Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness novel Chapter 74

"You were drunk?" Melinda asked sarcastically. "What a totally lame excuse." She couldn’t believe this was the best excuse he could come up with. No matter how hard he’d explain it, there was no denying that men tend to think with their dicks. Who was to say that Jonas was any different?

"Melinda, I’m telling you the truth, I swear!" Seeing that nothing he said seemed to come through to his wife, he heaved a defeated sigh. "What more do you want from me?"

"What I want from you?" Melinda scoffed. "I never asked for an explanation to begin with. What, did you maybe expect me to feel grateful that you offered an explanation?

Should I have just forgiven you when you said it was an accident? Should I have consoled you and told you it was Holley’s fault, that she took advantage of you?" Melinda’s temper spiked. Those thoughts had been swirling in her head, but saying them out loud gave them more weight and only served to fuel her fury.

She had the urge to throw things and scream until her voice gave out. But she would do none of that.

For one thing, the only object available for throwing was her laptop, and she had important files stored in it. Besides, she would never behave in such a shameless manner, even if the situation did in fact warrant such a reaction.

"I’m so sorry, I promise, I’ll handle it." Jonas hung his head and closed his eyes, looking utterly defeated. For a split second, Melinda felt a shred of sympathy stir in her heart.

It may have also been due to the fact that Jonas seemed hell bent on rectifying the problem, which was unexpected given his personality.

Then, as if programmed to keep her on course, Melinda’s brain reminded her that at the end of the day, the fact remained that Holley was carrying her husband’s child.

She quickly shrugged off her merciful thoughts, and her walls were back up. This was how it always went in the past; this was why she suffered for the past five years.

Well, no more. She wouldn’t submit herself to further humiliation and abuse in the hands of this man. Without another word, she took her laptop from the table and walked away from Jonas with her head held high.

It hit her husband more than she could ever know. He knew that he was in the wrong, and that everything was his fault. He wished his wife sneered at him and shouted and raged. He wasn’t entirely sure what he would do if Melinda had decided to act that way, but he knew that her cold indifference hurt more.

It was as if she had totally given up on him. It was as if she no longer cared, as if he no longer had any chance with her.

It was quiet in the mansion that night. Even the servants had a somber air about them as they served their masters and mistresses. The Gu family dined separately, and did not speak to each other.

Jonas spent the entire time brooding in his room. He would brood in his couch, sometimes pace the length of his study. He was constantly sighing, and would rub his eyes and temples wearily.

The shrill ringing of his mobile phone broke the heavy silence of his study, and Jonas took a quick glance to see who it might be.

It was Holley. Jonas smashed the receive call icon on his screen and immediately went off like a loose cannon.

"Holley, this is your last chance. Take the money and go to the hospital tomorrow to get rid of that child. If you don’t, not only will you never receive a single cent, I will personally make sure your career is over and your entire life ruined."

"Jonas, I didn’t mean for the rumors to spread. It was an accident, I swear!" The threat in Jonas’s voice was very real, and Holley’s top priority immediately changed into appeasing his wrath. She rambled on with her ridiculous excuses about how someone must have heard her muttering to herself and then tattled to the press.

"That’s enough," Jonas boomed over the phone, his voice firm and unforgiving. "Get an abortion tomorrow, and tell the press they were mistaken. You know what will happen if you fail to do this, Holley."

"Yes! Yes, I’ll do that tomorrow, I promise. Don’t worry, Jonas, I’ll—"

He hung up right then, not even letting Holley finish with her inane prattle. He wasn’t exactly sure if it would do much to remedy the scandal.

Internet trolls were not unlike leeches, feasting and sucking off on whatever salacious piece of meat got thrown into the web. But he had to do whatever he could.

At the other end of the line, Holley stared at her phone screen as the call disconnected. She threw the mobile aside and slumped back on her bed.

"Don’t blame me for this, kid," she murmured as she ran a hand over her belly. "I have no choice; your real father is a pathetic, poor nobody."

She no longer felt whatever little attachment she had developed in recent days. Her circumstances had taken a major 180-degree turn; she had no room to think about anyone else besides herself at this point.

Jonas’s threats kept playing over and over in her head. She couldn’t let that happen. It was indeed best for her to grab the money and make full use of it.

