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Onthe day we visitedPoppysoAxelcould undergo a brain scan,Imanaged to ditch him afterward and return home.Iwas shocked to find picture frames in my living room withJay’sface torn out.Itleft me unsettled and shaken, forcing me to acknowledge thatIwasn't safe in my home.Ipacked my bags and made a beeline to the same hotel nearest my home, contemplating my next move.IfIcalled the police,Axelwould destroy everyoneIloved.IfItold my loved ones, they’d sever all ties with me for bringing the likes ofAxelinto their lives.Theonly way out was collecting dirt onAxel, which seemed an impossible feat to accomplish.
Withinminutes of checking into the hotel and contemplating my life choices,Axelcame waltzing in through the doors of my presidential suite.Theasshole had purchased the hotel and could gain access to any of the rooms.Hereminded meIhad nowhere to hide, and he held the keys to everyone’s fates in his pocket.Ihad no choice but to grudgingly return toAxel’smansion.
Nomatter the wallsIcontinued to put up,Axeltore them down without a second thought.AnyresistanceIdisplayed made him distrustful, further extending his tight grip over me.Icould barely wardAxelfrom following me into the bathroom and finally took a page out of his handbook.Idistracted him with promises of lewd rewards if only he gave me a few private moments.
Onlyone silver lining distracting me from the mess that had become of my life: crossing off items on a list withAxel.Despiteloathing his coercions,Icouldn’t deny the exhalation from the coveted list.
Evenso,Axelwas an ass about it.Afew days ago, he insisted on going skydiving.Beforewe were allowed to take off, we were debriefed on safety measures and protocols.Whenthe instructor strapped me in,Axelmarched over and punched him in the face.Idetonated, callingAxela neanderthal.Inretaliation,Axelthrew me over his shoulders (of course), telling me we’d skydive another day.Levihad to pay off the instructor, soAxelwouldn’t end up in the news, his loutish behavior knowing no bounds.
Nevertheless,Axelkept his word to helpPoppy.Luckily, she didn’t read intoAxel’ssudden presence in her life and had chalked it up to learning more about someone like her.Followingthe brain scan administered at the state-of-the-art facilities ofNottAcademy,Axelstarted joining our lunches—sanctioned byPoppy.Hementioned tactics such as elaborate plans to achieve his goals and distract himself from the immediate gratification of swift revenge.Iwatched like a hawk asPoppyasked him questions.Shelistened carefully, andIknew she was taking mental notes to apply the methods.Therehad been no further incidents at her new school, her roommate’s hair was intact, and the headmaster seemed generally pleased byPoppy’sconduct.
HeedingAxel’sadvice,Istopped trying to steerPoppyaway from her goals.AtranquilityIhadn’t known in months set between us upon changing my perspective.Poppystopped seeing me as the enemy and had been more amicable lately… or as amicable asPoppycould get.
MilanandMom’scompany was also doing well, managingAxel’sassets.Axelpersuaded his friend, who had undergone a lousy surgery atPapa’spractice, to signNDApapers agreeing not to share detrimental information.Noneof them had a clue aboutAxelbeing the catalyst to their potential demise or that he was theDJfromMilan’swedding.Who’dremember someone they’d met in passing nearly fourteen years ago?
Jordan’scompany had also been soaring sinceAxelsigned with her.Thenew position as his publicist madeJordana desirable commodity amongst his peers.Shecollected new clients and made connections, growing rapidly to compensate for the previous loss of business.
Jordanwas none the wiser about my ‘relationship’ withAxel, andIkept my distance untilIcould sort out my personal life.Iwasn’t ready to admit this sordid arrangement, let alone reveal the details to my best friend.Iwas simply happy that her career had been sorted.
Theonly person still unaccounted for wasJay.Atevery chance,Isnuck away fromAxeland calledJay, begging for a conversation or to meet face-to-face, butJaywas uninterested.Ourconversations lasted less than thirty seconds, and he always had to go.Evenif our marriage was in shambles, how could it end over the phone?Jayrefused to return toNewYork, and whenIasked if he planned on seeing his family again, he was quiet on the other end before abruptly ending the call.
Shockingly,Axeldidn’t bring up divorce again.Hewas suddenly apathetic about the entire matter as long asIdidn’t mentionJay’sname in his presence.Itcontradicted his personality becauseAxel’spossessiveness knew no bounds.
Sowhy was a man like him no longer bothered by my marriage?Jayhadn’t served me divorce papers, nor did divorce make sense.Whenwe married,Jayexplicitly saidAmbanisweren’t allowed to divorce.
