I was good at making him change his mind with my creative proposals and she at making him sign the contract that bound him to the agency in record time.
We were invincible together, but she had always preferred to stay in the background and leave me at the mercy of the success and merits that Kreinberg refused to recognize as hers, despite my insistence.
This was also the reason why Audrey had managed to convince me to open an advertising agency of our own, starting from scratch, claiming that I was too smart to settle for a job underpaid by a slave driver.
I was terrified of losing my secure job, but what had become my girlfriend in the meantime was too good and able to leverage my weaknesses and my ambitions, not to convince me. I also loved her so much that I would do anything for her.
It was Audrey who had put the first money down and paid for the license as a gift for my birthday.
"Make me proud of you," she just said to me, as I tried to recover from the shock.
It was that phrase that prompted me to give my heart and soul to the Thunder and Larson Company.
Tiredness and lack of rest did not bother me, the hours of work, the sacrifices I was making, the little time I was able to relax with Audrey, nothing bothered me ... The only thing that made me stand up and pushed me to never give up was always the idea of making her proud and proud of me.
The thought of disappointing her terrified me more than failure itself, even though she had repeatedly told me that I would never disappoint her.
I looked around. My office represented everything I had built in those years.
Today I was considered a rich, successful man, the head of a booming company ...
I had it all.
But I had lost her, my only love and point of reference.
It was true: I had neglected her during the last year of marriage, but I never thought that this would push her into the arms of another man.
I was working myself to the bone to make her happy and give us a better future, and instead she was cheating on me with our copywriter.
Caught in a thousand thoughts, I suddenly noticed the time.
It was close to six in the evening and I had not replied to Audrey.
I was about to call one of my employees to get her the check when I decided to go in person. I wanted to understand what was happening and what situation my ex-wife was in after four years of separation.
Quickly I called a taxi and went with my checkbook to the address given by Audrey.
My ex-wife's apartment was in the most southern, seediest part of Chicago.
The taxi driver left me in front of a run-down building.
There was not even an intercom.
Luckily on the sheet was written "third floor,” which I had to get to on foot and without taking the elevator, since it was broken.
When I got to the landing, I immediately heard the desperate voice of Audrey trying to make herself heard over the excited screams of a man who accused her of taking advantage of him and told her that if he didn’t receive the rent money that evening, he would called the police.
The door was open, so I went in.
The two did not even notice my presence until Audrey saw me.
"I thought you wouldn't come again," she whispered approaching me, but I did not even answer her, shocked by the squalor of that dump, with the walls peeling and wetness in the corners.
Even when we were together and our newly-created business was having a hard time taking off, we had never lived in such a degrading place.
"I came to pay off the lady's debt," I said, approaching the landlord.
"That's three thousand dollars considering all the arrears, but I want a thousand more if Mrs. Larson doesn't leave this apartment by tomorrow evening and doesn't tell the bank's creditors not to show up. They dared to come to me to get paid off my tenant's loan installments. What nerve! "
I was stunned.
Audrey had always been very thrifty and careful about spending.
How could she have ended up in that situation?
Was it her fault or Rick’s, who had somehow taken advantage of her?
I looked at her and she read the question in my eyes.
"It's complicated," she murmured heartily, her eyes bright and her face red with embarrassment.
Without wasting time, I wrote a check for three thousand dollars.
"I need a thousand more!" The man tried, snatching the check from my hand.
"No," I answered resolutely. "I don't intend to pay a dollar more for this squalor."
'Then take Mrs. Larson away too. Those who do not pay are not welcome. "
"Obviously," I retorted dryly, taking Audrey by her all too thin arm, and guiding her out of that one-room apartment.
"No, Zane, I can't! I have nowhere else to go and I can’t stay at Gwen’s, "she whispered desperately.
"You can stay with me, even if it will only be a temporary accommodation," I warned.
I was about to do something that I had sworn to myself that I would never do, but I was too upset to reason and keep a clear mind.
I helped Audrey into my taxi and took her to what was once our home, a small two-room apartment on Jerman Street.
When Audrey heard the name of the road, I told to the taxi driver, she jumped.
"Do you still live there? “She asked.
"No, but I bought it four years ago and I still haven't found the right buyer to sell it to," I revealed, omitting the fact that I had signed the sale on the very same day she said she was leaving me.
That was supposed to be my wedding present, albeit late since we both loved that little house where our love had grown and where we had gone to live after the wedding.
I never told Audrey.
"I ... I can't ... I can't," Audrey stammered in fright.
"Either this or nothing." I certainly could never have brought her to the attic where I now lived. I would have never been able to place my ex-wife in the aseptic and minimalist environment that surrounded me and that expressed no kind of feeling.
The idea of filling it with the memories or emotions that my ex-wife still gave me was too much to bear even for someone like me.
