The hostility in the voice did not go unnoticed as my eyes lit up with recognition. Almost immediately, I snapped my head around and found myself coming face to face with Laura, my ex-mother-in-law. She was the last person I would have expected to see here, out of all places. It felt like it was fate, but sensing the sharpness in her tone, I was almost certain that our meeting was not just pure coincidence.
She had the same icy blue eyes as her son, anger swirling in the depth of her eyes as she glared at me with so much contempt and disdain as soon as we locked eyes from a distance.
Before I knew it, she was marching over, heading towards me at full speed. I watched as the corners of her lips curled upwards into a smirk and her eyes flashed with a knowing look just as she reached me.
"How dare you fire my son?!" Her shrill voice pierced through the air in an instant. My eyes flickered down to see that she was holding onto a bottle of something, but before I could react, I watched with wide eyes as she lifted her hand, splashing whatever liquid that was inside that bottle right in my direction.
A soft gasp of surprise left my parted lips, but before the water could splash onto me, leaving me drenched, a figure had slipped in between us just at the very last second. Everything felt as though it was in slow-motion and I could feel someone's arm was wrapped around me, pulling me in closer.
My face instantly collided into the person's chest. I looked up with a shocked expression that masked my features and my eyes fell on Xavier's face, our faces were barely inches apart.
The liquid was splashed right onto his back instead, staining the back of his shirt. He had blocked it for me.
"Xavier…" his name left my lips. I watched as the slimy concoction dripped down his shirt, beads of droplets falling onto the ground, forming a small puddle around us. The stench invaded my nostril this time, it smelt like… rotten eggs?
"Are you okay?" He asked in a low whisper, concern and worry evident in his hoarse voice as his eyes held mine captive. Before I could utter a single word, I was rudely interrupted by a loud thud that reached my ears.
Laura's cheeks were tinged red with anger as she dropped the empty bottle onto the ground in spite.
"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled out loud, my voice shaking slightly from the anger that was burning inside of me. "What exactly did I do, Laura? I did nothing wrong," I said, my voice filled with certainty as I kept my gaze on her.
Silence stretched between us as she struggled to find the words to say. Tension continued to brew in the air with each passing second. I took a step forward, forcing her to step back.
"Did you know that your precious son was involved in multiple cases of bribery? I didn't have a choice, he needs to be fired!" I retorted, my voice carrying a sharp edge to it.
She let a loud scoff emerge from her throat as she looked over at me. "So what if he was involved in bribery?" She asked, remaining arrogant with a smug look etched onto her face. "It was just an honest mistake, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Couldn't you have forgiven him and let it go? You aren't perfect either. Don't think that just because you are his boss now, then you could abuse your power," she spat the words out like they were poison in her mouth.
A cold chuckle left my lips. "Abusing my power, is me faking evidence of his bribery or firing him " This is me being generous and reasonable. He should have counted himself lucky that I didn't report this to the authorities and put him behind bars."
"You –! Blake was your husband. He provided for you and he took care of you all these years. How could you do this after everything he has done for you?! You ungrateful bitch!" She raised her arm but Xavier caught her by her wrist, his grip tightening around her.
"Watch your words," he warned in a deep voice as his eyes were narrowed into thin slits and his face darkened visibly.
Her gaze glanced over to look at him this time and a frown crept onto her face, resting between her brows. She roughly yanked her arm out of his grasp as he let her go.
"So this is the man you left my son for?" She spat with a disdainful scorn as her eyes darted between the both of us. She stepped towards me, her eyes widening as rage spread within her like a wildfire she couldn't seem to control. "I knew it, you are such a slut! How could you do this to him?!" She questioned, her fists were clenched tightly by her side.
"I didn't leave Blake for Xavier. I met him after I divorced your son," I corrected, unfazed by her crude and snarky remarks that were hurled right at me. " Besides…Your son was the one bringing home another woman but I didn't hear you mention a single word about this," I retorted.
"Don't you dare try and slander my son's name. He told me that he was with Stella. They were childhood best friends and they grew up together since they were little kids, who are you to come between them and spout nonsense?!" She snarled. "I bet you are just insecure and jealous, you are probably afraid that my son will one day realise that Stella is better than you and leave you," she commented crudely, thinking that her words had an effect on me when in reality they don't.
"Which is true, Stella is much better than you in every way possible," she continued when I didn't say anything else. "I wish I had tried harder to convince him to marry her back then instead of a useless ungrateful bitch like you!"
"I wished you tried harder too, then I wouldn't be stuck with this miserable life for the last two years," I retorted, my sharp voice piercing through the air. "If you love her so much, why don't you get her to marry your son now? She's practically throwing herself on him."
"You –!"
Xavier stepped forward, putting his arm between us when I held his hand and shook my head lightly to which he immediately understood what I meant.
"What? Did I hit a nerve?"