Jay looks around the darkening bedroom the drawers sagging sadly open casting long shadows across the carpet. She'd emptied all her closets and hadn't left a single suitcase behind the only trace of her was the smell of her cologne that still hung in the air. In the past he had always come home to find her here. They'd fight some more sometimes viciously but there had always been reconciliation or at the very least a brooding truce but this time was different. She'd finally carried out the threat she'd made for the past thirty years. She'd left and he'd never seen it coming. This time she'd planned her exit and his demise every step of the way. There wouldn't be a truce or reconciliation he had to admit it she was gone and this time she meant it she wasn't coming back.
He'd known in his heart she wouldn't be here but as soon as he was able to get away from the throng of reporters. Then shocked and teary Abigail clinging and moaning. Alex had also named Abigail in the divorce and had her served complete with photo's. He'd promised to call her this evening and she had been calling him ever hour on the hour since. There she was again, he thought looking down at his flashing phone and ignoring it. He'd flown home ignoring all traffic laws not that is mattered the idiot sheriff and his inept deputy Dupree wouldn't do anything to him anyway. He still had power even if he wasn't CEO. He hadn't needed to hurry when he pulled down the drive he could feel it was empty and devoid of life. His feeling was right there wasn't a whisper or a shuffle she'd even dismissed the servants for the evening! Probably for their own protection he half laughs remembering the mess he'd made of the house in his rage He'd walked from room to room leaving the bedroom for last. He'd raged destroying everything that crossed his path as he looked around futilely then sat down on the edge of the bed and had been sitting there ever since. Unable to move frozen in the spot going over and over in his head the events of the last few day's. Analyzing and dissecting every moment and conversation and seeing the clues he'd missed or had chosen to ignore.
He should have been suspicious when she had done all that talking of downsizing getting Jake and Toni their own place. He should have known then! Less than two weeks ago she'd been mourning Clay's leaving then suddenly she's helping Jake leave? All the sirens and whistles should have gone off but he was so cock sure of himself. So positive he had everything under control and she blindsided him. She'd effectively lay to waste in one afternoon what it had taken his life time build. The way she avoided any real physical contact with him. How she'd been sure to be up and dressed before he awoke and asleep before he'd get home. The sudden flurry of activity when before she had never left the house before noon. The fact that they had barley spoken and when they did their conversations had been short and rushed. She was beautiful doing it he hadn't seen that look of determination on her face and the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes for years. That alone should have been his warning but he was too blinded by his own conceit to see it.
He looks down at the crumpled notice in his hand and reads it again then tosses it across the room. The calculating bitch had planned every move with that pretty cold calculating smile plastered on her pretty little face. He'd taken every word, every gesture, every smile as if it were a precious gem. He'd adorned himself with them and basked in their glory. Never realising the venom and hate behind each one. She'd planned it from beginning to end and he'd never seen it coming. He'd been too busy wheeling , dealing and placating while she'd quietly blew it all to kingdom come and she'd done it all with a smile.
She'd smiled that pretty little smile as they voted. She'd raised her hand high and proud. It was even more brilliant when they put his son in his place. She had brilliantly and effectively taken away the moment he'd always dreamed of when he handed the company over to his son! Not as when he had taken the reigns from his father amicably, willfully and with dignity. She'd had the reigns taken from him. She'd smiled that dazzling smile when it came to the contract signing and he'd gotten to the part about the tree contracts and it was absolutely brilliant when she'd winked at him and walked out of the conference room. This was Alex and cool clear headed sober revenge and she'd either manipulated or convinced their children to go along with her.
What a conceited foolish bastard he was! He'd been strutting around with the thought that the lack of bottles in the trash was because of their new found love and understanding again of each other! What a fucking idiot he was! He'd known her to be vindictive and vengeful when enraged but he'd thought that was only reserved for his mistresses but never with such calculated coldness and detachment and never with him. Although, he thought there was a time when she had been forced to wrap herself in that same blanket the night they had gotten rid of Rowdy. That night they had worked as equals and as one. That night when they had finished their task quickly and efficiently without a trace she'd smiled that same smile at the end of that too.
He recognized it now and he should have known the deadly consequences behind it, it was only now sitting alone in this room with his memories flowing like a river that he had recalled seeing it before. It was in this very room on an evening much like this one. He'd come home and found Rowdy with her here in their bedroom. As he'd come through the front door he had heard her pleading and Rowdy yelling. He'd flown up the steps and burst through the door. There was Alex lying on the bed Rowdy standing over her. Her face tear stained her dress ripped all he could do for a moment was stand there his mouth agape. Then he'd hit him and kept hitting him till he was unconscious then the two had worked together to rid themselves of him.
Ha! That was his trump card! They were in that together! If Alex thought she had him beat she had another think coming! He'd have back what was rightfully his and he knew exactly how to do it. He was down but he wasn't out not by a long shot. The first thing he needed to do was find her and the second thing he needed to do was find out what she'd really been up to in the past two weeks and the rest of his family for that matter. He looks down at his buzzing phone. No, the first thing he needed to do was get a monkey off his back.
"Harbinger Falls" Copyright 2016
Ever see the flik of Steven Seagall?
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