Alive Again (English Version)

21.I Don't Need You

21.

I don't need you to tell me who I am or what I'm meant to be
(Asking Alexandria-I Don't Need You)

Clarke was in the car, at a traffic light. She had decided to go to Wallace. She needed to face him and terminate her contract. The mere thought of having worked for the man responsible for her and Lexa's unhappiness made her angry like never before. She felt exploited, deceived, treated like an object devoid of any value. She shook her head. How could she be so blind? How could she not see what was really going on? She had been so hasty to blame Lexa. She should have investigated, understood the truth right away. Not that she hadn't tried. She had called her for a week, every day. She had texted her, even sent her a letter. The rare times she had managed to meet her at some events she had tried in every way to approach her, in vain. Lexa had become elusive, impossible to reach. Clarke cussed. She hadn't been able to read the signals the right way. Now that she thought about it, it had always been clear that something was wrong. Lexa had never been particularly expansive or cheerful, but since she had left the Arkadia set she had become particularly melancholy and her gaze was always veiled by a perennial note of sadness. How did she not understand it? How? An annoying horn sound brought Clarke back to reality.

"I get it, damn it!" she blurted, nervous. She hated Beverly Hills traffic, she found it unbearable. The car behind her, a blue Porsche Panamera, kept honking, making it impossible for her to drive. Clarke pulled over, now at the end of her rope. She waited for the Porsche to pass her, on a nervous wreck.

"Great, now go!" she yelled, leaning out the window and waving her middle finger. She sat back and laid both hands on the steering wheel, closing her eyes for a few moments. She breathed in and out, slowly. As soon as she calmed down, she left. She arrived at her destination in less than fifteen minutes. Dante Wallace lived in a huge mansion, in the middle of a beautiful English garden. In addition to a heated Olympic swimming pool, the producer had also built a tennis court and a soccer pitch, so his nephew could play his favorite sport, and had created an artificial pond, full of fish. Clarke had only been at the Wallace Estate a couple of times and she happily remembered that. She had been comfortable all the time and the producer had also convinced her to challenge her son to a tennis game that, surprisingly, the actress had won. If only she had known who she really had to deal with. Clarke sighed. By now it was useless to cry over spilled milk. She hadn't been able to save Lexa three years earlier, but she could still do something. She could change her present and her future. She had to do it, for herself and for Lexa. She wouldn't have worked for that man anymore, even at the cost of no longer finding a single production to star in. She got out of the car and walked to the large green gate at the entrance of the villa. She took a deep breath, trying not to panic.

"It's showtime."

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"What are you saying? I can't understand." Lexa said to a rather lively Ethan. The baby was sitting on her legs and kept making verses, between laughter. Lexa was talking amused to him and the two had had a decidedly absurd conversation. Ethan stretched out his little hand and clung to the actress' hair, making her moan in pain. Hardly, Lexa managed to convince him to loosen his grip, getting a rather annoyed look from the baby.

"Someday he will rip it off." Anya commented, suddenly popping up from the kitchen.

"Damn, I hope not." Lexa replied, looking at Ethan. Anya burst out laughing and sat next to her friend, fondly caressing the baby's head. Ethan turned around and smiled at her, clearly happy to see her. Anya stroke his cheek. She raised her gaze, until he crossed Lexa's.