"All right," she finally agreed, as the taxi parked in front of the building.
"Perfect. Meanwhile, I am going to call my housekeeper to freshen up the house that has been empty and as a standstill for years. I will tell her to do the shopping too, okay? So tomorrow you will only have to concern yourself with picking up your things from that dump you were at. "
Audrey nodded. She was stiff and looked lost while I took the keys from my pocket (luckily, I always carried them with me, along with my attic keys) and I opened the door.
It looked exactly like it had four years ago.
Audrey noticed it too and stifled a gasp with her hand pressed to her mouth.
I looked at her.
I had never seen her so fragile, delicate, and thin. It seemed like she could break into pieces at any moment.
Audrey, what has happened to you during these years?
Then I looked at the small living room with the kitchenette and suddenly I choked up.
I had not been in there for years and now, seeing Audrey inside, triggered beautiful memories, the very memories that from the day of the divorce had become my worst nightmare.
"Make yourself at home. I'm going back to the office,” I cut shortly, concentrating on the cell phone message I was sending Tina, my trusted maid.
"OK thanks."
Quickly, I went out, barely nodding my head.
I ran to the taxi, but just as I was about to get in, I realized I still had the keys to the apartment, attached to my key chain.
9
Audrey
I had to sit on the sofa not to risk falling on the ground with emotion.
I looked around and everything I laid eyes on brought my life back to living with Zane.
Happy memories: breakfast in bed, candlelit dinners or sitting on that sofa wat
ching TV or fantasizing about how big and prestigious the Thunder and Larson Company would become.
Then I moved and went to the bedroom.
Everything had remained as it once was.
The images of me and Zane making love jumped to my mind, but then the bad memories took over ... me turning in bed alone, trembling and aching after receiving chilling news that I could not share with anyone. Me crying desperately. Me packing my bags while Zane came home early and informing him that I wanted to leave him.
In an instant I was overwhelmed by all those years with Zane, going from the most beautiful memory to the ugliest. I felt like I were dying.
Unable to stand, I collapsed on the mattress with no cover and burst into tears.
It was a cry of pain, the symbol of how much I had loved and lost ...
I no longer had anyone to turn to and ask for help.
I still could not believe Zane's unexpected support and the fact that he still had that house.
It is been four years now, yet I'm suffering as if I lost everything I had only a few days ago.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?” Zane’s voice startled me with fright.
I did not want him to see me in that state, but I could not stop the tears.
"I can't stay here," I uttered in desperation.
"Then you can go back to where you came from, am I being clear?" Zane was instantly angry. "Why don't you go back to Rick or any other man you've been with?"
I could not even answer him because I could not stop crying.
"Audrey, sorry," he whispered repentantly after a long silence, sitting down next to me. "Listen, do you want me to call your father and tell him to come here to be with you?" He tried to console me, knowing how fond I was of my father.
Unfortunately, that only made matters worse.
It took me a long time to be able to compose myself enough to put together a sentence with meaning.
"Dad died six months ago," I informed him in tears.
'My God, Audrey, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Really ... I'm deeply sorry, "he gasped sincerely mortified.
"You couldn't have known."
"It must have been tough for you."
“At his funeral I was alone. Except for a few drinking friends, there were no other relatives. I had to handle it all. It was one of the most difficult things in my life. I really wanted to call you. Dad wanted it too, but I never had the courage to do it, "I confessed.
"Did he know we're divorced?"
"Yup. He did not take it well, he wanted me to come back to you, but then he got sick and we never talked about it again. During these four years I have lived with him in Gatesville.”
"Not in New York?"
"I've never been to New York. I left for Gatesville a week after the divorce."
"Rick told me you were leaving with him."
"When?" I asked in surprise.
"When he came to resign and to tell me he had a new job in New York and that you would go with him."
"He offered it to me, but I never accepted it," I replied, without explaining that in reality I had initially accepted, but then he had tried to get into my bed and I had chased him away, ending our friendship. I avoided telling Zane, since he had always claimed that I was cheating on him with him.
"So, you're telling me you've always been in Gatesville with your father all these years?" He asked incredulously.
"Always. Shortly after my transfer he had a terrible stroke, which left him paralyzed. The expenses were high, and I vouched for him when it was necessary to apply for a bank loan. In two years, I had used up all my savings and I did not know what to do anymore. Besides, Gatesville has never been a thriving city of job opportunities, so I found myself unemployed and penniless, if not for my father's pension and home.”
"Do you still have your father's house?"
"They seized it because of one of Dad’s mistakes."
"Don't you even have an ex who can help you?" He asked, clenching his jaw.
"No," I just answered. How could I have looked for a new love story after what happened to me with Zane?
There had been no one else after him.
