In a open relationship

Chapter 12

I drop the files at the edge of the table and scurry out of the boardroom .

I already know he is going to blame me for what happened back there when I did nothing wrong , I mumble under my breath ' he should just keep me home as his maid and spare himself the embarrassment , judging by the way he looked at me  after the board meeting he is going to skin me alive , I should prepare myself for what's coming my way as always .

I'm at the reception with penelope who is still sneezing like something got into her nose , an hour later the meeting comes to an end and Ethan leads them all out through the other exit ,after waving them goodbye he approaches me and Penelope , his nostrils are flaring like that of a fire breathing dragon , if the meeting didn't go so well he is going to blame that on me as well, since I don't see Austin anywhere  I'm a 100 percent that the votes didn't go in their favour .

I swallow hard as he is approaching us with his eyes trained on me , Penelope can't even stand straight because of the sneezing , he stops right in front of me , his clenched fists is causing my heart rate to increase , this might be the day I've been waiting for .

I always knew that the  more his anger towards me grows the more violent he'll become , I was applauding him internally the other day  that its been close to five years but he has never even once laid a hand on me despite his hatred , this is the first time he has clenched fists right before me .

my eyes focus on his fist that look like they are about to hit my jaw , I see them raised and I look away ready for the attack .

" why aren't we celebrating already ?!" Austin shouts from across the room, Ethan composes himself and brushes my shoulders , bringing up a smile .

they give each other a bro hug , " congratulations man , I knew you could do it " Austin says .

" I didn't do it , we did " ,he looks so happy that anyone would swear that he wasn't about to hit me a moment ago ,the fear is still very evident on my face . penelope was too busy sneezing she wouldn't have been able to see anything .

" did you hear Mrs Price , I'm sure your wonderful husband was just telling you about the billions of dollars we are about to make through this new development? , we just have to convince Daniel and then Boom its a done deal " Austin says .

" yes , I was just telling her that , and also how about you go home honey and get a change of clothes , I mean bath again you know just to relax " he winks at me .

" I think I'll head out with her , I need to call Daniel and then head straight home to rest , I couldn't sleep last night because of the presentation , I don't even know how many times I had to redo it " .

"No problem, I'll see you at the evening then ?" Ethan gives him a goodbye bro hug .

"for sure .....  are we ready to leave Mrs Price ? " Austin asks , I nod lightly still trying to recover from the fear .

" see you home honey " Ethan waves at me with a grin.

once we exit the office , Austin turns to me , " are you alright ?" 

I nod .

" he was about to ..." .

" oh you saw that ".

" of course , I think the receptionist did too , the fear was written all over her face " 

" great " I murmur as he walks me to my car .

" if you guys scored the deal then what was he mad about ? , I thought he was about to hit me because he was about to blame me  for losing like he always does when things don't go his way " .

he starts being hesitant , " well actually your perfume is kind of ...."he trails off .

I cover my mouth at the realisation.

" yeah, he's mad because he was embarrassed at the meeting , everyone already knows it was you so ..... anyways did you think about what I said ?" he asks .

I look at him " of course I did "

" and?,you saw what happened back there,I believe you with everything in me after what I just saw, the moment I called out to him his expression switched to the most happiest man on earth,someone like that is more dangerous than a snake,you technically have no choice at this point then to do this,do you want your dad to die of a heart attack after your death?,no right?, Ethan will kill you when given the chance , so please put a stop to this now or you will regret it "

I pause thinking about what he just said which is true ,I knew it would one day come to this,he was about to hit me over a perfume, which is also his fault because I didn't have time to  bath,I don't want my dad to ever hear the truth and cause him to hate himself more because I did what I did to save him .

" and that is a yes " he says gleefully ," Come on lets take my car, I already found out where she lives ,lets go and ambush her " he says beaming.

" Really ? ,where does she live and when did you start to look for her  " he captures my attention .

" an hour away from here ,In Dela State and the rest does not matter " .

" if we take your car then Ethan will be suspicious if he leaves and sees my car still parked out here " 

" good point,just follow me in your car then " .

" I really don't have any other choice do I ?"

" nope ,and I don't want you to die just yet I have certain hopes that require you to be alive" he says with a warm tone .

I roll my eyes at him,"you and your weak flirting. let's go " .

I know he's only doing this to win me over but whatever the reason I don't see why I shouldn't allow him to help me and as wrong as this is my fear of Ethan seems to be greater than my guilty conscience

I hop into my car and he heads over to his, now I'm scared of how I'll approach her, I'm sure if she hates me just as much , my number one fear is that she has moved on and probably has a family, if this fails then I'm toast, any day from now Ethan is going to hit me, the next he is going to kill me, I might actually die today because of the damn perfume.