She picked up her phone again and dialed the hospital number Jonas gave when he sent her out of the Gu's mansion and made an appointment. The following day, she donned a coat, a face mask, and large sunglasses, and exited her apartment.

Holley was horrified to find a bunch of paparazzi littered outside her building, obviously scouting the place for a possible scoop on the scandal. She was about to flee back into her apartment when she was grabbed by the arm and pulled aside.

She was about to scream when the stranger put a hand over her mask-covered mouth and quickly explained that he was sent by Jonas. He had anticipated this scenario, and sent men to ensure that Holley went through with the abortion without a hitch. Jonas had thought of everything. He was, without a doubt, a frightening man to cross.

After clearing the matter up, a few other intimidating men came up to them, and escorted Holley to her car. She was carefully hidden from the view of any media present on the scene, and was soon revving her engine and heading to the hospital.

It was rush hour by the time Holley pulled into traffic, and she was tapping on the steering wheel, waiting for the green light, when her phone vibrated from the passenger seat. An unknown number was calling. She hesitated only for a second before plugging in her earphones and tapping the receive call icon.

"Holley." It was a woman’s voice, and it sounded young, but with a hint of menace to it. It also sounded familiar, but Holley couldn’t figure out who it was at the top of her head.

"Who is this?"

"It’s Emily Bai." On the other side of the line, Emily had her eyes glued to her computer screen as she talked. She was looking at tabloid articles about Jonas’s scandal.

"Why are you calling me?" Holley asked. This was a surprising turn of events, to say the least. The two women had never spoken to each other.

They didn’t run in the same circles, after all. Holley was a model, and Emily was a rather well-known actress. They had little business sharing projects, even though they were both in show business.

But wait. A thought occurred to Holley. They did have something in common: Jonas. She remembered a while back when articles would come out alluding to some sort of romance between Emily and Jonas. Was that why the actress was calling? Were she and Jonas about to do something to Holley because of the scandal?

"Why are you calling me?" Holley asked nervously just as the traffic light turned green. She stepped on the gas and found a safe curb to pull over. Driving while having this conversation would probably be a bad idea.

"You don’t have to be so on edge," Emily said, laughing a little at her obvious discomfort. "I’m actually calling to help you. You’re pregnant with Jonas’s child, right? I bet he wants you to have an abortion as soon as possible."

Holley’s wariness of Emily was growing by the second. It wasn’t just her words, but her tone of voice. It was also the fact that Emily seemed to know a lot more than she had any business to.

"I will give you a large amount of money," Emily continued, "if you make it look like Melinda made you lose the baby. You are going through the abortion, anyway, aren’t you? We might as well take advantage of the circumstances."

At the mention of money, Jonas’s earlier threats flew out the window and Holley zeroed in on the proposition before here. To be honest, she also despised Melinda.

If she had any means to drag that bitch through the mud, then she wouldn’t hesitate at all. The fact that she would also be getting money out of it was an added bonus. "What did you have in mind?"

"Melinda has an appointment at the central square this afternoon. I will tip off the media so they can be at the scene. I trust you know what to do."

"You’ve made the necessary arrangements, then?" Holley asked. "I just need to do my thing?" Scheming women could easily read other women’s schemes, after all. When Emily confirmed this, Holley found herself thinking what a bitch the actress truly was.

When she looked back on how sweet and adorable acted in front of the camera, and compared it to how vicious she was being at the moment, Holley realized that despite her own selfish machinations, Emily was on another level. And that Holley was still rather naive to have been fooled by her good girl act.

"I’ll transfer the money to your account as soon as the news breaks out. Don’t let me down." They cut the phone call, and Holley turned on her radio to some upbeat music as she drove to the downtown square.

At that moment, Melinda was just about to leave the mansion. Nelson had assigned bodyguards to her, given the delicacy of the whole affair. To their credit, there weren’t many members of the press who dared to approach the Gu's mansion for a statement on the scandal.

The conglomerate family had a vast influence over numerous businesses and institutions, and the media had to be careful if they wanted to test that power.

Melinda was going out to meet a writer friend that day. They had much to discuss regarding their projects.

In truth, she needed to get her mind of the scandal, and getting out of the house afforded her to get a breath of fresh air, far from the heavy and tense quality that presided over the mansion over the past couple of days.

Thankfully, her friend didn’t bring up the tabloid news, and instead talked about many interesting things. The brief excursion brought much relief to Melinda.

