Chapter 2 Ch Two

• Gossip was flying around the mansion of the Meyers and transmitting with the speed of lightning, as soon as one of the maids saw Malcolm making his way into Zoe's room, which was stationed in a hallway, different from the members of the family. They all wondered what was going on as they tried to think and figure out reasons, Malcolm would suddenly come back from work and go straight into her room.
• It had never happened before. For him to enter her room ever since they had been married.
• Their voices rose in speculation.
• "Is he finally seeing her as his wife?" One whispered as she scrubbed the same spot in the kitchen over and over again.
• "Or does he have something important to tell her?" The younger maid insinuated.
• "Could he be mad at her for something she did, and have decided to scold her secretly, unlike the rest of the family?" Another one guessed.
• "What could it be? Or does he suddenly need sexual relief?" The tallest of them smirked with a seductive grin tugging her lips, as they all chuckled amorously and eyed one another at the lewd thoughts she had aroused in their minds.
• "Come on. Mr Malcolm isn't the type to…….."
• They pretended to do something meaningful immediately when they heard the door open, and that was the end of the discussion for the moment. It was the head maid, Beulah, who had walked in, and she was the eyes and ears for Mrs. Meyer in the mansion. They were all wary of her.
• The maids all wondered as they moved in twos and threes, talking endlessly about it while doing their final cleaning for the day before retiring to their quarters. It remained a mystery they couldn't solve, because Malcolm had not come out of his supposed wife's room for almost twenty minutes since he entered. They couldn't wrap their head around it no matter how much they tried to understand.
• The very few ones that were present in the mansion when Zoe had moved into the family as the new daughter-in-law of the family, knew the entire story of what happened after and how miserable her life had been ever since. They all saw how hated she was by every member of the household, and the fact that her husband, Malcolm didn't love her either. She was the one to do all the loving and care.
• …..
• "What…..?" Zoe's voice trembled as she stared at the papers that were stretched to her by her husband, with a suffocating heaviness in her heart without collecting them.
• "Sign the papers, and our marriage will be annulled. Then, you will no longer be a daughter-in-law of this family," Malcolm said to her with a hoarse but calm voice, with his eyes holding no emotions in them as he spoke to her. However, he noticed how bad she was trembling because of the cold, and the bruises that were imprinted on her face.
• "Please, Malcolm. I cannot… I cannot divorce you. I will try harder and be a better wife. Please do not mention divorce. It is not an option for me now," she begged profusely and fell on her knees as hot tears welled down her cheeks at the mention of what she heard Malcolm say. She also struggled with the flu she had developed due to the cold amidst her begging.
• "Edward will come to take the signed papers tomorrow, and the alimony will be transferred to you as preferred. A chauffeur will be available to take you to the airport too. Be prepared," Malcolm informed her coldly without minding her opposition, as her pleas even made him more pissed than he already was.
• "Please, Malcolm. I am not ready to end this marriage now," Zoe begged even more as she crawled pathetically to his feet, sobbing endlessly, and he strutted out of the room after kicking free of her.
• What he wanted was final. It didn't matter whether she was willing or not.
• Zoe had been married to the Meyers family for almost three years through an arranged marriage, and had suffered endlessly because of how everyone in the family treated her. And the fact that Malcolm never loved her and had nothing to want to do with her, made it harder for her to find peace in the marriage.
• She did most of the chores around, cooked, and ran errands that were meant for maids, just so that they would be pleased with her and count her as part of the family. But all had gone into vain in the years of being married. All her efforts were wasted. They just could never love her. And now Malcolm was ready to end their marriage just like that.
• ***********......••.....***********
• The next morning….
• "What are you still doing here?" The voice demanded coldly to the freezing of Zoe, as she turned, aghast, to meet the lasers shooting out of her husband's beautiful eyes.
• His chiseled jawline and captivating greyish-blue eyes hinted at anger, as he stood at the entrance of the huge space he rarely entered. Dressed in a tailored suit that accentuated every part of his muscle-toned body, he exuded an aura of sophistication and a subtle touch of elegance. His perfectly framed face radiated irritation like a halo.
• "I… I…." She stammered fearfully and timorously, as she tore her gaze away from his scary sight before his intense look would scorch her right on the spot.
• She entered the kitchen the next morning at dawn to start her usual food preparations, because she spent the entire night crying and could not sleep at all. She knew it was impossible to go against the wishes of her ruthless and intimidating husband, but she had to do something to show him that she was up to the task of remaining as his wife. That she could try harder to please him and his family as long as they let her stay.
