Late Night Reads Book32-ct

The Moment I Chose Myself "Are you hesitating? Either you sign these papers or a divorce agreement. Make your choice, Clara." My husband's icy voice reeled into my ears. I looked at him from under my lashes, mouth agape. I had been reborn, and to the very moment that changed everything. Less than a quarter inch away from the tip of my pen was a donor consent form. In my former life I had enthusiastically signed it to save his first love, my twin sister Cassie. Afterwards I died of anemia. Nick, my husband, was the only one who could have saved me because we shared the same rare blood type. "Clara, your sister just came out of surgery and she needs someone by her side. If I donate my blood I'll be too weak to care for her, just be patient. I'm sure the doctor's will find a match soon." They didn't. And as I felt the life trickle out of me, I begged to see Luke, my stepson that I had loved as my own. A child that I had raised ever since he was a tiny newborn and his mother, Cassie, fled because she was not ready for the commitment of motherhood. Luke didn't even show up after days of begging. Cassie, who'd already been discharged ages ago, personally came to deliver the letter Luke wrote for me with a smug smile smeared across her face. It was too generous to call it a letter and what Luke wrote made me go numb inside. It read; "Please die soon so my Mommy and Daddy can be together." Droplets of salty tears fell onto the piece of paper, it was in his handwriting too but I gripped onto the canopy of denial. "Luke, didn't write this...he...he wouldn't-" Cassie interrupted me by laughing in my face, then she slipped out her phone from her designer purse and threw it to me. The gallery was open, my finger glided over to the collection that read; "My perfect family," I swiped over from one picture to the next, Cassie was in all of them with my husband and stepson, the biggest smiles plastered on all of their faces. Each new picture created a fresh fracture in my heart. While I was here, literally dying, they were all having the time of their life. Hot bitter tears began to roll down my cheek. My fingers were trembling so much the phone slipped past them and clattered to the floor. "How could you?" I whimpered pathetically as Cassie came over to pick up her phone. "How could I?" She threw the question back at me with a mocking curve of her eyebrow. "I was here Cassie! After you abandoned both Luke and Nick I was here, I'm the one that stayed and picked up the pieces and fixed everything. I didn't do that for you to come back and snatch everything away from me!" I seethed at her. "Oh Clara, why are you blaming me? I never asked you to go after my scraps but that seems to be a bad habit of yours," she said then her phone began to vibrate, she picked it up and placed it on speaker for my benefit. "Mommy, when are you coming back? Daddy wants to take us to the amusement park!" My chest was tight. I could hardly breathe, without a doubt in the world that was Luke's voice. I may have not brought him to the world but I was there for everything, those sleepless nights where he wailed without end, I fed and shook him gently until he slipped into slumber all while Nick had a full night rest. "Sweetie, mommy's coming right now, but... Do you want to talk to Clara?" There was a long awkward silence. "Is she still alive?" He asked with genuine shock, "Daddy said she was going to die soon, I hope she doesn't recover so we can be a family," Cassie was smiling enjoying her front row seats to my misery, she ended the call and looked at me. "You know what the saddest part of all of this is, my dear sister?" She cat walked over to me, leaned and whispered something that made my whole world tilt. "I never needed a kidney donor, this was just a test to prove if they cared about me more than you, turns out I was right." "What did you do with my kidney then?" I said in a voice that sounded foreign to my own ears. "It was fed to street dogs, I think..."another call caused her phone to vibrate, "These boys can't manage just a few minutes without me, I'm sorry Clara but I have to leave. I'll try to see if I can convince Nick or Luke to visit but don't hold your breath, okay?" She was right. Up until my very last moment neither Nick or Luke showed up for me, the really pathetic thing about me was that I had loved them so much that I would have forgiven them even if they were the ones who pressured me to donate my kidney, even after all of their neglect and discard. In my last moment I promised myself that if I ever got a chance at life again I would live vicariously and selfishly too. And now I have come to this very moment. I crossed my shapely legs, threw myself backwards towards the couch. "Sorry, on second thoughts I won't be signing this." I told the current Nick. He groaned impatiently. "Is this really the time to throw a tantrum, Clara? You've already agreed to this before and-" "Well I'm allowed to change my mind and that's exactly what I'm doing right now, changing my mind," I grabbed the arm of the chair and pushed myself up to my feet. He saw me making my exit out of the living room and grabbed my arm with a grip of steel. