A Woman's Empire

LIII

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

Audrielle woke up to the noise of birds chirping wildly outside her bedroom window. She stared at a sleeping Ben next to her, his mouth slightly ajar as he lightly snoozed. His arm was draped over Audrielle's bare hips and she gently turned over to see that it was only seven in the morning. Rolling back over and wrapping her arms around Ben, she began to close her eyes, trying to fall back asleep.

She was suddenly jolted awake when she heard Orlando's laugh echo through the house. Gently, she lifted Ben's arm and slid out of bed, and grabbed the closest piece of clothing to her which happened to be her summer, silk red robe.

Audrielle quietly left the bedroom and headed towards the living room where Orlando's voice seemed to come from. She picked up a toy car from in the hallway and just as she was about to tell Orlando to go back to sleep, she made eye contact with someone who she hadn't seen in several years.

Audrielle was shocked to say the least. She couldn't form any words because her throat was suddenly dry and her feet wouldn't move from their spot planted by the door way.

"Mommy!" Orlando exclaimed, running to Audrielle and hugging her bare legs. However, she didn't break eye contact with Leo who sat on the sofa in all his glory with toys scattered around the floor.

"It's nice to see you again, Audrielle." Leo smiled, standing up to greet her. He walked closer and reached his hand out to shake hers but she took a step back, her back hitting the wall behind her and startling the confused woman.

Surely this is just a stupid dream...

But no matter how many times Audrielle blinked her eyes or pinched her skin, Leo was still standing in front of her. "You need to leave." Audrielle cleared her throat and stated.

"Everyone's up early this morning, should I make us some pancakes for breakf-" Ben suddenly called out from down the hall until he stopped in his tracks when he saw Leo standing in the living room.

"Babe, who's this?" Ben asked Audrielle and Audrielle could see Leo's jaw clench and his eyes darken when Ben addressed Audrielle by the term "babe".

"Me? Oh, I'm Audrielle's husband." Leo muttered, plastering a fake smile on his face. Ben turned to Audrielle with a surprised look on his face, as if he was asking Audrielle if it was true or not.

"Care to explain?" Ben asked and Audrielle bit the inside of her cheek.

"This is all a misunderstanding and I'll explain to you later." Audrielle replied, secretly pleading with Ben to not drag the conversation on.

"I believe that Audrielle here did not bother to aware you of our marriage and as for the explaining, if she utters a single word to you about me, I'll have to kill you." Leo shrugged as he burned holes into Ben's head.

"I don't know who you are buddy, but your little threats don't scare me." Ben chuckled and glanced over at Audrielle who had her head down and her eyes gazed on the floor.

Leo stepped closer to Ben so he could say things that Orlando wouldn't be able to hear. "Listen here, I will give you ten seconds to grab your shit and leave this house before I have someone fire bullets at you while you run down the street naked and terrified for your life." Leo growled and Ben nervously chuckled.

"Audrielle?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "It's true. Grab your things and leave peacefully while you're still alive." Audrielle whispered, afraid to see the hurt lurking in Ben's eyes.

Ben grabbed his things from the bedroom and left without muttering a single word and Audrielle's shoulders hung heavily. After an awkward silence, Audrielle finally spoke up.