No,Ididn’t expect to return to my previous life willy-nilly.I’dreached a point of no return the momentIgave in toAxel’sdemands, but it didn’t make me stop caring about my husband.Iwanted to understand what was happening toJay.Ihad called a few family members whose stories had been similar.Jayhad been working around the clock like a madman, and no one had interacted much with him.Apparently, he stopped going to the office and was working from home.Therewas something seriously wrong here andIneeded to get to the bottom of it beforePoppycaught onto the discrepancy.
Thesolution came in the form ofAxel’slast show.Hehad decided to stop doing raves and festivals after completing his remaining contractual agreements.Hislast event was a two-day music festival.Icouldn’t go with him becausePoppy’sstudent-teacher conference fell on day one of his show.Iplanned to finish the conference and fly toChicagoto seeJay.Wehad been together for thirteen years and shared a child.Therewas no way to dismiss our situation without a conversation.
WhileIdoubted my actions would pleaseAxelonce he found out,Ineeded closure.IfJaywanted to divorce me, we needed to discussPoppy.Whatwere we supposed to tell our kid about what was happening between us?IknewPoppywas in boarding school, so it wasn’t a problem that needed an immediate solution, but it was unlikeJayto leave things to chance.He’dnever rejectPoppyyet hadn’t discussed custody.Therehad to be something else at play.BothJayandAxelwere hiding things, andIplanned to get to the bottom of it.
Nonetheless, each moment closer to the two-day separation putAxelin a fouler mood than the day before.
“Whycan’t you fly out after the parent-teacher conference?”Axelasked stoically, arms crossed across his chest.Heleaned against the stylish white bookshelf in his bedroom, suspiciously watching the duffel bagIhad laid on the bed.I’dencouraged him to pack and grabbed the first bagIcould find in the closet.ItpropelledAxelto interrogate me again about whyIcouldn’t join him this weekend.
“Wetalked about this,”Ireplied, averting my face. “Theparent-teacher conference will end so late in the evening,I’dhave to take a red eye toL.A.Theflight won’t arrive until six in the morning.Bythe timeIcheck into the hotel, you’ll already be at the festival.Itgoes on all day andI’llbe too exhausted to attend.Whatwould be the point of doing all that just to spend a few hours together?Itwould make much more sense to see each other once you’re back.”
“I’llmove the damn parent-teacher conference then.It’smy school.”
Ittook everything in me not to roll my eyes. “Youcan’t do that.Itwas organized before you bought the school, and parents are flying in from all over the country, some even internationally, for the mid-summer check-in.Itwas planned months in advance, travel arrangements had been made, and to be honest,I’dlike an update onPoppy’sprogress as well.”
“Poppy’sdoing just fine,” he said, irritated.
Ishrugged. “I’dlike to hear that from her teachers.”
Axel'sbody language made it obvious he was thinking of more obstacles to put in my way, butIwas determined.Ineeded a couple of days to regroup and extract an answer fromJay.Icouldn’t focus on anything until doing so, let alone rekindle a relationship withAxel.Perhapsif things had ended organically withJayandAxelhadn’t blackmailed everyoneIloved,I’dfeel differently about having him back in my life.Asit stood,Iwas counting down to the moment untilIcould get away.Notto mention,Ihad to tellJayaboutAxelbefore he found out in another way.Itwas the leastIowed him.
Axelwould cook something up if he knew of my plans.Ihad to keep him on an even keel until we amicably parted ways tomorrow.
Everythingwas in place.Ihad been planning this since learning of the scheduling conflict and had been meticulous about the details.Personalsecurity wasn’t allowed inside the school premises.Leviand his men would have to wait outsideNottAcademyduring the parent-teacher conference.I’dspeak toPoppy’steacher and leave two hours before the conference officially concluded.I’dcall anUberto meet me on the other side of the school.Iknew buying a ticket toChicagowould somehow tipAxeloff, so instead,I’donly scoured online for a non-stop flight and would buy the ticket at the airport counter.Beforethe security detail realizedIwas missing,I’dbe inChicago.Ofcourse,I’dtextLeviupon landing to let him know of my whereabouts and faceAxel’swrath later.
Anormal human should be able to end their marriage face-to-face rather than over text.WhateverAxelwas to me,Ishould be allowed to have that conversation with my husband.ThoughtsofAxelmight’ve often circulated in my subconscious, but the reality of our reunion differed from the fantasy.Despiteour connection, my heart refused to give itself toAxel.Everypart of me screamed thatIcouldn’t be his whileIwas still someone else’s.Heknew it, too.Hence,Axelalways wanted me within his sight and scarcely bothered hiding his feelings on the matter.
“Ifthe parent-teacher conference can’t be moved, thenI’llskip the festival—”
“Youcan’t,”Isaid a little too quickly beforeIcaught his narrowed eyes.Iswiftly recovered. “Levisaid your contract was binding.Theycould take you to court for refusing to play.”
Hescowled. “So?”