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? Leave Right Now and we'll divorce!" I rolled my eyes. "I heard you the first time, that's why I'm heading off to call my lawyer, let's pull the curtains on this marriage already.” The Return of the Woman They Underestimated Clara's pov "Clara, if we divorce I promise that you will never see Luke again!" A cold smile ran from ear to the other, curling my scarlet lips, "Who says I'm fighting for custody anyways? I'm kicking both you and your son out of my life." He was dumbfounded, I took full advantage and yanked my hand out of his grip. Not another word was uttered between us as I stalked over to the front door. Without wasting time I fished out my phone and booked an immediate appointment with my attorney. We met at her firm, she pushed up her thickly framed glasses when I said I wanted a divorce. "I don't mean to pry, but are you sure about this, Mrs Winston?" I chewed on my bottom lip, the doubt clouding her features made sense. For almost decade I had been more of a loyal laptop than a wife to Nick, all he had to say was jump and I would ask 'how high?' But not anymore. "Yes, I'm sure. Begin drafting the papers-" "Okay, but I'll have to warn you that the best case scenario will be 50/50 custody for Luke..." "I'm not filing for custody, rather I want to give up my parental rights," I said point blank, my lawyer froze up, it was years of professionalism that allowed her to resume the motions without probing why I would not seek custody for the boy that I had raised as my own. The drafting process chewed up most of my day, but at the end of it all I carried a folder containing a document that would help me finally sever all ties to Winston. I was halfway to my car when a text struck my phone. It was from my soon to be ex-husband. ((Get to the hospital now, Cassie just passed out!)) I clicked my tongue. Typical Nick. He didn't think I was serious about the divorce and was already galavanting with his mistress again. Good, I want her to be there anyways. I already knew the hospital where she was, from the reception I was headed straight to her ward. My heart kicked against my rib with every step. This was the place. The place where I gave her my kidney, the one she supposedly fed to street dogs. Here was where I finally came to the truth that the two people I loved more than anything in the world care for me just as much as a piece of gum stuck under their shoe. A lump continued to form in my throat however it didn't stop me from taking confident strides until I reached the ward room. There was a square shaped opening at the door, through it I saw Luke throwing himself into Cassie's arms, Nick shook his head but you could see a little smile tugging the corner of his lip. From here they looked like the perfect little family. Now wouldn't it be tragic... So tragic if they were to lose it all? I pushed the door forward making my entrance. "Aunt Cassie, I wish it was my mommy who was sick instead of you." "Luke,"Nick said his name in a tone of warning, "you shouldn't say that out loud." I sighed quietly, the problem wasn't what he said but that he said it. Cassie stroked Luke's head. "Nick you're always so hard on him, he's a kid he can't help but be honest all the time." "Yes!"Luke said with vicious vindication, "Aunt always understands! I wish you weren't sick, can we get ice cream after?" I instinctively stiffened, Luke had a sweet tooth like most kids and would eat ice cream and chocolate all day if you'd let him. Within myself I chuckled bitterly, was that what made me the bad mommy? Because I didn't let him ruin his health? Hilarious. I coughed because seeing them so happy was starting to make me sick to my stomach, Cassie was the first to notice me. Her lips broadened into a big smile. "Sis, you came..." Nick finally noticed, he stomped over to me. "I've been trying to get a hold of you all day. Where have you been?" I gave him a passive shrug then presented the folder. "Preparing our divorce agreement, don't tell me you haven't reached out to your own lawyer?" His mouth opened as if inviting a fly to hover in. "Are you still going on with this joke?" "It's no joke Mr Winston," I said, thickly separating the document from the folder and pushing it into his fingers. His eyes quickly scanned through, bulging wider after each line of ink at the end of it he balled up the agreement, tossing the trash. I was hardly shocked. Nick's short temper was nothing new to me, neither was his immaturity. "I can just print another one," I said, meeting his eyes. "We are not getting a divorce,"he insisted. Hearing the word 'divorce' thrown around finally started making its impact on Luke, he subconsciously pulled away from his biological mother's arms then tipped his head off to look at me. "Mommy are you divorcing daddy?" "I'm not your mommy," I corrected him immediately, stabbing my finger towards my sister, "she's your mommy, isn't that what you wanted?" Luke tried to grab my skirt, I took a quick step backwards he noticed, instantly his eyes swelled with tears. My fingers twitched, the habit of a former life coming to hunt me. Before those tears never failed to melt away any anger I had but now they only solidified it because I saw them for what they were not true expressions of pain but manipulation learnt at such a tender age. "Clara, please if you're going to be angry at anyone be angry at me... I'm the one who was shameless enough to come back."Cassie wanted to throw her little pity party but I was quick to shut it down. "It's