Evelyn
Alexander took care of me every single day.
He brought breakfast, lunch, and dinner to my bedside. Sat silently by the edge of the bed, waiting patiently until I finished every last bite. And when I wanted fresh air, he would accompany me walking a step behind, silent but present. Always there. Always watching.
Not with tenderness. Not with affection. But with duty.
Because that's who Alexander Asimov was, an honourable man. A responsible man. And I reminded myself of that every time his hand brushed mine while passing a cup of tea every time he adjusted the shawl on my shoulder when I shivered. I reminded myself that he did it because he had to. Because I was his wife not his beloved.
Because when I had asked him, mocked him even if he loved me, he had said there was nothing like that.
And that was all I needed to know.
So I shut myself off.
No more stolen glances. No more soft good mornings or goodnights. No more conversations over dinner. If he spoke, I nodded, brief and polite.
I made myself invisible inside his world.
Because it hurt less than hoping.
It hurt less than imagining his hands holding mine out of love not obligation.
Because even though our marriage was a disaster from the very beginning ,I still held onto the belief that maybe we could live peacefully.
I never asked for love in the beginning. I never dared.
But I tried to find meaning in this meaningless marriage. Tried to make a home out of broken walls, warmth out of cold silences .Tried to treat this bond as something sacred, even if it was born out of convenience.
But he made it clear over and over again that there was no point in finding meaning in this marriage .
So I accepted it.
Because love doesn't grow in a place where it's unwelcome. And I can't keep watering something that's never going to bloom.
Alexander
She stopped talking to me.
No sarcasm .No rolled eyes .No biting comments about how heartless I am.
Just silence.
The kind that wraps around your throat and makes it hard to breathe. She doesn't fight me anymore. Doesn't challenge anything I say. She just nods mechanically.
And it's driving me insane.
At first, I thought this was what I wanted. Peace. Space.
I thought her not bothering me, not pushing her way into my carefully barricaded world, would calm the storm inside my chest.
But it didn't. It made it worse.
Because now it's not just silence . It's her absence.
And the worst part?
I let this happen.
And now I'm the one suffocating behind it.
I told myself this isn't love. I don't do love .I'm not soft enough for it. Not deserving.
But this feeling?
It's not gentle .It's not poetic.
It's brutal .It's ugly .It claws at my insides like a wild animal.
It's obsession.
That's what I was afraid of from the very beginning. Not her. Not the marriage.
But the way she made me feel.
And I'm about to lose her because I never had the courage to make her stay.
No.
I wasn't going to let her divorce him.
If she thought she could walk out of his life just like that, She was wrong.
I would do everything in my power to stop it. Beg. Plead. Destroy. Manipulate her if needed.
But how long could I keep living like this?
How long could I keep her trapped in a life that felt like a well-decorated prison?
It wasn't like she was a doll. Not some lifeless porcelain figure that Icould place on a shelf and admire when I wanted.
She had feelings.She hurt.
And lately, all I'd been doing was hurting her.
Every time I shut her out.Every time I denied what I felt.I knew deep down this wasn't sustainable.
Because if I don't confront the hurricane inside me soon
Even the fragments of her , the last remaining pieces of her existence in my world would vanish too.
And I would be left with the ashes of what I could have had.
So I had to face it.
Whatever it was that festered in my chest whenever she looked away. The hollow ringing when she passed by without a word.
It had a name.
And one day soon,I would have to look her in the eyes and say it. Before it was too late.
Few weeks had passed. It was just another damn day.
She left for work in the morning, didn't spare me a glance. That's how it has been for over months . We share the same house, breathe the same air, but Evelyn might as well be a ghost passing through my life.
I told myself I could live with it.
But now it's 10 PM, and she's not home.
No text. No call.
Nothing.
She doesn't do this.
If she had to stay late at work, she would've informed the maids never me, of course . But tonight, not even the staff knows where she is.
I waited ten more minutes. It felt like hours.
I couldn't sit still. I drove to her office, Maybe she got caught up, maybe she forgot, maybe
No.
The receptionist looked surprised.
"She left at 5 PM, Mr. Asimov."
I didn't believe her until she showed me the footage.
There she was. Walking calmly to the car.
The panic I'd been holding back finally sank its claws into me.
Something was wrong. Deeply, terribly wrong.
I called every contact I had. Dmitri sent men out. I ordered the city to be turned upside down if needed. I told them to check hospitals, traffic cams, alleys, every damn corner.
Hours passed. My chest felt like it was being crushed and then my phone buzzed.
Mikhail.
My blood turned to ice. " Track the call and send me the location in five minutes" I told Dmitri and started my car. I should have known. I should have never assumed he'd go down that easily.
I broke his hands, should've broken his legs too.
I barely whispered "Hello," and I heard her.
Evelyn.
Groaning. Whimpering.Struggling through pain, She was cursing him.Calling Mikhail a coward. Telling him he was pathetic.That bastard had laid a hand on her again
Then the sound shifted. The phone scraped and suddenly a different voice filled my ears.
His voice.
"Alexander," he drawled, "You've spoiled her far too much. Your little kitten's grown claws."
I didn't respond. I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
He laughed. "Don't worry. I'll break the bad habits you've encouraged. I'm going to teach her a very good lesson."
I saw red.But I forced my voice to stay calm, steel-cold."What do you want?"
He chuckled. "Now that's the tone I like. You see, the few million dollars you gave me? That was cute. Burned through it already. What was that hush money ?"
I said nothing. My heart was thundering.
"But I've decided," he continued, "it's not enough. Not for the humiliation. Not after what you did to me , breaking my hands like I'm some street thug. For her? For a lowly girl?"
I could hear the venom in his words, and behind that, obsession. He didn't just want money. He wanted to destroy me.
"I want majority shareholding in Asimov Holdings, And I want the blueprints of your upcoming overseas expansion project. You know, the one you've been hiding from the board."
He was after everything. My legacy. My name.
"My greed started this," Mikhail sneered, "but now now it's about revenge. I'll take everything from you and let her watch."
That was it.I hung up.I didn't need to hear more. Didn't need to say anything else.
Because he just signed his death sentence.