and that was something that I didn’t know if anyone would actually care about. I doubted that they would. I deserved everything that I got, it was something
that I came to accept.
I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling on my roots for a few seconds as I tried to think straight. it was still pouring outside and I knew that the more I delayed going home, the worse it was going to get. The rain didn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, and the fact that I knew that Mariana would be calling didn’t make this any easier. The last thing I wanted was to hear her voice, and knowing that I left while she was theoretically upset, I
knew that I was in for a night.
My phone rang, breaking the train of my thoughts and I frowned in confusion when I saw that it was my father calling. The man rarely ever called after I married Mariana. It was either for work or to invite us to important galas or gatherings. Mostly work related; therefore, to say that I was surprised was only logical.
“Dad?” I asked, frowning in confusion though I knew that he couldn’t see me.
“You and Mariana are invited to tomorrow’s dinner. We are having a few meetings with the investors and I think that as a founder and CEO of his own company as well as a direct partner, that you should come.” He said coldly. It was like this between the two of us since my marriage with Mariana. Mostly because I challenged him to marry her. He gave me a choice not to, and I chose her.
Little did I know that both he and mother had a vision when they told me against marrying her. They saw what I was too blind to see. But now it wasn’t going to be as easy divorcing her. The woman wouldn’t allow it if it killed her. She fought me and the world to fit in my own bubble, and that was something that she has failed to do, and
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though she never seems to be convinced of it, I as a person knew better than anyone that she wouldn’t be able to cope with everything that was going around her in the society that we lived in.
“When is the dinner?” I asked, wanting to know when we were to come. I knew that now, Instead of being treated as family like we were before, we were treated as guests. With Iris, we used to be the first to come, and sometimes Iris even got ready with mom. She would bring her dress and the makeup artist as well as her hair dresser would come to our place. Other times she would be ready but we were to be sure to be there before all the guests for her to help mom with setting the last of things and me to be by my father’s side when our guests arrived.
Our family, despite how shaky it was at the time, was still bound by a nice bond which we lost after my marriage with Mariana. Now we were to be the last ones to enter the dinner and the first to leave. We were told directly that we were not welcome over, and this was only done for our social gatherings and family’s reputation. The last thing. we needed was to lose more than we could afford over such family drama.
My marriage has already cost us enough, and that was something that I knew both my parents didn’t want to deal with. It was something that they both made very obvious. Mariana wasn’t even welcome on normal occasions to the house, she knew that since we got married. Mom had taken her to her room a week after our wedding when we came to visit. We couldn’t have a long honeymoon after everything that we had to deal with, but I knew that she didn’t mind, and Mariana was put in place that night.
Mom had told her that she may have been married to me, but she was not and will never be part of the family. When attending gatherings, she was to sit like the wife that she was supposed to be, and one fuss caused by her, and she would be forced to deal with mom. It was something that I didn’t like, but I knew better than to question my mom about her decisions, especially when I knew her reasons.
“At eight sharp. I expect you to be there a few minutes into it.” He said, and I hummed in response. The fact that he was calling me to be there a few minutes before the dinner told me that he wanted me out after the wine. Mariana was not going to be liking this, especially since I knew that she would question why we were not treated the way
that I was before.
The two of us were having our affair throughout most of my marriage with Iris. On nights when I was arguing with Mariana, I would be the loving husband to Iris, and the poor woman used to take that as me trying to give our marriage a chance. I had to admit, I knew that I was happy with her. She gave me the peace that I couldn’t find in an affair, which should have been the exact opposite. An affair was a place to escape to, whereas in my case, my marriage was my escape. Iris, the little angel that I broke was the peace that I longed for, and yet, I chose to just
break her.
“Any dress codes?” I asked, knowing that mom often had her random dress codes. She didn’t like it when people
wore too revealing clothes in her house. She preferred elegance when it came to outfits that reached just over the knee, and hair to be done right. When it came to Iris, she was thankful that she didn’t have to deal with such issues.
Iris was naturally elegant. She often wore decent and long clothing that often reached her knees. Even if the dress that she wore was shorter, she would be wearing stockings under them and that was something that I knew that both my parents appreciated. It was the direct opposite when it came to Mariana and her dresses. It was mostly why mom and her argued at first eventually leading her to tell us off, not wanting us to come.
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Marlana came from a whole different world, and it was one that mom knew about and hated. She got her wealth out of marrying rich before getting a divorce years ago. It was long before we got into our relationship, but I was well aware of the scandals that she did to get out of her marriage. It was one of the reasons why I knew mom
didn’t want me with her.
“Just make sure that your wife is decent enough to meet people.” He said, answering my question. “Otherwise, do not blame me for kicking her out. She would deserve it this time, and I think that you are well aware of the chances that your mother and I gave her.”
“She has the right to wear what she wants, you do realize that?” I asked, knowing that this would be creating an Issue between us. But the last thing that I wanted was for him to think that he could be speaking of her in such a manner and just get away from it. It was sick and it annoyed me, I had to admit that much.
“Outside my house, she can go to hell n*ked for all I cared. Inside my house and within my perimeter, she is to
respect your mother and I and would do as she is told,” Dad said, giving me the same hate attitude that he’s been giving me for years. “Otherwise, she can choose not to come. It is up to her…”
