Chapter 4 DEAD TO THE WORLD

~Rose

"Pack up, we're leaving." David said to me as soon as he barged into the study which had become more like a safe space for me.

It was where I could let my mind wander freely and I wouldn't have to think of how much of a wh*re I had been and how much damage my behaviour caused my family.

"Why?" I asked him.

The way his expression was- his creased eyebrows and deep frown-it was clear to me that perhaps, he was angry about something but then again, with me, when was he never not angry?

"Because I said so, damn it!" He yelled at me and that made me jump in my skin.

I had only spent a few days with him and it already felt like hell. I always get scared thinking what he might conjure up in his brain to do to me next as a means to satiate his thirst to make me suffer for betraying him.

But then again, could I really blame him?

"Where are we going?" I thought to ask for a bit.

"To the penthouse. Amanda will meet us there." He basically threw over his shoulders and headed to the door.

"You've got five minutes." He said and walked away, slamming the door shut as he left.

My heart sank nevertheless, I immediately scrambled out of the chair I was sitting on and ran out the study to my room.

I opened my closet and let my eyes scan through my wardrobe. I didn't have that many clothes to my name. I picked out the little few and stuffed them into a bag I had found kept under the huge queen sized bed.

Perhaps, this was for the best. At least, I wouldn't have to be plagued with the flashes of what I had done, all the atrocities I had committed right in this very mansion-in this very room.

I walked outside with the only bag I had packed and stopped in my tracks when I saw that same lady who I kept catching him with in bed, standing and smiling with her back resting casually against the car door and her eyes glued to her phone's screen as she scrolled through social media, because otherwise, what would make her giggle so much.

My fists clenched and I marched to where she was.

"Who are you and why do you think you can come to my matrimonial home and do as you please?" I asked her.

Anger was stirring up my system just watching her standing there so confidently.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me talking to you?" I asked her, unable to control the surge of anger I felt at her nonchalant behaviour.

She was doing it on purpose.

I moved to her and grabbed her by her arm.

"I said you should move." I yelled at her.

She screamed in pain and tried yanking her arm from my firm grip but I didn't let her go.

"Let me go, you who*e!" she yelled and I felt like the anger inside me had doubled up.

How dare-

"How dare you call me that?" I asked her in anger and managed to find my way to her hair.

I held a fistful of her hair in my hand and dragged it as hard as I could. She screamed in anguish as a result of the pain she felt.

"What are you doing?"

It was David's voice and he came up behind me. He held my hand and yanked it forcefully from her hair. I stumbled, catching myself before I would fall.

"What do you think you're doing?" He yelled at me.

I looked at him with disbelief,

"What is she doing here?" I retorted.

"She's coming with us." She said and moved over to her.

He helped her smoothen her hair and he pulled her close to his chest and muttered sweet words to her.

I gasped, feeling a knot tightening in my chest. Tears were stinging the corners of my eyes at this point. I placed one hand over my head.

"David, for how long are you going to keep treating me this way? I am your wife but there you are being soft and acting like she's your wife while I'm standing here, right here." I yelled with tears falling from my eyes.

I wasn't able to contain the pain that I felt and as I said each word, the knot twisted tighter in my chest.

"For as long as you are alive and with me I will keep treating you however I like," He yelled back at me, "and she makes a better companion than you ever will."

He stood up straight and pulled the hem of his shirt to smoothen the rumpled parts of his shirt.

"She is coming with us." He said and walked to the other part of the car where the driver's seat was stationed.

She got into the passenger's seat beside him while he started the car. I was trying to get my legs to move but then it didn't. I could not find the strength to move my legs or take a step.

I feared that if I did, my heart might just shatter into pieces. Did I really deserve this kind of treatment?

The car engine roared as soon as he started the car, then he came down from the car and turned to look at me from the car door where he was standing,

"Are you coming or not? We don't have all day." He said so rudely to me.

I sniffed, picked up my bags and turned away from the car.

I wasn't going to get into that car with him and his mistress.

He sighed, "suit yourself," I heard him mutter before he got back into the car, closed the door, placed his foot on the accelerator and then drove off on his way.

I watched as the car sped past the fountain in the compound and disappeared after turning right in the corner of the street.

I held my bag and began my walk to the penthouse. Not that I knew where that was.

Before I left, I stopped by the gate. The security man who was standing there seemed puzzled that I had asked to see him.

