HIS SWEET REVENGE

Paxton’s POV

Emily breaks down into tears the moment I enter her apartment. I am amazed to see her crying again after four years.

Wondering what could be the problem, I open my arms for her to come in. I embrace her, muttering soft consoling words to her till her breath is even and she is calm.

I pull her away from me and watch her intensely, trying to figure out what is wrong. She avoids my gaze and I know instantly that it has to do with heart matters.

Blowing out a heavy sigh in remembrance of what happened four years ago, I tuck away a strand of hair falling on her face behind her ears before guiding her back to the sofa.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

We sit in silence beside each other. Celine is supposed to be the first person I meet immediately after the plane landed in New York but I couldn’t go see her because of Emily’s call last night.

I knew it had to be urgent. I could also detect the note of worry and concern in Celine’s voice and I want her to see me so she can rest assured that I am fine.

I am still sitting because Emily is not ready to tell me what the problem is yet, looking vulnerable and heartbroken like she looked four years ago, I am lost for words to say to her, how to tell her to begin or how to ask her if my suspicions are right.

Eventually, she looks up, and a single tear rolls down her eyes. I shake my head to stop her from crying. She knows how much I detest seeing her cry. For Celine, it hurts to see her cry.

Four years ago, Emily and I met at a party. She was making a fool of herself, drunk and miserable. She was crying, singing, and dancing at the same time. I had to help her out before someone took advantage of her.

I knew immediately that she was heartbroken. I took her home and laid her on the bed in the guest house.

The next day when she was sober, we talked. She told me about the man she loves who doesn’t love her in return, she told me about who she is, her career, her background, and everything.

She was a cheerful person and I wanted her to let go of the past. I have been in her shoes and I understood her predicament.

We got used to each other and she decided to spend a week with me to heal before going back home. I agreed.

I was always making her laugh, just to ease the pain in her heart. I cooked for her every day, pampered her like a child and we watched movies every night till we fell asleep.

A night before she was to go back home, I caught her staring at me while we were watching Netflix.

I asked why she was staring and she said she wished I was the one she was in love with. I didn’t get it until she initiated a kiss that I couldn’t resist.

Emily is a beautiful girl and I have been restraining myself from having sex with her right from that first night. We made love till dawn and she left. It was just pure lust and everything went away with her departure.

Seeing her again after four years is bringing back the memories, making it seem as if it just happened yesterday. I guess Emily is also remembering everything that happened between us within that one week.

“Emily…” I call in impatience. I am thinking she is going to tell me what the problem is and within an hour I will be gone so I can go to Bryan’s mansion and see Celine.

I have missed seeing her. But I never thought it is a critical issue that will have me hooked here for more than 30 minutes without Emily saying a word.

“I’m sorry for being such a cry baby”, she chuckles to lighten the mood. I know she is faking it, she is truly sad and she needs someone to confide him.

“Talk to me”, I say to her calmly and she spares me a glance. She wipes her tears again before exhaling deeply.

“He rejected me again”, she blurts out only and I furrow my brow.

Rejected her? Who rejected her? She said he rejected her again? Is she talking about the same man she spoke to about four years ago?

I thought she had gotten over him and moved on with his life? Didn’t she tell me he was getting married again after losing his first wife?

“The same man?” I voice out my thoughts and she nods.

“Bryan is just an a**hole”, she curses and begins to sob again. I click my tongue and pull her to me. I want to shout at her for being too weak and holding onto a loose rope for more than four years.

How long is she going to keep doing this? There are a lot of men out there who will appreciate her for who she is, not some crazy dude.

“What happened?” I ask, despite my conflicting emotions.

She raises her head and shrugs. “He rejected me again after four years. His wife left him and I thought this would be a great opportunity to be with him. I…. goodness,

Bryan is so annoying and all I want to do now is to hurt him the way he has been hurting me for years”, she whimpers.

Something clicks in my head and I shoot her a firm look. “Bryan?”

She nods. I shake my head at the thought, hoping it isn’t the same person I am thinking of. “A billionaire?”

Out of curiosity, she looks up at me. “Yes, he is the youngest billionaire in New York, do you know him?”

I caress her cheeks with my thump, thereby wiping her trailing tears. “Tell me his full name.”

“Bryan Fernandez”, she replies and I close my eyes tightly, pulling my hands away from her face, clenching my fist, and gritting my teeth as I feel a sudden surge of anger filling me up.

Bryan again? Why is he connected to all the people I care about?

