Despite her messy personal life, El still had to pay attention to her work. She worked till evening and then came downstairs.
Alec, Ricky and Dwane were drinking. The very sight of Dwane sent chills down her spine.
"El, join us." Alec called her. El approached them and sat on the empty seat beside Ricky.
Seeing Ricky and El together again irritated Alec yet he decided to not react on it for now.
"I'd love to see that whore struggle beneath me." Dwane continued his egregious words.
"Is.. isn't she married,? She might as well have kids"
El said trying to make him think with reason.
"Then I'll do all of it in front of her husband and children. If she thinks she can leave Dwane Farehya at the altar and live a happy and carefree life, she is being delusional."
"I don't spare anyone who goes against me, and she is no exception. So married or not I don't give a fuck." Dwane gritted his teeth.
'This man has no mercy'. El thought
"Not a single day has passed by when I didn't imagine her pleading wordlessly, struggling for her breath as I strangled her to death with my bare hands."
Dwane had a devilishly menacing smile on his face causing her to tremble.
"To Michelle Ford's Corpse" Dwane raised his glass and toasted aloud.
"To Michelle Ford's Corpse." Alec clinked his glass with Dwane's and Ricky followed.
Alec toasting to her death shattered Michelle to no bounds.
He was the person she was starting to rely on the most, just the sight of him toasting to her death made her feel strangulated.
She instinctively got up as emotions welled up in her heart but her sudden action also alerted the rest of them.
"I.. I'll get.. I'll get something to eat." She hurried to the kitchen.
"I'll help you with it." Ricky hurried behind her.
Looking at them leave in a rushed manner, Dwane smirked, "Is she your wife or his?" He taunted.
Alec was enraged he was trying hard all day to turn a blind eye to their fondness with each other.
But Dwane's words acted like fuel to his fire.
Meanwhile in the kitchen,
Michelle was panting and trembling struggling for breath as she held the edge of the kitchen counter.
"El …" Ricky rushed to her.
"Calm down El, You can't be like this, please. He can't do any …"
El continued panting as her eyes teared up,
"He.. he.. Alec" she whimpered.
"Alec.. toasted to my.."
"Stop it El. Ricky stopped her from revealing herself.
"Alec didn't mean it. Okay. He didn't mean any of it. And as for Dwane, he won't be able to do anything unless he finds Michelle."
"Look at me El" he held her face making her look at him.
"Dwane won't be able to find Michelle, he cannot find Michelle. Alright."
El continued panting.
"Please El, please gather yourself." El finally was able to calm down.
"Michelle is a smart woman, she won't let Dwane find him, got it?"
El nodded "Yes.. yes. I can't let.."
He wiped her tears and asked "You are fine now?"
El nodded.
"Let's go."
As El and Ricky walked outside the kitchen they saw Alec staring coldly at them. He was giving his all to contain his anger.
El walked past him and went upstairs to her room.
"What's happening?" Alec asked Ricky as he gritted his teeth.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is why are you being so close and touchy with my wife?" He finally let his anger out.
Ricky scoffed at his words, further enraging Alec.
"You saw me being close to her, didn't you manage to see how anxious she was?"
"Since morning Dwane's been speaking about murdering and raping a woman, not once could you gauge her reaction to it?"
"Why would you?" Ricky sneered.
"You were busy being Dwane's lackey, completely ignoring that his words are making your wife uncomfortable." He lashed out.
Calming himself down Ricky softened his voice and continued,
"El is a simple and a humble girl unfamiliar with the gruesome nature of these so called upper-class billionaire families. Topics like murdering and raping a woman won't sit well with her, heck it won't sit well with any woman"
Ricky tried to make him understand without making him suspicious.
Alec remembered the time when she almost fainted when he threatened to kill Harry.
"She was restless since morning and you were oblivious to it, you even toasted at someone's corpse. I was only comforting her. Which you should have done by the way."
"You are now a husband too, you can't just ignore all reason and support the adverse intentions of your friend ignoring your wife's feelings." Ricky's words were rendering Alec speechless.
"Now go to her, she needs your assurance the most, I'll accompany Dwane"
Alec nodded
" and please" Ricky stopped him
"Please don't defend yourself to her by saying 'Dwane is my brother'. It's your fault, owe up to it" Saying this, Ricky left.
Alec hurried upstairs.
Ricky sat beside Dwane, "lover's quarrel?" Dwane asked. Ricky only let out a wry smile as he thought 'How can I make you leave.'
Meanwhile, Alec saw El completely covered in her blanket. She only did it when she was sad.
He laid beside her, "El.." she wriggled at his touch.
"El I'm sorry" he slowly tried to take off the blanket from her head.
As he did, he saw her bloodshot eyes, El immediately turned after their eyes met.
Alec was stunned to see her being so affected by Dwane's words.
He hugged her from behind,
"I'm sorry El, I was ignorant about your feelings. I wasn't aware you'd become so restless." Alec said as he hugged her tightly and planted soft kisses on her nape.
"You, you toasted…" she whimpered, unable to complete her sentence.
Alec wanted to justify his actions but stopped himself remembering Ricky's words.
He instead said,
"I didn't mean it, El."
"However, I'm sorry. I'll be more considerate from now on."
To his disappointment, El was still sobbing.
"What's troubling you El?"
She turned and looked at his eyes,
"The.. the way you…you casually speak about killing someone. Does a person's life.. mean nothing to you people?"
Alec couldn't find words to placate her. "It isn't like that, you are overthinking it."
"Am I?" She looked at him accusingly,
"What if someone powerful wants to kill me, will you stand aside and act indifferent?"
Her words riled him, "I won't let anyone lay a finger on you, If someone even thinks so much as harming a hair on your head, I'll destroy that person." Fury raged in his eyes.
He held El's head from behind and buried it in his chest. Hugging her he said,
"I'll always protect you El."
"You promise?" El looked up at him longingly and asked.
"I promise." Alec assured her.
It's only then she closed her eyes in peace. She moved her body closer to Alec as he wrapped his arms around her trying to comfort her.