good that you understand your position," then I snapped to my husband, "now let's talk about my divorce settlement.” A stranger in my Home Nick's pov I grabbed her arm without warning and pulled her out of the room, throwing a look at Luke over my shoulder, that told him to stay put even without words. He pouted but remained inside obediently, Cassie's face folded into something complicated but understanding enough. "Are you happy now? What if that scene you just pulled worsened Cassie's condition?!" I blew up at her. Instead of her crumbling into an apology as she normally would she hissed in my face and continued the nonsense she was saying earlier like she didn't even hear me. "30 million, that's how much settlement I'm going for, and I'm not taking a penny less." My chest seized, "30 million?" I repeated back at her to make sure my ears were not tweaking. "I didn't mince my words, Mr Winston."she said to me hauntingly, "I gave up a promising career and some of the best years of my youth to cater to you and your son, don't you think that's the least I deserve?" "My son?" I couldn't just help with repeating everything she threw at me, it felt like my brain was short circuiting. Where was my docile, obedient wife? The one who could sprout out of bed in the dead of night to quickly fix me up a snack if I asked. Only a week ago, she'd kissed me and told me that she didn't mind Cassie moving in with us despite our former romantic history and the undeniable tension but still existed between us, sparking the air and electrifying my nerves. Now she was raving about a divorce, and an absurd settlement. As a CEO I could take that, but we were about to establish a new branch in another state, that money would go to better use. What am I even saying? I'm not agreeing to any silly divorce! I was about to tell her just that when I heard a screech coming from inside Cassie's ward, I looked between Clara and the door, hesitant for a split moment. She just rolled her eyes at my dilemma; "Go to her, both of you deserve each other." A muscle ticked in my jaw. "This conversation isn't over." I didn't wait for her retort, just hastened back into the ward room to check on Cassie. Turns out she was fine, just indulging in some silly horse play. Luke who would normally be laughing and giggling at such playful antics had such a serious look on his face he almost looked moody. The second he saw me he sprinted over to my side, rubbing my pants like I owed his money. "Daddy is mommy going to leave us?" His eyes had already gotten so red and puffy, I grated my teeth together. Couldn't Clara see that her entire fiasco was affecting all of us? But I know she won't leave us. I ruffled Luke's hair. "Mommy is not going anywhere," then I flicked my eyes towards Cassie and my heart skipped a beat; "Aunt Cassie isn't going anywhere either," •••••• We returned home after a couple more hours, I sent Luke up to his room then. My butler, Mr Whipple approached me with a cloud hovering above his head. "Master Winston..." He began then paused dramatically. "If you're going to say something, spit it out," I snapped short of patience. He coughed awkwardly to clear his throat adjusting the color of his button up, ironed shirt. "The madam asked me to pack her things into bags, she says she will be departing either today or tomorrow." This new piece of info flushed the color right out of my face and a muscle stretched in my jaw. "Are you sure she said that to you?" He nodded quickly. "She did, I wanted to wait for you to arrive but she insisted and I did as she asked so-" "Enough!" I normally wasn't so sharp with Mr Whipple, he had worked for my family ever since I was a toddler but right now I was not in my best state of mind. "I'll talk to her, where is she?" I demanded to know, Mr Whipple turned his head towards the swimming pool, telling me enough without words. I stomped over to confront her, but what I saw seized all the breath in my throat for a second. There was my wife like I had never seen her, stretched out on a lounge chair, wearing a bikini that wasn't leaving much to the imagination, exposing smooth supple skin that radiated the rays from the sun, she had the company of a cocktail beside her, taking eventful sips every now and then. Her eyes tilted over to me and I don't know if it was my imagination or not but there seemed to be a flash of disgust before her face molded a mask of neutrality in front. I regained myself and approached her, noticing that my steps had become watery and weak. What the heck?! For years I had begged her to dress like this instead of her normal style that would make any grandma shake their head. Just what had possessed her to be acting so differently? "Mr Whipple told me you asked him to pack your bags," I said, finally beginning to question if all of this was really not just a bluff for my attention, "are you really ready to throw away everything we have together? 