Meanwhile, Holley had been wandering the central square for a while now, looking for Melinda. They had no idea where she might go for her appointment, exactly, only that it would be in this damn mall.

Holley finally spotted her target, but Melinda was already leaving and being escorted into the family car. She quickly jumped into her own car and gave pursuit.

Emily, on the other hand, was keeping vigilance on the web, anticipating the scandal between Melinda and Holley to break out any moment now. Out of the blue, her phone started pinging, numerous messages coming in consistently one after the other.

It was the paparazzi people she had tipped off. They were demanding the scoop, saying that they had been on location since noon. It was late in the afternoon now, and still nothing was happening.

'That useless bitch Holley!' Enraged, Emily quickly pulled out her SIM card that she bought for temporary use and chucked it in the trash to stop the incessant messages. She pulled at her hair and screamed in frustration.

Melinda was feeling lighter than she ever had since earlier that one week, and she was even humming in her mind as the family car cruised through downtown. Then, something caught her eye. "Stop the car."

The driver pulled over in front of a quaint pastry shop. Right behind them, Holley also stepped on her brakes. She watched as Melinda got off the car by herself and entered the shop.

Chen's pastry shop had been there for many years, and was rather popular with the locals. A line to the counter was a constant sight within the shop, and the store owner issued guidelines for desserts to be ordered beforehand in order to manage the influx of customers.

Since Melinda was a friend to the owner for several years now, she was exempt to such rules. As soon as she stepped foot inside, the owner waved her over to the counter and asked what she wanted to have.

Melinda got her favorite peach blossom shortbread, which was her go to comfort food whenever she was in a bad mood. After chatting for a bit, Melinda paid for the pastries and turned to leave.

As she pivoted, someone suddenly slammed into her with a force that flung her back against the counter. The package went flying out of her hands and shortbread was strewn all over the floor.

Holley was crouched before her, apparently hitting a table after she bumped into Melinda. She had one hand over her stomach, and trails of blood were trickling down her legs to her very high heels.

Melinda’s eye twitched at the sight. She felt an overwhelming sense of dread.

"What happened?" Mrs. Chen, the owner's wife, went around the counter to see what just happened. "Oh my, is she bleeding?" She quickly grabbed her phone and called for an ambulance.

The few customers inside the shop were already gawking, some taking out their phones to film what was happening. Holley was a celebrity, after all, in her own way. And in light of the recent scandal that involved her husband, Melinda was easily recognizable as well. Holley was well aware of it all. This was going better than she had hoped.

Melinda was in a daze. Her eyes flitted back and forth between the shortbread on the floor and the blood on Holley’s legs. In her mind, snippets of the time when she had her own miscarriage flooded and overlapped each other, blocking all coherent thought.

"Melinda, how could you?" Holley screeched, hamming it up for everyone who was watching. Her shrill voice broke through Melinda’s trance. "Why did you have to push me? I know you despise me and the baby, but you shouldn’t have! This child is innocent!"

Melinda was speechless. Vaguely, she could sense that Holley had enacted yet another clever plot, but her brain was scrambled by the memories of her own trauma.

She couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation for what happened just yet. Despite that, she knew in her heart that Holley had planned this, and she did everything on purpose, even the miscarriage.

The ambulance arrived soon after, and the wailing Holley was taken to the hospital. Melinda’s bodyguards stormed into the shop and brought her home.

The moment they arrived, news already broke out that Holley lost the baby. Melinda was still in a state of mild shock; her eyes were unfocused and her movements robotic. No sooner had she stepped inside the foyer than, Yulia was in front of her, screaming and berating her.

"You vile, heartless woman! That was my brother’s child! How dare you play your evil, dirty tricks and destroy a human life all because of your jealousy! Have you no conscience, you witch?"

Melinda could hear every word, but she somehow couldn’t break out of her daze. If anything, what Yulia said only made her sink deeper into it. Seeing Melinda’s face grow paler only egged Yulia on, and she relished the opportunity to insult her sister-in-law.

"Is this because you couldn’t protect your own child when you were carrying it, now you want to mess with other women’s pregnancies as well? You shouldn’t take it out on anyone else. It was your own fault you lost our baby!"

Melinda opened her mouth to say something. Her throat worked, but nothing came out. She had no voice to speak with, and her vision was assaulted by horrid memories of her miscarriage.