It had been a long time since Ellie Chen had flown somewhere solo. It had been many months since she had been traveling anywhere by herself. Now she had to think of her own security as of her change in status had been noted by many. She had quietly flown under a black baseball cap and mask with dark clothing she had bought from a local fishing and hiking supplies store. There had been some cameramen at the airport but they weren"t waiting for her, they had come to interview the Prime Minister. Throughout the flight, Ellie had held onto the letter that Henry had sent her with a heavy heart.Could she call Michael--whom she had unconsciously come to depend on--when she landed to meet her at the airport? Would it be a media storm if she came back to New York City alone? After she landed and cleared customs, Ellie opened her phone and wondered whom to call. She didn"t want to involve too many outside people in her marriage and a lot of her friends were guests at Stanford Hall now as Henry had brought them there. Her husband had kind of unknowingly screwed her in more ways than one. Ellie thought to call Nolan, but knew that he too would cause a huge ruckus which was the opposite of what she needed right now. She finally opened the door to a yellow cab and gave the directions to the Wong Building.
It wasn"t long before they got to the stoop that Ellie had grown to love over her good memories she had in the manor which was balanced on top of the sleek skysc.r.a.per. Ellie quickly shoved her credit card through the offered machine, not really caring that she was overcharged. This piece of mind was worth the expensive cab ride. She had brought her access card so she quickly buzzed herself in to get to the lobby area. Not surprisingly, there was no one there so she went into the elevator and pressed the executive suite. The ride up was an excruciating experience as she wondered how everyone would react.
As the elevator doors open, she was met with Michael who immediately bit his lip. Automatically the man bowed and Ellie felt uncomfortable. He was usually a bit more elated to see her. Michael raised his voice a bit. "The madam of the house has returned before I have properly prepared her room for her. What a blunder on my part! I do apologize for the delay in preparing the house for you."
Ellie narrowed her eyes, she really wasn"t in the mood for pleasantries. There were so many rooms in the house, did it really matter which one she slept in? Henry"s was the only bed that needed to be made. Ellie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Michael, I don"t know how long I"ll be staying. I just . . . where is Henry? I need to talk to my husband." Ellie felt the fury rising in her as she thought about his previous actions. G.o.d d.a.m.n, she had signed legal doc.u.ments with him and him deciding on a whim to leave her was just . . . she needed closure to move on with her life.
"Seeing, Mr. Wong can wait. Why don"t I give you some refreshments while we wait for him to finish. He is having a serious discussion in the sitting room. It seems to be dragging on for a while because he"s with someone he"s having a serious discussion with. I don"t want to disturb him and I"d like to think the conversation pending is on that should happen in private quarters. Don"t you agree with me? Won"t you please come with me? Tea? Coffee? I can whip up a light meal quickly and we could hash some things out if you"re upset with me?"
"You? Michael why would I ever be upset with you? You"re not one to do strange things and leave without reason." Ellie could feel her emotions starting to dawn in her voice as she pushed back Michael into the room that he had indicated. There was old style double door with beautiful gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs that Ellie felt were ominous in their depictions of a snake coiling around the wood. She opened the double doors intently and looked on. Her expression quickly turned to disgust when she saw whom her husband was with. Henry was twined in an embrace with the face that sold a thousand magazines--the heaven itself parted when it made that supermodel. Nadi-she had a name, Ellie reminded herself as she got ready to release a sting of expletives.
She felt the need to physically throw something and at the same time scratch through everything until she had her hands on the opposing woman. The emotion was all encompa.s.sing as she had felt during a harsh race when someone kept cutting her off. She couldn"t wait to run them both over, not that she could ever bring a car up so many flights of stairs rationally. It had all come to this. All the want that had pulled her towards Henry was one sided after all. To think all of her dreams and nightmares were standing in front of her now. Now he had fulfilled the terms of his contract and gotten her to sign away all liability . . . Henry had returned to the place he had wanted to be into the arms of the woman he had pined for.
Her heart had been broken again and she felt the pieces separating when he looked across the room and met her eyes. There should have been shock. She wanted something, she would have taken any emotion at this point--surprise, anger, hate, disgust that she had come this far to confirm what she already knew. She couldn"t imagine a worse outcome after coming so far, but of course Henry had to prove her wrong. He immediately looked sh.e.l.l shocked and whispered her name. "Ellie? You"re here early?" Henry looked from her to the woman he was holding and mechanically pulled away. Instantly his face changed from shock to delight as if he had been hoping she would come. He looked as if he had been waiting for her despite the circ.u.mstance there in front of him? How could he? Here he was getting ready to share a bed with his mistress? What was he thinking? How quickly could he have gone to sharing is bed with her to think she would be ok if there were three in a small cramped bed. Why wouldn"t it cross his mind that such an act would disgust her? Was he even thinking about her in this moment when he was wrapped up in her?