8 years just like that?" She took a long loud sip from her cocktail then without even looking at me she stretched out on the lounge chair, I gulped a mouthful of spit wondering if she was teasing or taunting me, perhaps both. "Have you found a new donor for Cassie?" Her question brought me back to earth. "I thought you were just divorcing me... You're also going to let Cassie die too?" Another sip from her cocktail, as if it was giving her the next words to claw into my heart. "Who says you can't be the donor instead?” Reborn in a Five-Star Suite Clara's POV The way his face instantly went white sickened me, it shamelessly told me that he still thought I was going to do his bidding, donating one of my most vital organs to someone who didn't even need it. What a joke I grabbed my cocktail really making sure to savor it. "You better figure something else if you want your mistress to live, not right here otherwise." I set the cocktail down and he just gave me a long stare, the login his eyes told me that he had about it doesn't other comments but he just accept them behind his lip and slithered out of my sight. Good, I should enjoy this pool at least once before I have to leave. But 2 hours later on a fresh glass Cassie showed up with Luke trailing behind her. He looked like he was about to run over to my side, but then Cassie thugged him on his arm. From the corner of my mind it crept back to me that Luke during this time in my past life had a super important homework that took a titan size of his grade. In my past life I had forced him to do the homework while he begged to play his time away. He came out with the best grades, but still look at me like I was the dirt he walked over. Cassie would probably know about this homework if she actually cared about his future, and Nick was always too distracted between work and entertaining his mistress, besides I was always there like the loyal lap dog I have been in my previous life keeping up-to-date with everything; doctor appointments, club activities. To think I was solo parenting while he got to play family with the woman that abandoned him. Let's see how that works out for him now. Cassie kept throwing looks at me, I knew she hoped I would be jealous and bitter looking at her spend so much time with Luke, but my only annoyance came from the noise they were making and nothing else. Eventually they stepped out from the pool, water dripping. She didn't even grab him at towel or anything. She just wiped herself and with the same soaked towel threw it over to him as an afterthought before gliding over. "Clara, Mr Whipple told me something awful, are you really moving out?" With Nick nowhere inside and Luke several meters away finally having to dry himself for the first time instead of having me do it for him Cassie was free to reveal a little bit of her fangs. Her words on the surface carried a note of regret, but it was a huge juxtaposition from the big smug smile on her face. From the looks of things it seems like Nick had not told her about the 30 million settlement, if not she would have already started hooting about it. Nevertheless she'll find out when she escorts him to court. ••••••••••••• That evening I was no longer in the suffocating Winston mansion, but rather a suite in a five star hotel. I hadn't been completely stupid in my previous life, I had kept a rainy day fund, do it had been with the hooks of supporting Nick in case anything ever went wrong with his business now it was purely for my own benefit. I cozied into a plush chair, then carried my eyes out to the view laid out infront of me. My phone rang with a call from an expected number. I Ignored the pile of other calls I had gotten in the last 5 hours, bringing the phone off to my ear and in moments a deep velvety voice oozed through after I gave a polite good evening. "Evening to you as well Miss Moore, or perhaps I'm jumping the gun. Or am I supposed to still call you Mrs Winston?" "Legally, yes. But I prefer if you called me Miss Moore, I'll have everything filed and official before this week ends." "I'm afraid I'm inclined to doubt that, Miss Moore, what man in his right senses would let you go?" I squeezed the phone tight, on the other side of this line was arguably the most desirable bachelor of the country. Mr Silas Luther, a man whose name rang synonymously with wealth and power as the CEO of his titan company, Luther corporation. He was the kind of man that every other man wanted to be and every woman wanted to be with. For what it was worth, his compliment was like a light balm to the wounds that my self esteem had endured over the years. "Don't worry," I said propping my laptop over my legs and the positioning it so that I was looking comfortably at the screen, "will have no other choice than to do what I say," "I hold you to your words then.."he said then momentarily paused, "what changed?" He asked a little out of the blue. "About me?" "Yes," he responded quickly, "5 years ago when I offered to make you my secretary you'd thrown that job offer at my face, you said that your fulfillment in life was being a housewife and a mother." You could tell he wasn't judging just simply curious but it's still made the corners of my my ears go red. Out of the goodwill of his heart, Nick had taken me to a charity gala and amongst the elite that graced the occasion Mr Luther was one of them. He had my husband straddled with some other responsibility than moment he laid eyes on me and offered me the job, I don't know how he found out I was the one doing all the work in the shadows while Nick took all the credit but I doubt there was much a man with his connection and charisma couldn't find out. I had bluntly rejected him, back then I thought I was happy. "Let's just say I want to be where I'm appreciated now, so just