There at the entrance of the building, stood a tall lady. She had platinum blonde hair with heavy make up on her face. Her red dress exposed a lot of cleavage, leaving most of the length of her thighs and legs in full display.
Her grey eyes were stone cold and her lips were curved in a mischievous smirk. Her hand was resting on her protruding stomach. She looked like a model. She was beautiful, almost so perfect... Ellise was starting to feel intimidated.
"Here he comes, the father of my child" she drawled, ignoring Ellise's presence.
Dre stiffened beside her, his brows furrowed.
"I don't know you. I have nothing to do with you. The question is, why are you doing this?" Dre said, before Ellise could say anything.
"Well, are you going to let me in or not?"
Dre hesitated, not moving from his spot in front of the entrance door.
"Okay, I'll just take my leave" she shrugged and began to walk away.
Something was off about her decision to suddenly leave. Ellise knew she would worsen everything and blackmail them if need be.
"Wait"
She halted,
"You can come in" Ellise said through gritted teeth, and she slowly turned to face her.
"You're lucky you have such a wise woman, Alex" the woman said, her gaze not leaving Ellise. Slowly but confidently, she sauntered into the house with Dre and Ellise behind her.
Dre led her into his study with Ellise following closely behind. "I want to talk to him alone" the woman announced.
Ellise frowned, clenching her fist.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Why would I leave you in the same room with my husband?" She hissed
The woman rolled her eyes.
"I see, you don't trust him. It's fine if you want to stay, but I'm really surprised that you still don't trust your husband" she said, mockingly. Ellise knew her words were getting to her and it ticked her off.
"I trust my husband, I just don't trust you" she snarled. The woman burst into laughter, her right hand lazily rubbing her stomach.
"Wow, such a jealous wife. Princess, you're only going to make things worse. I can rip the both of you apart, easily. I don't have to steal your husband, I can give him to another woman. If you don't want that for your marriage, sweetheart, you have to comply" she said, her eyes glinting mischievously.
"Bitch" Ellise muttered, glaring at her with disdain.
She laughed humorlessly.
"By the way, my name is Nadine, not bitch"
Ellise scoffed.
Dre's expression was blank, he stared at her with dull eyes. She walked up to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead and the corner of his lips.
"I trust you" she whispered, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. He nodded curtly and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
When Ellise looked at the unwanted visitor, she noticed how bitter she looked. Her fists were curled up into balls. Obviously, she was jealous.
Ellise smirked and walked out of the study, closing the door behind her. Dominic walked up to her
"She asked you to leave?" He asked, looking surprised.
She sighed.
"She's creepy"
"I just hope we'll be able to get her to stop the threats and everything" he said, running a hand through his hair.
"I'm itching to know what's going on in there" Ellise sighed.
"Relax, honey. Dre will be able to handle this"
...
"What do you want, Nadine? Money? Revenge? What exactly do you want?" Dre asked and she grinned.
"Nothing"
He blinked.
"Nothing?"
"Exactly. You see, I am known as the queen of terror. I get anything I want. My baby has a father. His father is you. You might not remember, but you met me at the club few months before your wedding. In fact, that wasn't the only time we met. After Olivia's death, remember the girl you had a long conversation with? The girl who offered you cocaine?"
Dre blinked when he finally recognized her.
'Hi, I'm Nadia. You look sad. Wanna talk?' she'd said to him, the first time they'd met.
He stared at her, astonished.
How on Earth did he not recognize her in the first place?
'take me home with you'
"No" he breathed.
She smiled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"I must admit, you look even more handsome than I remember" she said.
"Stop it, just stop it" he said.
"All I'm going to take from you is the love and attention you have for your dear wife"
"I'm sure you want to know if it's really your child. Don't be scared, I'll stay here with you until the baby is born. You'll do everything I ask you to do without hesitation. You must not tell your wife about this. You must ignore her and always be with me"
Dre clenched his jaw as he stared at her with anger boiling in his veins.
"What makes you think I would follow your rules?" He asked.
"Oh darling, it's because I have nothing to lose, but you have everything to lose"
"Bullshit" he growled.
She chuckled.
"If you don't do that, I'll punish you. I'll make everyone think you raped me and refused to acknowledge your child. I'll murder everyone you love. It's not a threat, it's a promise"
Dre was tensed now.
'If I play according to her own rules, I'll end up hurting Ellise' he thought
"You're thinking about the pros and cons, aren't you? Maybe I can make you decide faster" she said, pulling out an object with a red button on it.
"I have some men at your wife's childhood home. You have twenty seconds to make your decision. I'm guessing you know what will happen if I press the red button"
Dre stiffened. The timer indicated that there was only five seconds left.
"If you try to wrestle this from me, my men will blow up the house anyway. So, what do you say?"
Dre hesitated.
"Fine. I agree" he rasped, wanting nothing but to snap her neck in half. She grinned and pressed the green button. The timer went off.
"Good decision. I'll see you by tomorrow. Expect my luggages too, sweetheart"
With that, she left his study.
The door opened and Ellise walked in.
"Are you okay? You look pale" She said, looking concerned.
"Nadine-"
"What did she say?"
"She's going to come over to live with us. That's the only way to stop her threats and blackmails" Dre said.
Ellise sighed.
"She can take the guest room, but I don't think I can cope with that bitch around"
"Please, you have to cooperate with me" he breathed.
She nodded, furrowing her brows. Dre had expected Ellise to be more difficult, but she didn't even ask any more questions.
He stood up and left his study with her behind him.
Dmitri walked up to them, but he ignored him. Dmitri frowned and turned to look at Ellise.
"He hasn't been himself since Nadine left"
"He looks tortured... he's terrified, Ellie. Try to find out what's going on with him"
Dre ignored their conversation and stormed to his room. His shirt was suddenly suffocating him, he ripped it off his body. His whole muscles became tense as he walked up to the window. To say that he was pissed would be an understatement. He knew that there was nothing as vengeful as a woman's scorn.
...
It was raining heavily outside. Valentino leaned on the wall, watching the rain as it made contact with the ground. He closed his eyes, his hair being blown about by the cool breeze.
"Someone seems to be in love with the rain" Noelle's voice brought him out of his reverie.
"You're awake" he said.
She smiled.
"Yeah, I guess I was tired and all" she said, stretching out like a cheshire cat.
"You look like you need some hours of sleep too" she said, pouring herself a glass of milk.
"Nah, I'm good"
She rolled her eyes and began to search the cupboard for something.
"Oh, well. I guess I'll have to make a trip to the grocery store soon. We're running out of groceries" she muttered.
She brought her glass of milk to her lips and took a sip. She lazily made her hair into a bun. Then, she walked up to him and sat down on a stool beside him.
"Your hair is getting really long, Rapunzel. Soon, it'll be as long as mine" she pouted, reaching out to touch the silky strands of his hair.
"Damn, look at that. Your hair is so nice, you're making me jealous"
He playfully rolled his eyes and looked away.
"I'm going to chop it all off" he stated and her eyes widened.
"What?! No! You can't do that!" She exclaimed.
"Watch me"
She snorted.
"I won't let you"
"Whatever" he muttered.
"Have you been feeling better?" She suddenly asked.
"Yeah..."
"That's great" she said, rising to her feet. Her t-shirt rode up, exposing the creamy skin of her stomach. Something else caught Valentine's attention. There was a horrible looking scar right there on her stomach.
He nudged her.
"Your scar... How did you get it?" He asked. She frowned and covered up the scar.
Her smile had vanished and she looked tensed. Valentino immediately regretted asking her about it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
She nodded impatiently and left the kitchen, leaving him puzzled.