Avery

“Hello?” I called into the receiver as soon as I cradled the phone to my ear.

The shrill ringing of the phone had me racing to the home office to have it answered. If anybody called this particular number it was because it was important as hell, it could even be a business deal and I sure as hell did not want us to miss that.

I wonder where Keith went. He was supposed to be working today, he said he stayed back so he could work today.

“Mr. Greene?” A female voice called into the receiver.

“I'm afraid he's indisposed right now. It's his wife, Mrs. Greene, you can leave your message.”

She paused for a heartbeat before she spoke up again. “Uhm… I was going to inform him about the scheduled date and time for the procedure. We sent him an email two days ago but he has yet to respond.”

I froze. What procedure was she talking about?

“I'm sorry, what hospital are you calling from again?” I asked calmly, making sure to keep all of the worry out of my voice.

“Lenox Hill hospital, ma'am.”

“Alright. I'd inform him of your call and have him check back with the hospital. Thank you for reaching out.”

She heaved a grateful sigh. “Thank you ma'am.”

The call disconnected and I sank onto the chair behind the desk. What the hell was that?

I started sorting through the files in his drawer, and as expected, found piles of paperwork and mails. All of them important.

I logged into his computer and started to sift through the email account. I decided to make a search using the hospital name as a keyword and there it was. The email that confirmed that my husband was a willing liver donor for none other than Catherine Dobbs, his secretary.

I was suffocating. I was choking on the air in my lungs and the weight of the information that was just shoved on me.

I got out of the chair as quickly as possible and trudged along, heading out of the office and out to look for Keith.

I found him easily, lounging on the deckchair beside the pool with his eyes closed and a relaxed expression settled over his face.

“When were you going to tell me?” I asked as soon as I got up to a touchable distance.

His eyes cracked open and he turned to look at me. “Tell you what, Avery, I really do not want to be a party to your drama today.”

“My drama? I'm not the one who's risking their entire life to save a secretary,” I thundered.

His eyes widened. “What?”

“Oh don't act surprised,” I scoffed. “The hospital has yet to get your response and so they called.”

“You had no right to take my calls,” he barked, his tall frame getting up and out of the deckchair.

His eyes were swimming with anger and his body was held so rigidly that I wondered how violent it would get if he snapped.

“I have every rights to take calls that come through any of the call lines in my house, Keith. It is as much my house as it is yours, and I am not going to let you turn this on me.”

He looked at me for a long time, then turned away and walked back in the direction of the house without uttering a word.

“Don't you dare walk away from me, Keith, I am talking to you.”

He didn't respond, at all, and I hurried after him in quick strides. I was far from done.

I reached him at the door and pulled on his shoulder, turning him around to face me. I was beyond done with having him treat me like I was unworthy of his presence or something.

“What the hell do you want, Avery?” He bellowed, his face contorted in rage.

“I want an explanation. I want something to make sense of the fact that my husband is willing to gamble with his life for a woman that works for him, for us.” My shoulders were squared and anger raced through my bloodstreams.

“It is my body, and my life. I have the rights to do with it as I please.”

“Well that applies to when you're single. I should get a say in whether or not I want to be a widow.”

A dark laugh rumbles out of his chest. “A widow? Funny.”

“Excuse you?”

His eyes locked on mine then, anger pooled within. “I'm choosing to fight to keep the life of a woman who can provide me and my empire with an heir, not someone who merely bears the title of wife.”

A cold chill raced along my spine. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't even move. The weight of his words had me held down as tears pooled in my eyes.

His trailed my now wet cheeks with a finger. “You don't have to be a widow, Avery. I would have the divorce papers signed and waiting before I go in for the surgery. Sign it if anything goes wrong, because you wouldn't be getting anything even if you don't.”

With those words hanging in the air, he turned and walked inside, sliding the glass doors shut in his wake.

I stumble to the ground in a heap of sadness. He blamed me for our childlessness? The man who promised to love me through hell and beyond, and whom I've spent my entire adult life with, hated me because we didn't have a child.

I couldn't believe it. We had been together since our freshman year in high-school and when he asked me to marry him in our final year of college, I had been elated. I thought my dreams had all finally aligned.

But he hated me. He detested me because in his warped mind, he had drawn the conclusion that I was the reason why we hadn't had a child yet.

Tears, hot and salty tears, trailed my face as the meaning behind his words twisted my heart violently. He was trading me for his secretary.