"How may I help you?" He asked me.

It was as though he had gotten used to being invisible. No one ever noticed him. He just had to keep the mansion safe. Every other thing in the mansion was electronically controlled.

"Do you know if my father had a penthouse here in the city?" I asked him.

He blinked severally and then turned to look at the street where David's car had just veered off to.

"Well, he has many penthouses in the city but perhaps you might be looking for his central penthouse. That's where he usually takes his entire family every now and then when the mansion needs to be renovated or simply for pleasure." He explained.

"I'm sorry but do you know where it is?"

I should be ashamed of myself that I didn't know where my own family's penthouse was located, but it wasn't something I could control. However, it was something I would have avoided if I wasn't such a spoiled brat.

He stepped into the small detached apartment set out for him and then came out a few minutes later with a piece of parchment. An address to a hotel; the King's Hotel, was scribbled on it.

"It's one of your father's many properties and that one has the most beautiful penthouse above all the rest which was why he called it the central penthouse." He said.

It was such a relief that finally I had gotten a pointer in the direction of where David was headed because he didn't bother to tell me before he drove off with his mistress.

It was already very late at night before I got to the hotel. I carried my bags past the big golden luxurious lobby and then headed to the stand where the receptionist stood.

"How may I help you?" She asked me with a practiced smile plastered on her face.

"Well, you see, my husband came in here earlier." I replied.

"What's his name, please?" She asked me with practiced humility and politeness in her tone.

"David. David Reece."

She turned her attention to her screen and then tapped on a few buttons.

"Yes he's here but I'm afraid that he already checked into the penthouse with his wife and unfortunately only family members are allowed to go to the penthouse."

"Oh, but I am his wife." I said to her,

She looked at the screen once more before raising her eyes to meet mine, "what's your name, please?" She asked me.

"Rose." I replied simply.

"I'm sorry but his wife's name which is imputed here is Charlotte Winsley. There's no Rose here." Her previously calm demeanor suddenly switched to become very stern, "I'm going to have to ask to leave, ma'am."

I gasped.

Why in the world's name would he not register my name as his wife? Was Charlotte the name of that mistress he was sleeping around so shamelessly with?

My mind was reeling with a lot of questions at this point.

"Alright, I am the daughter of the owner of this hostel. I'm Rose Carlton, please, you have to let me in." I said to her trying to get her to reason with me.

"I will call security on you if you don't leave this instant. The CEO's daughter had been involved in a fatal accident and had died as a result, alongside her father. Before things get any messier, I will ask you politely once more to leave." Her voice had become so stern and firm, there was no getting through to her.

But what she said about me being dead- did that mean that the fact I had survived was not known to the world? Did that mean that basically I was dead to the entire world?

I was so lost in thought at that moment that I didn't realise when men dressed in black suits-the bodyguards had come to me and held me by my arm whilst they were on their way to escort me out of the building.

Just then a voice came from behind me, "what is all this ruckus about?"

I recognised it to be Amanda's sultry voice.

"It's that imposter ma'am, we were escorting her out of the building. We are sorry for the disturbances." The receptionist said once again, her voice becoming soft and polite like it was before she suddenly became so stern and unreasonable.

Amanda came to stand in front of me. I was going to ask her if what the receptionist said about me being dead was what they told everyone.

"I'm glad you're here." I began and heaved a sigh of relief.

The guards let me go.

She took slow steps towards me and as I opened my mouth to speak, my words were cut off by her palms colliding with my cheeks.

The part of my cheek where her hands collided with stung so much. I looked at her with shock evident in how wide my eyes had become. I was so dumbfounded that I didn't have the faintest idea what to say to her.

Her eyes flashed with anger as she stood there staring at me.

"Haven't you done enough damage to this family already?" She asked me and my mind was thrown into confusion at what she was talking about.

"You brought only disgrace to your father until the day that he died and here you are, even after you had successfully sent him to his early grave, still disgracing him."

I opened my mouth to speak, to try to defend myself but no words came. I was so shocked at her sudden outburst.

I didn't know what to make of the entire situation.

She used her finger to flicker a drop of tear that threatened to fall from her eyes before she turned to the guards and as if like magic, her initial angry disposition suddenly became soft,

"Take her bags up to the penthouse, she's with me."

With that, she turned in the direction of the elevator while I stood there looking stunned by everything that had just played out.

What in the world just happened?