"So what is it going to be, Mrs. Xian?" The attorney asked. Zena did not know this man from anywhere but she despised him with everything. "Are you going to sign the document, pay the settlement fee you owe my client and walk away. Or do you want to get dirty in court?"
Zena turned to look at the man. "How much is the settlement fee?"
"A hundred and seventy million dollars."
Zena's brows furrowed, why did that number seem familiar- 'Wait a minute!'
"Isn't that the amount of money you gave me to relinquish my sons?" She asked Xerxes.
He didn't even look at her nor respond to her question. He just sat there with a stoic expression on his painfully handsome face.
"So you were just going to leave me with nothing?"
"Nothing is a lot more than you deserve Xian." He finally stated. "If you have any conscience, you would sign those papers and get out of our lives."
This shouldn't hurt the way it did. Her heart shouldn't break the way it was, she was not Xian. Those boys weren't her children, this man was not her husband. But why was she so broken. Zena had never felt these kind of emotions before and it was all too overwhelming.
Tears started to flow down her cheeks before she could stop them and she quickly turned away to hide her pain.
One more chance, she just needed another chance to prove she could be a good mother to her children. But she was never going to get that from these people.
'I'm sorry Xian, but I couldn't protect them. I lost.' Shutting her eyes she let out a heavy sigh. 'Why am I even apologizing to you? What help did you give me? You threw me into your body without any foundation or help, what kind of messed up life did you even bring me into?'
"Mrs. Xian?" The attorney called out.
"Give me a break goddamn!" She hissed. "I know, I need to sign your stupid document, I know!"
The man coughed awkwardly as he slid the paper that needed her signature across the table to her with a pen on top.
Zena stared at the paper so intensely as though she was trying to turn it to ashes with her mind.
She turned around and picked up the pen to sign. When a sharp pain caused her entire body to freeze and when she tried to exhale she couldn't. This pain... she didn't know she knew, but she just did. Xian was fighting her.
"Sign the papers, Xian." Xerxes said.
Zena glanced at him, then back at the papers. 'Is this how you want to play this you crazy woman? Fine, let's both die. I am signing this paper weather you like it or not.'
No one but Zena knew the struggle it took, to keep holding that pen. To place her hand on that paper, she was already feeling light headed from the pain, but she kept pushing. Why should she help a total stranger who didn't even want to help herself?
If signing this meant death, then she was going to die, the both of them were going to die today.
They were distracted when the door slammed open suddenly and the sound on a cane hitting the ground resounded in the room. Next thing they saw or rather Zena saw was this old man walking with bright pink hat on his head.
"You will not divorce Xian today," he said.
"That was not the deal grandfather," Xerxes retorted. "I have met your conditions and I am divorcing that vixen. You are no longer the richest Zhen, don't try to work around that, remember your word is your word. It's not some random thing that does not carry weight and actions."
'Grandfather? These people just keep on coming don't they?' Zena thought. But to think of it what about her own family? She had met two people in this man's family and not one person coming to claim her?
"I know what I said and I know what you have become."
"Father, you said yourself that he could get divorced from her when he surpasses you in wealth. You have acknowledged that, you must not force this marriage anymore. My son has suffered enough, we have suffered enough." His mother added.
"But our Xian has changed hasn't she?" the grandfather said looking at Zena, who froze because she did not know what expression she was supposed to return to this old man who commanded such attention despite his withered frame and staining skin. He walked into the room like he owned the air they were breathing and they should be eternally grateful to him with such a fierce command and an iconic cane yet his dark demeanor suddenly brightened the moment he stared at her.
The very first person that had smiled at her since she woke up.
"I am sure I heard her say she no longer wants a divorce?" He asked, but with the direction of his gaze she knew the question was for her.
Zena did not know how she should answer this man. Should she he formal or casual with him? She wondered but truly she had already decided that she wanted this man in her corner no matter what. So she did something she had never done before.
"Grandfather!" She squealed, clinging to the older man's arm. She glanced at the rest of them, to see their reactions and Xerxes' floor bound jaw was enough to tell her she normally did not act in this manner. Good, she was no longer Xian so she would not have any shame.
She made a whiny sound and pushed her lips forward in a pout as she clung to him. "Grandfather, you are the only person that truly listens this granddaughter," her words nauseating even her. "What do I do? Everyone is ganging up on me. They refuse to see that I have indeed changed. I don't want a divorce and I am ready to be a good mother to my children."
"You have changed?!" His mother exclaimed with wide eyes and a wider jaw.
"Yes, she has, mother," Xerxes said. "She has become even worse! Wow, Xian, you keep blowing my mind!"
'The goal is to blow it hard enough for you to shut up forever!' Zena thought bitterly, but she hid that malice deep with her heart and let her expression show nothing but flowers and rainbows and most importantly remorse. This woman was gorgeous. She just needed to use these big beautiful yet sultry eyes to get what she needed from this old man who seemed to favour her for a reason she did not care to understand at the moment.
"Grandfather she lying! She lied! I... she... do you realize what she... Wow!" He simply exclaimed as the absurdity of the situation would just not let him continue to speak. He just stared at Xian with wide eyes and a shocked expression. It seemed all the bad things she had done had not amounted to this because he looked at her with an expression that read even though he was seeing it with his two eyes. He still could not believe what was happening.
"This woman just lied to everyone. Doctors, nurses and her family that she had a delusional disorder pretending she lost her memory, and she was someone else just because she did not want to leave the twins she already signed over to me!" He huffed, suddenly finding the words to articulate the situation. His breathing was coming out in puffs and honestly Zena kind of felt bad for him, he didn't seem like the type to be overly emotional like this, but it appeared this woman had really done a number on him.
"Is that true, Xian? Did you really lie about something so serious?"
'No!' She screamed in her head. 'I really I'm not Xian!' She wanted to say but that was a long gone ship.
Zena was no actress, but she was a person that did not want to be labelled mad, which is what would happen to her if she said the truth.
"I made a mistake grandfather, I made a huge mistake and I did not see anyway to fix it. Like you said I have changed, I am now a mother and I cannot leave my sons." Well, not all of that was a lie.
"And Xerxes? He doesn't want to be with you anymore."
Zena glances at her husband red face and back at the grandfather. "I am willing to do whatever it take to fix my marriage," she said. Meeting Xerxes eyes she continued with a straight face and dead eyes. "Why would I want to divorce my husband? I love him."