Chapter 13 Loneliness

• Ryan Harris stood at one of the windows in his large study, looking out unseeingly at the scenery before him, which was that of his gardener tending to some plants. He missed his old house, his old life, but most importantly of all, he missed his ex-wife, Becca. He missed the way her face lit up when she saw him or smiled, the way her presence seemed to light up a room, and every other thing about her. He had not seen Becca for over two months now, the last time he saw her being the day she had come here and he had forced her to sign the divorce papers against her wish. The day he had last made love to her and had been so cruel to her. She deserved it though.
• To think that she had been conniving with her ex-boyfriend, who used to be one of his accountants, to embezzle funds from one of his companies was unthinkable. That act had nearly caused the said branch to become bankrupt, and it was only the quick intervention of experts that he had hired to investigate when he began to suspect something like that if happening that had saved it. Supposing it had been before he met and married her that she had been involved in it, that would not have been such a problem and he could have easily overlooked it. However, according to the man, Peter, it had become even easier for him to divert funds and cover up his tracks after Ryan married Becca because Becca covered up his tracks for him. The man’s goal had been to establish a competing business and then have Becca divorce Ryan and come run the business with him as a partner, both in bed and at work. Ryan shuddered as he remembered that fateful day, the last day of the business meeting in which he had gone to resolve these issues. It had been one of the worst days of his life, because, although he had not married his wife out of love, the truth was that he had come to like her a lot, and was even beginning to fall in love with her, if the heartache that he had been trying to hide behind his anger was anything to go by. He could still remember that day as clearly as though it was the day before.
• Once the experts had completed their investigations, and they had all the information they needed, security had been invited to bundle the thieving Peter away from the premises and into the arms of the waiting police. Ryan didn’t really know the man, although they must have met on some occasions. As security escorted the man out, he had yelled at Ryan,