“You know him?” She notices my anger. I gaze at her without answering. “Paxton”, she shakes me with a fearful look on her face. “Do you know Bryan?”

“Yes, I do. He is someone I despise with everything in me”, I answer honestly, remembering the punch I received from Caleb last night all because of him. I remember something else and I ask the silent Emily who is looking into space.

“Is that where you were coming from the other day your car broke down?”

“Yes. I met the woman in his house and a child. I never knew she was back, I never knew they were back together. She even had a child for him, can you imagine?” She leans forward, with disbelief all over her.

She is still trying to let reality sink into her.

After a moment of thought, I realize who Emily is talking about. It is Celine and Jason. She mistook Celine for his bride.

“Celine?” She looks up again.

“You know her too?” Her eyes bulge out in shock.

“Yes, I do”, a soft smile forms on my lips.

“She is my greatest enemy, I hate her. I wonder what she has that I don’t. It was because of her he rejected me four years ago and he is doing the same thing again”, she rants while I watch her.

“Do you think I went back late? I should have gone back probably a year earlier or two, right?”

I shake my head again and she misunderstood it for a no.

“Celine is not who you think she is. She is not the enemy here but Bryan”, I Inform her. She darts an angry stare at me.

“Yes, Celine isn’t there to date him. She is just a nanny for his son”, I announce.

“A nanny?” There is a puzzled look on her face and I am debating within me whether to tell her the truth about Jason’s maternity. I don’t want to risk Celine’s life.

This is the same mistake I made with Caleb, I shouldn’t have told him that Celine has a child for Bryan. This is the bone of contention.

If Celine doesn’t claim to be the mother of Jason, she will be safe but the problem is if Celine can do that. Can she disclaim her child? If she does, Jason will be the target for the enemies, not Celine and Jason anymore.

“Does it mean the child isn’t hers?” She asks the next question I know she will surely ask.

“Yes, it isn’t”, I confirm. “Celine and Bryan got married out of love, it was purely based on a contract. Bryan wanted to be married so his parents could stop pressuring him while Celine needed money for her grandmother’s surgery.”

“Bryan decided to use her helplessness to his advantage and he asked her to be his wife. She agreed and they signed the contract. But Celine fled his home two months before the contract elapsed and Bryan became mad at her.”

“When they meet again, he decides to punish her by employing her as a nanny for his son. Celine had just lost her job and she needed another desperately so she took the job”, I explain, framing the story with a half-truth.”

Her face is aghast, probably trying to comprehend the whole narration. “They got married out of love?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did Bryan confess to his parents and mine that he loves her?”

“He didn’t want to marry you”, I declare.

“No!” She shakes her head in denial

“Celine is behind this. After I waited so long for an end to his relationship with Helena, Helena died and I thought I would have him to myself but Celine appeared from nowhere…”

“Emily”, I interrupt her. “Don’t let your sense of anger cloud your sense of reasoning.”

“Why do you think Bryan didn’t present Celine to the public as his wife? Why do you think they never consummated their marriage? Why do you think Celine fled before the contract expired?”

She looks confused and I continue. “Celine was not known to the public as the billionaire’s wife until years later when a publishing house got a picture of her and Bryan coming down from a car and they called her the billionaire’s secret wife. He didn’t present her to the world because they were married to help each other.

Bryan didn’t touch her because he never loved her and Celine fled because of how cruel Bryan was to her.”

“Celine loves him, I see the way she looks at him during family…”

“Do you think a woman can easily fall in love with a man that has caused her nothing but pain and sorrow? She didn’t even wait to get the last payment from him before leaving. The ego of Bryan was bruised and he vowed to deal with her. When his men found her, they forcefully took her to his house and he became his son’s nanny.”

Silence fills in and I applaud myself for a job well done. I want to detach Celine from all of these even if Jason is going to be at the receiving end. If I can convince Emily that Celine has no hand in this, I can equally do the same for Caleb.

I can tell them Jason isn’t her biological son but it will take great wisdom to frame up a story that will be so hard not to believe. Caleb is smart and intelligent, I need to be a step ahead.

“How did you know Celine? How did you know all of these?” She demands out of the blues and I smile in satisfaction, seeing the convinced look on her face.

“Celine used to be my next-door neighbor before Bryan came to take her away one night”, I tell her.

“What? She is your neighbor?” Her eyes widen as she examines my expression.

“Yes, she was and still is”, I declare. “And she is also the woman I love”, I admit shamelessly.

“What?!” She exclaims in disbelief.