• "Get out of this kitchen now!" He ordered, and the maids that were waiting outside entered. They put their hands around her arms and escorted her out of the kitchen immediately as instructed.
• Zoe begged weakly and tiredly as she was moved to the living room while coughing in between, feeling so dejected and frustrated that all her attempts to beg fell on deaf ears. She just could not divorce him yet.
• Ivy was the first to hear what was going on in the mansion as she alerted her elder sister, Isla, who told their mother, Irene, as every one of them made their way down the stairs from their rooms in curiosity of what was going on.
• Everyone in the family had gathered in the living room already, conflicted about what was going on that early in the morning, which could have led to a ruckus between Malcolm and the wife whom he never looked at. The maids were lurking around the vicinity too to get a grasp of what was going on, following the spread of news that he had been in her room the previous night.
• "I will do better, please," she begged again with tears in her eyes, without minding that her group of nemesis was standing in the room with mean glares. He just had to listen to her and take his statement back.
• His family soon figured out what was going on, but it was a shock to them rather than the joy that they always imagined when such a day would come. Every member of the family always wished that Malcolm would get rid of her for good since he wasn't in love with her anyway, but months had turned into years without him doing anything about his arranged marriage. Like something was holding him back.
• Mrs. Meyer was inwardly joyful and impressed that his son was finally divorcing his poverty-stricken wife, as she took her seat comfortably on one of the couches with a devilish grin dancing around her lips. She had played the most role of making Zoe miserable, and had made the young lady a shadow of herself through her endless mistreatment.
• "Sign the fucking papers, and get out of our house for good!" Aaron, the spoiled grandson of the house yelled under his breath, as his mother, Audrey, pinched him to shut his mouth up.
• "Please sign the papers, Miss Oliver," Edward said to Zoe as he took out the newly prepared divorce papers from the folder on the table, and handed over a ball pen to sign the paperwork, "You can take your time to read it too. A hundred million will be transferred to your account as alimony and compensation for the marriage too," he added.
• There was a collective gasp immediately after everyone heard the amount Malcolm was going to give her as alimony, as they nudged one another and passed uncomfortable stares that had carried unspoken messages. They all wondered if Malcolm was crazy enough to want to give the wife he had never loved millions of dollars as alimony.
• "A hundred million?" Ivy and Audrey called out compulsively.
• 'Had he gone mad already?' his mother wondered with a huge frown.
• 'Miss Zoe must have bewitched the Boss to give her such an amount,' the maids thought in their minds, as they all pondered on how their entire lives would take a beautiful turn if they were given such an amount.
• Zoe's eyes roamed through the pages of the files that were placed before her and she struggled to hold her tears, as the memories of the horrible things she had gone through in everyone's hands came flooding into her head like a broken dam. She could not believe that he wanted to settle her with money after all his family had done to break her. Draining the life out of her.
• "You want me out of your life, right?" Zoe suddenly asked as she studied his signature that was neatly scribbled at the end of the divorce papers, and her gaze met Malcolm's gaze fearlessly for the first time in her life. Her eyes were cold. Everyone was shocked by the sudden switch in tone of her voice.
• Malcolm was taken aback by Zoe's fiery gaze that was suddenly fueled by some sudden unwavering confidence. He wondered if he had seen wrong, and had mistaken her look with the wrong interpretation, because he knew the kind of woman that she had been since they were married. She had never once met his gaze the very few times they had spoken.
• He wondered what was going on in her head, as she continued to look impassively straight into his eyes. Her beautiful partial heterochromia eyes felt like they were whispering rebellion into his soul. She looked like she didn't even care about what was going to happen anymore.
• "Then I cannot take your money," she continued when she realized that he was too disoriented to answer her question, "I do not want anything from you either. Whether it is a hundred million dollars or a hundred billion dollars. You can keep it," she uttered maliciously with contempt.
• "What?!" Ivy let out subconsciously in shock, as her loud voice reverberated across the walls of the deluxe living room amidst everyone's silence and shock.
• They all thought that she had gone bonkers and was out of mind, enough to reject such a huge amount of money. They cursed at her inwardly in their minds, and gritted their teeth while wondering what was going wrong with Malcolm too. They just couldn't understand his choices.
• "I will sign the papers after the compensation part has been corrected and adjusted," she announced insolently to his face.