"I can't believe you let this woman slander our name daily as if she doesn't have any other thing to do," Raquel shouted at Noah when he went home one night.
Despite her will, she continuously found herself sitting to listen to Stacy's podcast though it brought her nothing but anger and shame.
Her friends had asked her to look deeper into Noah and Raquel's history, and though she really wanted to know the truth, she also didn't want to because she was afraid of what she would find. What would happen to her status then? Goodness! She loved the perks of being a celebrity wife, and she honestly wouldn't lose that for anything else.
"She'll get tired and stop," Noah said dismissively
"She doesn't look like she will. Don't you see it? Every day, she has a new thing to say, and her listeners grow by the minute. If it's not her talking about you, it's Vera talking about Ivan," Raquel said, her anger consuming every inch of her body.
"You're losing it, Raquel," Noah said after turning to look at his wife, who was every inch different from the loving, compassionate, and understanding woman she was.
He could tell that Stacy's and Vera's issues were getting to Raquel, and he felt helpless not being able to protect his family like he ought to.
He was the one who had chosen the limelight, not his wife and son, so it wasn't fair that because of his mistake, the others were also being trolled.
"How can I not? Do you know how hard it is for me to walk around the city? Once the paparazzi spot me, it's game over for me. I get trolled, yet I'm not even on the news, so I don't understand how you're okay with all of these."
"I'm not okay with what she is doing…."
"I know …so you asked your guards to take her to your private space, and do you know what she did? Recorded every damn thing you said, don't ask me how." Raquel thundered, and Noah felt difficulty in breathing.
He had suspected that Stacy would do just that, so he had ordered that she leaves her phone and any other recording equipment outside, yet she still managed to fool him.
'She's hellbent on destroying me,' he inwardly thought as he remembered his last meeting with Stacy years ago. It was all so familiar, as though it had happened yesterday. He had walked out, leaving her crying and rolling on the floor like a mad person.
"W…what!" He managed to ask as he looked around the room, which suddenly seemed to be rotating.
He managed to get to an empty chair from where he felt as though the air in his lungs was being squeezed out, and he wanted anything to grasp onto and get back to his normal state.
"My friends no longer come here because they fear being on the news next. Listen, Noah, you have to stop that lady, or I will. I have had enough." Raquel threatened as she got up and left Noah scratching through his mind for a permanent solution.
He looked around the room and saw how empty it was. He thought of how bad it would look if both Ivan and Raquel left him for an act he had committed years ago before he even thought of starting a family.
He still hadn't wrapped his mind around why Stacy had thought of starting her revenge at this exact time when things were so smooth for him.
But that's the thing about vengeance. It strikes you when you least expect it.
Xxx
"S*it! I'm going to be late," Joel cursed as he looked around the room for anything he had left behind.
"You know you don't have to go. What the others think of you doesn't matter, Joel. We love you," his mother Aurelia told him for the umpteenth time, and Joel scoffed.
"You love me," Joel corrected her, and Aurelia looked away in embarrassment. "Dad doesn't give an ounce about me. Moreso since I came out. He is really embarrassed about me, and I can't stand his hatred."
"But you can do with my love. Isn't that important to you?" Aurelia asked in hurt, and Joel shook his head sadly.
"One person's love, mum, isn't enough to keep me from all the hate I get from the rest of the world," Joel said in a low and apologetic voice.
"Love conquers all hatred," Aurelia said, and Joel looked at her and felt sorry for wanting to leave her behind.
"It's so easy for you to say that. You're not in my position, mum. You don't have to see someone you have a crush on ignoring you and make out with other people instead.