Chapter 5

- The next morning -

The old mansion:

Trey finished his breakfast and left for work. On the way to the office, his cell phone started ringing; he checked the caller ID to see Valerie’s name, and a tender smile graced his lips.

“Valerie, what's wrong?” He asked.

“I’ve missed you; I want to see you,” Valerie said in her sweet, gentle voice. Trey smiled and told her he’d come and pick her up in half an hour. He asked his driver to change routes to Valerie’s apartment.

After ending the call, he called his private secretary and canceled all his appointments till the afternoon and asked her to book a suite at the LEISUREQ hotel and send him the details.

~~~

30 minutes later, his car was parked inside the parking lot of Valerie’s apartment. In a few minutes, she came walking out of the elevator. Trey’s bodyguard opened the car for her.

“Thank you,” Valerie said, entering the car. Trey scowled angrily.

“What happened?” Valerie asked, noticing Trey’s expression.

"Nothing,” he answered dismissively, making a mental note to teach that bodyguard a lesson for smiling and admiring his girlfriend.

The car stops at the Leisureq hotel underground parking lot 30 minutes later.

Leisureq Hotel is one of the many hotels owned by Trey. But he decided on a regular suite today to avoid news spreading of him taking a mistress to his penthouse.

Yeah, as much as it angered him, he couldn’t deny the fact that his grandfather, parents, and everyone in Pearl City knew of his marriage. Trey helps Valerie out, and they walk into the hotel through the private door into the lobby.

As they were halfway to the elevator, Valerie tripped. Trey quickly caught her, and with a hand around her waist, he helped her to the elevator as they both smiled at each other. When the elevator door closed, he immediately carried Valerie in a bridal style.

On reaching their suite, he headed straight to the bedroom and sat her on the bed. It had been a week since they last saw each other; he was dying to taste her lips. But he has to attend to her sprained ankle first.

He stood up to go and get an ointment to apply to her ankle after he massaged it, but Valerie held onto his hand, stopping him.

“I want you, Trey. I want you to make love to me, please. We’ve been dating for 4 years now. Why won’t you make love to me? Don't you love me?” Valerie asked with despair visible in her eyes. Trey watched as Valerie kept biting her lower lip; he had to stop himself from reaching out to pull her lip out of her teeth.

“I love you very much, Valerie.” He lowered his head to her, then took her lips in his as they shared a passionate kiss. He pushed her gently onto the bed. “I need you, Valerie.” He murmured into her mouth as his hand cupped her breast, kneading it, while his other hand caressed her hips, moving down towards her thigh, but halted abruptly when he heard Lisa’s frail voice.

He hurriedly sat up. ‘What the fuck was she doing here? He didn’t want her to know he was still with Valerie yet. He wanted to divorce her before it came to light about their relationship.’

Everything unfolds so quickly that Lisa slaps him, which he weirdly finds amusing. But then she laid her hand on Valerie; even though he had promised Valerie to never hurt her cousin when they were little, he couldn’t watch Lisa hurt his love again; he didn’t mind when she slapped him, but Valerie—he couldn’t just let it slide; before he knew it, he slapped her out of reflex.

But this foolish and breathtaking woman just wouldn’t stop and slapped his woman once again. He has to teach her not to mess with him. So he ended up pushing her aside, and his heart painfully ached; both times he laid his hand on Lisa but feigned nonchalance. When he could no longer stand the intense pang her tears were causing his heart, he decided to leave, or he would go crazy. So he walked away with Valerie.

He took Valerie back to her apartment and apologized to her about what happened with Lisa.

“Don’t worry about what happened; I’ve already given her the divorce papers to sign. Soon I will be waking up to your beautiful face every morning.” He said and kissed her passionately.

“I love you,” Valerie sweetly said.

“I love you..." Trey replied; she smiled and got out of the car, walking towards the elevator. She turned and waved at Trey sweetly. Trey smiled back at her, then turned ahead and straightened up in the seat, fitting his suit.

“To the office,” Trey said, his tone back to its usual coldness.

“Yes, sir.”

-/GOLDEN HEIGHTS CORPORATION/-

Trey stared at his laptop as his secretary, Lucy, explained the presentation for a project to him. But the sound of his phone ringing interrupted him.

