"I have my reasons for that." that was the man's short answer with no intention of explaining in detail.
He still didn't want to tell the girl the real reason. But precisely because of this made Chleo hated him even more.
"I bet a very selfish one." after stated the sarcasm, Chleo left the man and shut herself in her room.
She walked back and forth in frustration. She thought Axel still considered her a friend, making her hope that their relationship could return to the way it used to be. But now... Chleo hated the man even more.
How dare he claimed he loved her when he forced her by threatening to bring danger into her close ones? She decided to close her heart entirely to that man.
Every day Chleo avoided Axel's approach and ignored his presence as if he was a wandering invisible spirit. She did everything she could to make Axel irritated and feel bored with her. Surprisingly, the man was always patient and gave her a sad smile.
Even on her twenty-sixth birthday, Axel bought her favorite tart. If Chleo didn't remember the man's threat to her, maybe her heart would have felt touched and melted at the man's attention.
On the contrary, she felt disgusted by the man's kindness and attention. Her heart-eyes were already closed and blinded hatred to the point she couldn't give the man a chance to make her happy.
She felt confident that Axel was playing and would throw her once he had her around his finger.
Chleo took the tart carelessly, then threw it in the trash in front of the man before glaring hatefully at Axel.
"No matter what you do, my hatred for you will not disappear!" roared Chleo until everyone in this house could hear her voice.
She didn't care about the maids who dislike her behavior, nor would she try to fix this unhappy marriage life.
Since then, Axel was rarely seen in this house. Axel had left for work before Chleo wakes up and will come home at night after Chleo sleeps.
Usually, Axel wouldn't leave until he saw Chleo's face, and the man would come home at six in the evening so that he could have dinner together.
Chleo felt confused, but she could breathe a sigh of relief since she didn't have to face the man she hated the most. At least she didn't have to lock herself in her room for too long and was free to roam around without having to meet with that man.
Fortunately, she had a companion, which is her loyal maid. She was no ordinary maid, and Chleo already considered her as a friend.
This maid was very friendly and listened to her confide with great patient. Even though the girl was young, the maid had a motherly aura making Chleo feel like she was talking with her mother.
Whenever Chleo desired to go out to the theater of her favorite show, the maid helped her book affordable tickets for her. The maid girl was even willing to ask Axel's permission to accompany her to go together.
Chleo was pleased with the maid, and she felt much more comfortable with the maid than with her husband.
One day, when she was left alone in the house and her most loyal maid went grocery shopping with the butler, Chleo decided to make a move. Feeling that no one was near Axel's private room area, Chleo tried to sneak into her husband's room. In thinking she might find an opening to escape from this place, she ventured her plan. She wished she could find a computer to send mail to her uncle Stanley.
Ever since she arrived in England, Axel confiscated her phone and all kinds of communications equipment. The man seemed to restrain her and not let her contact her family in America. The man even forbade her from seeing the latest business news from America.
Somehow she felt that her husband was trying so hard to make her cut ties with her family.
Therefore, she didn't waste this opportunity to contact her uncle.
Chleo turned the knob on the door to Axel's study, which turned out to be locked. Luckily, she once learned from one of her mother's elite bodyguards how to open a locked doorknob. She took out her hairpin and then expertly inserted it into the keyhole.
Click! Chleo smiled triumphantly as she managed to open it. The thief-looking girl quickly walked in and closed the door again without creating a sound.
Chleo directly walked to her husband's desk and rapidly turned on the laptop on the table. While waiting for the laptop's running process, her eyes widened all over the table.
Never did she imagine she would see there were several photo frames filled with her as their focus.
She saw herself looking at flowers or when she smiled enjoying the sunshine last summer. She observes other photos as well of her as the main focal point of the camera. All the pictures of her look perfect and dazzling. Even she herself never knew that she had ever looked this beaming.
After all, when has she ever smiled? Since she lived in this place away from her family, Chloe rarely smiled, let alone laughed. Then how can she laugh beautifully like in these photos?
Chleo tried to dig into her memory whether she ever did a scene like a pose in the photo that was displayed in front of her. She remembered Axel went on a business trip in Rusia for an entire week. It was the first time Chleo felt free and could have fun.
Even though she tried to contact her family in America secretly and failed, Chleo could still enjoy her daily life. She didn't need to see her husband for a whole week. She didn't have to hide in her room for twenty hours either.
During that week, Chleo made the most of her daily life. She did everything she was supposed to enjoy. Picnicking by the lake, enjoying the flowers in bloom in the spring, her favorite thing is spending her husband's money by shopping for luxury and expensive goods.
She wanted to make her husband go into bankruptcy which was also a failure. No matter how much money she spent on shopping, the man would not be broke. Nevertheless, she pretty much enjoyed spending a lot of his fortune to satiate her shopping hunger.
Now Chleo remembers, she indeed smiled and laughed out loud during that week when Axel was away. Then she came back gloomy and rarely smiled when he returned home.
Once again, Chleo examined her photos one by one and was precisely what she had expected. All of these photo backgrounds were the places she visited during the one week Axel was gone!
Where did Axel get these photos? No, it wasn't the right question. How could in the world she not know that someone took her picture?
Who did it?