Sienna drove home with tears in her eyes, wondering how many times Major had travelled out under the guise of work to sleep with his mistress, whilst she stayed at home, bored to the depth of her mind, missing him badly, starved of sex, monitoring his social media.
The lonely long nights she slept in that huge empty king-sized bed, craving the warmth of his indifferent presence while he warmed his mistress bed, had passionate sex with her, made her feel wanted and loved and special. She blinked the tears away from her eyes.
Moving from Poland to Italian she didn't have any friends, Major was so busy he didn't keep social circles, and he didn't let her work because he felt his wealth was able to take care of her needs, and his egoistic mind felt that her working reflected his inability to cater for her.
The times she went out to at least enjoy herself, an army of bodyguards trailed her, suffocated her, inhibited her from having the least freedom. She was very much alone and unloved in Major's world.
Her car drove into the carport and she tried to steady her breathing. She has her father angers issues, first thing she wanted to do was smash all the wedding pictures of both of them in the house.
Pictures that looked like they where taken at a funeral instead, with Major's grave face and her forced smiles.
She shakily took her bag from the car, closed the door and ordered her faltering steps to walk straight and confident into the house.
Somehow, in a matter of a year, Major had managed to erode every ounce of her self-esteem. That, and the way he treated her would change after today.
But first, she clanked her bag on the closest settee, and decided to brew herself a good cup of espresso, drink it down and have all her sorrows washed down with it.
She headed to the built-in espresso machine integrated into the custom cabinetry.
Sienna grabbed a cup from an overhead hanger and she looked down at the quartz countertop polished to a mirror-like shine.
Her reflection that stared back at her had disheveled hair that sat on a discolored face, makeup ruined by dried tears, her eyes puffy and red. She stared in awe at her reflection, unable to recognize herself in the mess that stared back at her.
A loud ding at the door jarred her rudely from her line of thoughts, and she has to swipe her face to bring herself to the present. One of their skivvies hurried over to the door but Sienna waved her back. If it was Major, she wanted to give him a piece of her mind.
When she opened the door, it wasn't the chiselled face of Major that looked down at her.
She found herself directly gazing at the gorgeous eyes of his one and only true friend, Reese Carbone. Reese Carbone is the present CEO of Carbone industries, a chain of manufacturing companies covering every sector of production from food processing to machine parts.
He was barely around, travelling from one part of the continent to another, so she rarely saw him.
The last time she was around him was at she and Major's wedding, a year ago. He was Major's best-man. He had come into her dressing room 20 minutes before the wedding, mistaking it for Major's room.
He had muttered his apologies and was about to leave but was interrupted by her sniffling. 'Are you okay?' his unsure voice asked her, not knowing exactly what to do.
She didn't reply, her made up face streaked with snot. 'Did he call off the wedding? His dread-filled voice dropped a notch.
'I wish he did' her voice broke as she spoke. His eyes flicked to his watch, then he quickly grabbed the nearest chair and sat opposite her.
A red silk hanky was tucked into the breast pocket of his suit and he handed it to her so she could blow on it. 'Tell me what's going on'.
'oh, it's too late now' she heaved, fresh tears brimming her lids. 'i need to call the make-up artist. My face is wrecked'.
'A problem shared is a problem half-solved' he pointed out. She handed his hanky to him but he gestured that she could keep it instead.
Sienna folded it in neat squares as she spoke. 'He loves someone else'. 'I wish he'd be indifferent, I could handle indifferent, but the hate stares that he throws at me… Major is a huge scary man'.
He studied her carefully. 'But you love him'.
She threw up her hands in despair. 'I think I do. I just want this to work. I was mostly unhappy under the bondage of my father. I don't want to be unhappy here too'. He was quiet as he listened to her rants. 'but most importantly I want him to love me back too. Maybe not soon, but one day'.
She batted her eyes at him from under her styled lids. 'Knowing Major very well, do you think there's a chance of that happening?
He stood up, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his polished sharply pressed trousers and tutted as he faced the huge painting of both she and his friend in a tight embrace, arms locked around each other, his lips softly touching her hair.
It was an endearing photograph with romantic undertones that would send goosebumps to anyone who saw it. Even he was fooled once, but he's being in their presence the night before for dinner and their lack of chemistry stunned him.
The woman in question was beautiful in perfection, even as she had no makeup on.
'Major is a hard man. Once he's made up his mind about something it's very hard for him to change his mindset about it. If he decides he hates something, nothing will sway him'.
Sienna slumped in her chair, a thick air of foreboding clouding her mind. Trapped childhood, arranged marriage.
'Just act like you don't care' he turned back to face her 'And that will challenge him.'
'Sienna' he beamed at her and made his way into the house as she stood there transfixed.
'Does Major know that you will be coming?' she asked. He gave a gentle laugh. 'Nah, I wanted to surprise him. Today's his birthday'.
Sienna didn't know which was messier; that she didn't know his birthday or that he rather spend it outside, away from her, with his mistress. She sniffed and closed the door. 'He's not in'
'How so, I didn't really expect him to be in anyways. But I saw your pair of shoes outside' he was seated in the chaise longue overlooking the double windows with a view of the dark and beautiful venice city.
There was silence for some moments as she went into the kitchen to retrieve her mug of freshly brewed espresso.
As he heard her steps approach the living-room, he asked 'why would he go out to celebrate his birthday without you? She occupied the high-back couch opposite him, while a skivvy dropped a tray of sandwiches, cookies and coffee on the side table beside him.
He looked up at her. This was the first time he stared directly at her since he came in. When he saw her puffy, tear-swollen face, he dropped the cookie he picked. He swore in Italian.
'What happened Sienna?' She ignored him, slurping on her coffee instead, trying to evade the question. He sat on the edge of the chaise longue. 'Is he hitting you?
A burst of laugh escaped her lips and she choked on her coffee. He crossed over and patted her back gently.
'Have you called Major and told him that you are here? She asked immediately she stopped coughing. She wasn't getting comfortable with him being so close to her.
She was in a vulnerable moment right now, and her body would misinterprete any lond of physical touch. He sighed. ' I've tried his lines severally, he's refused picking up'.
Sienna rolled her eyes to glance at the other highrise buildings beyond the glass windows. 'He's probably busy' she muttered, her words steeped with bitterness.
He gently took the mug of coffee from her hands and placed it on the side stool. Sienna stared at him in shock as he took his hands in hers. 'You need to tell me what's going on'.
The Sienna of last year always had an elegant appearance no matter the occasion. She carried herself with graceful fluidity; her makeup was on par, her dress style always polished; nothing about her was out of place, not even a strand of stray hair.
The woman that was staring at him now with downcast eyes and hollowed cheekbones, her usual groomed hair sticking out from different places was a shadow of her former self.
He could sense an aura of defeat and helplessness around her. He couldn't believe that in a matter of a year, Major had trampled the once arrogant firstborn of Ricci to nothing.