Kaelan

“Arrrggghhh!”

I roared in annoyance.

The rage in me kept building, and it was best I locked myself in the room. I was furious to find that dress on Seraphina, but I was also enraged that I couldn’t control my emotions. What I did was wrong. My reaction scared her, and I shouldn’t have done that, but I couldn’t help it.

I had tried to stop, especially when she fell down the stairs, but something inside erupted and brought out the beast inside of me.

I really thought I could control my emotions, but then again, with all the anticipation I had when I was coming home, I never expected what I saw.

I punched the wall, allowing my knuckles to feel the pain. I didn’t stop until I saw my knuckles bleeding. I wanted to punish myself for everything, and the pain wasn’t even enough. I panted, and swore, and cursed, but neither of it was enough.

Against my wish, and due to the rage that kept building and building inside of me, my mind drifted back to that horrible day that had turned out to be one of my nightmares.

My ex-wife, Jenna Gray.

Beautiful, alluring, sexy, and a beauty goddess. How did I ever think that such a woman would have made a good wife? I had been enthralled by her beauty and seductiveness from the very first day I met her at an event. Two months later, I had married her.

I was so lonely that the eight weeks of companionship, attention, and sex I got from Jenna had made me fallen in love with her. Since Thorn’s mother, I hadn’t really been with any woman. I had been more focused on building a life and future for myself and Thorn to even have time for relationships and commitments, so much so that the first time I allowed myself get close to a woman, I had married her almost immediately.

Jenna was everything to me.

I loved her with everything I had, and I provided more than what she could ever need. If Jenna wanted a car, I got her two. If she wanted a trip to the Maldives, I gifted her with an additional trip to the Bahamas. If she wanted to go shopping, I would shut down that boutique for that whole day, just so that she could have uninterrupted shopping, and also, get everything she wanted.

All Jenna had to do was desire it.

“Kaelan, what are you up to?” Lazarus had asked when he walked into my office and saw me engrossed with computer, so much so that I hadn’t noticed when he came in.

“Booking a lunch reservation,” I had told him.

“Let me guess…for Jenna again, right?” He had asked.

“You guessed right,” I had said.

Lazarus had shaken his head. He didn’t fancy Jenna much, but I already knew that, and I didn’t let it deter me.

“You should really slow down,” he had advised.

“That’s my wife, Lazarus. I don’t appreciate you talking about her,” I had warned him.

Lazarus raised his hands in surrender.

Before Lazarus came into my office, I had already reached out to Jenna’s stylist, Monroe, to ensure that Jenna was styled in the million-dollar designer dress I got for her the day before.

“Make sure she doesn’t sense anything. Just get her dressed; I want to surprise her with another dinner date,” I had informed Monroe.

To show that I was intentional about Jenna having the luxuries of life, I hired a personal stylist for her; the best in the city, Monroe. I paid him handsomely every week just to be at Jenna’s beck and call, especially when I noticed that Jenna always liked to be well dressed and on makeup, even at the house. She never wanted to wake up without a lipstick on.

And so far, it had been working well.

Jenna was happy, and so was I.

“But a lunch date?” Lazarus had asked carefully. “What if something comes up and your attention is needed?” Lazarus had asked.

I had paused what I was doing for a moment to look at Lazarus.

“Lazarus, I have worked so hard over the last decade, and now that I have successfully built an empire, I want to create time for love and everything I have missed for years. Besides, my empire is not going to crumble because I am having lunch dates with my wife,” I had expressed firmly. “Actually, it was supposed to be a dinner date, just like I told her stylist, but I can’t wait, Lazarus. When I am not around Jenna, I feel empty or incomplete, so I changed it to a lunch date,” I had added.

“Very well then. You are a man in love,” Lazarus had said.

When I was done booking the lunch date, I had gotten up and collected my suit jacket. Then, when I got to the door, I had stopped and looked at Lazarus, who had waited in my office to finish up.

“If you are worrying about countless dates with my wife, which don’t even cost a dime to me, what are you going to say if you find out that I already placed a yacht for her?” I had asked Lazarus.

His eyes had budged with astonishment.

“A yacht?” Lazarus had asked incredulously.

“The most expensive available and the latest edition. No one has it yet in this city,” I had said with pride.

I had left Lazarus with an opened mouth, too speechless to say a word.

On my way home, I had been filled with gladness, so much so that I had also stopped to get her favorite flowers. I was literally living my dream; married to one of the most beautiful and sexiest women in the entire world, and about to take her to an expensive and exclusive restaurant to have lunch with a dress I personally bought for her.

I had been filled with excitement and love.

Then when I had gotten to the house, I had gone right to Jenna’s bedroom.

I had opened the door, only to find Monroe pounding into Jenna from behind. She didn’t even have the decency to take off the dress that I got her before committing such adultery. The flowers had fallen from my hand, and my whole world had come crumbling down.

Then, years later, I walk into my house, excited to see another woman I had managed to get intrigued about, only to find her wearing that same dress.