"So, you're now full of debt and without an income or partner?"
"Exact. I came back to Chicago just to start again, but I have been standing still for too many years and now nobody wants to give me a chance ... And in Gatesville luck evaded me again."
"I understand."
"Maybe I should give up my passion for the job we did together years ago and look for another way ... I don't know what to think anymore and at this point, I can't even see a way out."
"Let's do this: you can work for me ... but only for a limited period. Just enough time to find a new secretary. "
I looked at him with my mouth open. I could read in his face how much it was costing him to make that proposal.
"Didn't you say you didn't want me at the Thunder Company?"
"Indeed, I did, considering what you have done to me."
"What have I done to you?"
"You ruined our marriage. Your current situation is only the result of all the mistakes you've made since you decided to leave me. "
Zane had just turned the knife into the wound.
I was about to reply that he too had his faults, but I stopped myself. I could not give him a proper reply since he was offering me a roof over my head and a job.
My hands were tied. And he knew it.
I pursed my lips to stop myself from bursting.
"Obviously, the place is yours on two conditions: nobody will have to know that you have been my wife and your job must always be impeccable and professional," Zane added at the end.
"No problem."
"Make sure I never regret the decision to help you out."
"I promise you," I swore, staring straight into his blue eyes. I would have done anything to make him proud of me. I wanted to erase the image of failure I had given him in the past few days and remind him of how good I was at my job.
10
Zane
"By any chance, do you sleep with your secretary?" Ryan burst out, making me choke with the coffee that Audrey had just brought me, before getting back to reviewing new contracts.
"Why would you say that?"
“I don't know ... Maybe because since she has been there you have not raised your voice yet or ever scolded her for something? Zane, I have known you for years and I know very well how bad-tempered you become with your assistants. Some employees say that you are oddly quiet and that you have also given important marketing tasks to your secretary, even though she has been with us for less than a week."
"What can I say? Audrey is smart at work, "I replied simply, telling the pure truth.
"Wasn't she the waitress in that hideous restaurant?"
"Yup."
"You never told me how she convinced you to hire her."
"I read your resume and it was valid."
"Or did you take her to bed?"
"Don't say nonsense."
“It is not nonsense. Even though she is too thin for my taste, that woman has an unusual beauty. The two of you look good together. "
Together?!
If someone told me ten years earlier, I would have rejoiced like a child, but now ... I felt cold in my veins.
"What the hell are you babbling about?" I exploded furiously at the idea that someone could still think of such a thing.
"Do not panic. I am just saying that I noticed there is a certain harmony between you. An extremely difficult thing since you always complain about everything, while this Audrey always seems to know how to handle you and what is the right thing to do. Either she is very intuitive, or she researched you for a long time before being hired."
That speech was putting me in a bad mood, but luckily Audrey arrived with the contracts I had checked to get them signed and with the list of new appointments.
I watched her enter.
She was wearing what was once her blue lucky two-piece suit
. She always wore it on special occasions when we were together.
However, she was now too thin, and that suit did not really fit her on her shoulders and hips.
I had talked to my housekeeper and asked her to take care of Audrey and always check the fridge and pantry were well stocked.
Even if it was not my business, the fact that she was so thin made me feel bad and, after discovering that her father had died, leaving her indebted and homeless, I had started to feel compassion for her.
"Talk about the devil ..." Ryan muttered, smiling.
"Good morning. Mr. Thunder, I prepared the contracts for you. All but the last are to be signed,” Audrey burst out, addressing me formally, as she always did in front of the others.
"Why?"
"I don't like the clauses on page 7. I've already marked it and asked Jackson to renegotiate the contract with the client."
"I didn't know about it," Ryan said.
"I decided on my own," Audrey replied determinedly. Seeing her so decisive and brilliant always fascinated me to the point of leaving me dumbfounded.
"Zane, will you allow this?" Ryan was annoyed.
"I would have told you about it, but you weren't there this morning and the contract should be drawn up by tonight, since the client will be here in less than three hours," Audrey explained.
“It would have been better to talk to the client about it first. I don't think he'll take it well."
"That's why it's important not to give him an option," Audrey and I replied in unison.
She blushed because of the communication that reminded us of times past, while Ryan looked at us suspiciously.
11
Audrey
"Do you need anything else?" I erupted, entering Zane's office. It was almost nine in the evening and Zane had just returned, for the last meeting with the team that had to deal with the storyboard for the launch of the latest model of a car manufacturer.
"What are you still doing here?"
"I was waiting for you. You know I never go away as long as you are here. I want you to find me if you need me, "I replied with a smile.
I had been working for him for two weeks.
At the beginning it had been exceedingly difficult, because seeing your ex again every day only brought our marriage and its end to the surface.
The Sweet Poison of Revenge Page 4
