CHAPTER 3: I THINK I ONCE SAW THIS GUY ON THE SCREEN
Gianna didn’t fight, she didn’t resist, she just took a step back and let Xavier do the resisting for her. Xavier roughly pushed Mira aside and helped her sister back in the car leaving Katherine and Mira cursing.
“Don't you ever come back begging to be forgiven!” Katherine cursed.
But Mira suddenly frowned. There was something she hadn’t noticed about the man, and it came just after the car drove out of the solace gates.
“Mum, I think I know that man!” Mira said. “But how come?” she dialled Alex's number and waited. “Hello... Alex... Gianna came here with a man, is she cheating on you?”
“We're divorced actually. Where is she?” Alex's voice came through.
“Divorced? She just brought home a lady who slapped mom. I think the guy is her partner whom she’s been cheating on you with!” Mira said. “Do you know him? I think I once saw him on TV, I don’t remember very well though. His face was familiar!”
“Slap mum?” Alex flew into rage immediately, cut off the receiver and went back home.
He walked into the bedroom to check if anything was missing. Actually nothing was missing and everything was intact. Only few documents that belonged to Gianna were gone. “Take everything that belongs to her, burn it everything. I don’t want to see any traces of her in this house again!” he gave the maids the orders. They nodded and started the clean up.
“You said she slapped mum? Well, I think she’s taking this too far then!” Alex paced the bedroom talking to no one in particular. He then sat on the side of the bed. The nearby pillow bounced back and a number of we’ll piled photos came into view. Alex took them and started going through them. They were all secret photos of him doing different things. He never noticed Gianna taking photos of him but she really was. He logged into her account and found many photos, mainly selfies of him and Gianna, on most photos, he was asleep.
“Hubby and I today morning...
Hubby's handsome every morning...
I never get tired of this face... I want to see it everyday I wake up...”
Alex felt he was on the wrong. He felt something was wrong with the way he had treated her. She always acknowledged his existence in her life, but he never appreciated it. He never cared of how she felt. He never even asked how her day was. But she always portrayed their marriage as the happiest marriage on earth when the marriage actually didn’t exist. It was like she was simply a servant trying to win his attention. Was he that bad? Suddenly, he felt he had lost part of himself.
...
Bardot Castle...
Gianna was actually a princess of the Bardot family. Were it not for her earlier blind love for Alexander Solace and going against her family for his sake, she would be a CEO now swimming in money and power. In terms of wealth, the Bardot and the Solace were on the same level, it was even rumoured that the Bardot family was already outstanding the Solace family. In terms of appearance, if Xavier and Alex were to compete, the crowd would hesitate to choose the first runners up.
When Gianna met Alex, she hid her identity which resulted to being bullied with claimed that she was a nobody. She didn’t even allow her own family interfere with her marriage since she had gone against them. When she got married to Alex, she didn’t even know how to sweep, leave alone cooking. But she learned all this the hard way. As for cooking, she downloaded tutorials on YouTube.
After being brought home, she took a bath and had the midday tea. They then both sat in the living room making up for the time they lost.
“Xavier... Where is Elliot?” Gianna asked. Being born in a family of three, she was the only girl, the princess who was pampered and taken care of by her two powerful brothers... Yeah, powerful. Xavier was a CEO of the oil company, Elliot was the CEO of the King Eagle film industry and an outstanding actor and their father was still running the Bardot cooperate.
“He is always unpredictable. He called to say he is coming home, then boom, wait until am done with the last episode.” Xavier said. Gianna and Zoe laughed.
“baby, will you tell us the kind of life you went through? Seeing the scene today, I feel there is something we need to know. Besides, am upset that I didn’t take good care of you and let you get bullied with the fucking solace family. I want to vent my anger on someone!” Zoe said with a serious face. Gianna's face changed.
“Zoe... Calm down. Princess is back and we have enough time for that. For now Gg, get yourself comfortable at your own home. Get used to the feeling!” Xavier said in a comforting tone before walking out because he had a staff meeting to attend. Zoe looked at him, half admiringly half calm. Gianna saw this and smiled. (Gg was Gianna's nickname which was so much used by her brothers.)
“You still crush on him?” Gianna laughed waving her hands in front of Zoe.
“I never stopped!” Zoe laughed in time to see Henry Bardot walking in.
“Daddy!” Gianna burst into tears as she jumped into her father’s embrace. “Daddy...”
“Hush...” Mr. Henry Bardot said gently while parting her. “You’re back into my arms and no one will dare provoke you my princess!” since their mother died, only Mr. Henry knew what he had to go through for his three children. Touching them was like touching his bottom line, just what Alexander Solace did. He felt like he would crush him into a junk of meat if they ever meet in person.
“Dad... I wish I could have listened to you in the beginning!” Gianna cried even more.
“No time for regrets. All humans make mistakes honey. Now, wipe your face, I brought you a big surprise!” Mr. Henry Bardot said while looking into his daughter's face. Gianna wiped her face and forced a smile, a sweet smile that warmed her father’s heart.
“Taraaa!” Elliot slid on the soft carpet with a big smile. Gianna was caught between laughter and tears.
“Elliot! The great actor who shakes the world!” Gianna laughed.
“Everyone... Everyone is here to celebrate your return. Happy home return princess!” Elliot rushed and hugged her and dropped something in her palm. “This is a car key, I bought one personally for you one, as a sorry for not protecting you well, And two, to celebrate your return!