wait, within a week. We'll be talking face to face.” The Moment I Felt Fear Nick's POV She was gone A little part of me still believed that it was a bluff she would pull out of in the last moment, but she actually went ahead and did it. I had just gone to the office to wrap up some things, who knew I would come back and find every trace of her in our bedroom gone? My chest was burning from the inside, I was struggling to breath. I reached from my phone inside my pocket and began to dial her number like a maniac off the rails. Each and every call when straight to voicemail. She didn't even think of giving me one single response. The more I called her the more it feels like the ground beneath my feet was beginning to spin, how could this be happening? Could it be... that there was another man? That would explain her erratic change in behavior. She'd found someone else. Of course... Though I'm sure she doesn't love that affair partner half as much as she loves me, she must just be using him to buy time and make me jealous. A little sense of reasoning in the corner of my head was asking me if she was really trying to make me jealous why didn't she just bring up the affair partner when we spoke. But I refused to listen to that voice. Clara still loved me. That was all she knew. Maybe she was distracted for now, but she would always come running back to lick out of the tip of my fingers to celebrate at the crumbs of affection that fell at her feet. She would- "Daddy! Daddy!!" I was broken out of my stream of thoughts by my son relentlessly pulling at my pants. I took a deep breath. "What is it champ?" I asked hoping it was something I could take care of quickly because I was not in the mood for playing. "Where is mommy?" He asked with a sniffle, "did mommy leave because she does not love us anymore?" "Of course not," I said sharper than I needed to startling him. "Mommy loves us very very much, she's just taking a short...break, like a vacation when she comes back she'll have lots of gifts and toys for again Luke’s face visibly bright in the after hearing this then it's dimmed down again, then he held a large colorful book above his head and announced; "Homework," Instinctively I turned my head around to call Clara, her name was already at the tip of my tongue but I stopped myself before making such a stupid mistake. Usually she was the one that helped with his homework. Okay if I'm being honest and frank with myself in my past 8 years of being a father I've never had to actually sit down because of 'homework' But whatever, if Clara can help then it can't possibly be that hard. I escorted Luke to his bedroom more specifically he study table, it's only took about 5 minutes for me to be reminded that my wife was actually a business major and one of the best in her sets before I made her quit her entry job at my family's company to be my housewife. As for me I had surfed through my educational hurdles with the connections from my family, and the same could be applied to many of my problems today. Except no family connection was getting me out of this. "Daddy that's not how you do it!" As if it was not already humiliating enough that I was confused by basic math my son was already making corrections for me. "That's enough Luke!" I ended up shouting at him, he went quiet for a second gauging my eyes before bursting into tears. I sighed, I couldn't deal with this time from at least not alone. Mr Whipple said Cassie went out an hour ago she said she was just running some errands so she should be back by now right? I tried calling her, she picked up on the second ring. Before she could speak blasting through the phone was the sound of upbeat club music, I stood up whispering to Luke to continue his homework before stepping out. "Cassie where are you?" I asked even though I knew the answer to my question already. "Out just out," she said and the club music was getting louder. If she was at a club she might be tempted to drink, she's such a soft person they might actually be able to force her even if she doesn't want to. Luckily I had her location, so I drove to the club at the speed of light. I arrived and some loser was trying to grind up to her, I stepped between them and stared him down until he backed away then I spun around to hold Cassie. The smell of booze oozed off of her and my heart sank. "Cassie you know you're not supposed to be drinking!" "It was just a few glasses," she conceded but the way she staggered as I held her hand and laid her out of the club told me otherwise. As we were heading over to my car I thought about how Clara would have never left the house and Luke to go clubbing. But I pushed the thoughts of that cheating woman aside for the moment. We reached the car, I was trying to gently guide Cassie into it then she began to sway her body against mine. It was crazy but instead of seeing Cassie what I saw was my wife, I pictured that bikini two piece that almost made me embarrass myself. Pushing away any other thought, I pressed her against the car and slammed my lips into hers. Except in my head I imagined she was Clara even as I held her neck and pulled her close to deepen the kiss. By the time I pulled away we were breathless, reality struck like a thunderbolt painfully reminding me that I wasn't kissing my wife. For the first time I wondered what I would do if Clara really didn't come back.