“Break for lunch,” he said, dismissing her.

“Thank you, sir,” Lucy said, walking out of the office.

“Nathan? What do you want?” He said the moment he connected the call.

“I don’t only call you when I need help, dude.” Nathan chuckled.

“Okay, so why did you call?” Trey questioned.

“Let's have lunch; I already invited Kelvin,” Nathan said.

"Okay. Let's meet at the Trixmax in 15 minutes then.” Trey said, hanging up the call.

Trixmax is his favorite restaurant; their menu has the best foods. He used to take Lisa but stopped when he and Valerie made up.

He arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes later. He instructed his men to stand back and went in.

Trey is a fierce man who can take down 20 men at a time; he doesn’t need his bodyguards following him wherever he goes, but his grandfather declined his decision.

“You don’t know when an enemy will attack.” He’ll say.

Trey joined his friends at their table. They ordered, and the food and wine were delivered. They ate and talked about business strategies, stock prices, investments, and projects they should invest in. Just then he heard,

“Lisa...?” His friend Nathan called. He paused and listened, in case his hearing was wrong.

“Nathan...” He heard her voice speak; she’s indeed here. Trey smiled, stunned by his own emotions. But his mood changed when he heard her say.

“If I knew it was you guys, I would not have approached.” ‘That phrase. How dare she say that?’ he thought angrily. Lisa belongs to him so long as he’s still her husband. He stared at her angrily. He retained his anger and focused on their conversation. But when Lisa said,

“There are situations she would rather avoid,” and she was glad to see Kelvin and Nathan but not him!? He knew her words were meant for him, and yes, it did hurt him. So he retorted back to make her know just how her words hurt him. Even though she was looking awesomely tempting right now.

“You have 5 days left to sign the papers and...”

“I’ve already signed it, and I marked out the alimony. I don’t need your money, Trey. I married you not because of your money,” she sighed. “I married you because I love you.”

“I don’t love you, Lisa." He said it to spite her, but her immediate answer made his heart skip a beat.

“Same here; I used to love you, but I don’t anymore; all I feel for you is pure hatred, nothing else.” When she said that with her tiny mouth, it took every fiber in Trey to not stand up and carry her home and fuck her till she could not walk the next morning.

‘What the heck is wrong with him? Is he regretting letting her go? He hates Lisa. It’s Valerie he loves. He should be happy; he's finally rid himself of Lisa.’ He thought.

“Trey… Does that mean you guys are divorced? She already signed it?” Kelvin asked.

“And you were a witness,” Trey answered sarcastically. His heart was on the verge of bursting out of his chest.

“Dude, Why didn’t you talk to us about it? Are you sure you want to let her go? Lisa is one in a million; if you lose her, it would be hard to find someone like her.” Nathan advised.

“Yeah, you better think twice before letting go of such a woman, like Lisa,” Kelvin added. Already, Trey was contemplating whether to run after Lisa or let her go.

“Fuck!” He cursed hoarsely as realization dawned on him. As much as he hated Lisa, his body always had a strong reaction to her; he could make love with her, unlike Valerie, and even though he always denied it, he always enjoyed every fucking moment, a strange nostalgia he found weird.

Letting Lisa go would mean him going back to his old ways, one he quit when he had intimacy with Lisa. But listening to his confidants now, he was sure he wants Lisa in his life; fuck all revenge. He quickly stood up and ran out of the restaurant. His bodyguards at the door, upon noticing their boss, became alert.

"Boss,” they said in unison, staring at their boss in confusion.

“Where is she?!” He growled, looking around the parking lot. “Where’s Lisa!?”

“Sir? Madam left a few minutes ago. She also left home early at dawn with her bags for her old apartment.” Brad explained.

“Why didn’t you fucking stop her?! ” Trey barked.

“Sir...? You... asked her to leave,” Brad said, dumbfounded by his boss's question. Trey passed his hand roughly through his hair and instructed.

“Go bring her back home, and do it right this instant!” Trey roared in a domineering tone, making Brad and his colleagues shiver. After that, he strode to his car, entered the driver’s seat, and sped off, ignoring the calls of his friends, driver, and bodyguards.