Belonged to Him

Alleviate

Henry was sifting through a mountain of mail and papers, shocked at the overwhelming pile of work, especially in finances. Large sums of money were withdrawn under his name, and he never, ever drawn that much money. Henry's anger surged as he thought about how his hard work was being exploited. He was going through the bills again, for the third time. Who was that ballsy to do this right under his nose, he thought. Then again, if they knew him, the real him, they would die every day for this amount of deceit.

Will barged in, and his expression was quite alarming. Henry noticed it immediately and knew whatever his friend got to say, it would piss him off. Could this day be any more exhausting, he thought. Will took two long, deep breaths and said,

"Henry, please be calm. This news is nowhere good." Henry raised an eyebrow but chose to remain silent.

"Alright. So, there is an explosion at home -" Henry stood abruptly and yelled,

"WHAT?" Will retreated a step and spurted the information.

"Asteria did it. I don't know how, but your mom's room exploded. They are saying it looked like a Short circuit, but the important thing is, please watch this video." He put his phone on the desk.

Henry grabbed the phone right away and looked at the video. It was the CCTV capture of the back gate, and the timestamp was 09:05:20. His eyes widened when he saw a figure in a dark dress that barely reached the knees and a white shirt. He could detect her even if she was hidden amid a thousand members. She ran to the gate, and he exclaimed, "What the fuck" when he saw her toppling over the gate.

"Where. Is. She?" Henry emphasized every syllable, and Will felt as if the oxygen had suddenly been sucked out of the room.

"Where the fuck is she?" Henry roared and smashed the glass table, shattering it. A sharp piece jagged his right hand. Blood oozed out.

"Henry, please-" Will stepped further and wrapped his wound in his handkerchief. But Henry pushed him off and said,

"I don't need your fucking sympathy. Where is she?"

"They checked everywhere, and we got the info that she was last seen near Uni X, talking to a girl." Will can see the gears running in Henry's mind.

"So if she was near UNi X, she might have gone into the uni, but the airport is not that far either," Will said, trying to fill the hope. Henry unfastened his tie and removed his coat.

"She could be anywhere. Search all the bus stops, and that campus. I'll go to the airport. We have to find her in an hour, Will." Will handed over the keys, and Henry left the room but stopped dead in his tracks.

"Fetch Sebastian. Ex bodyguard. I need him in the dungeon." Henry growled, his jaw clenched with determination.

"Henry, are you sure he might be after this?" Will knew no one, not a single soul, who went into the dungeon had ever emerged alive. Will knew Seth might be a pompous man, but he was a good person.

"Hell! If I knew he helped her, his whole family would answer for it. In the dungeon, now!" Henry walked away with rage consuming him every passing minute. How could she leave him? He slammed the car door and began driving like a lunatic. Henry was aware that she would be utterly terrified and detest him, but the thought of her leaving him had never crossed his mind. What if he lost her forever?

"It was your fault, idiot. You scared her away", his inner voice reminded him. His heart was hammering, and the beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was almost on the highway when he got a call. He immediately answered it without even looking at the ID.

"Yes?"

"Hello, Mr Luciani. It's me, George Clyde." Henry rolled his eyes. Why this fool was calling me, he thought.

"Not now, Mr Clyde. I was a bit busy at the moment." He was almost about to end the call when George said,

"Busy as in searching for your wife?" Henry slammed the brake on his car. He connected the dots real quick.

"She is here, Mr Luciani," George said.

"I will be there in five minutes," Henry said, hanging up the phone. He steered the wheel to the right, made a U-turn, and speeded to Maple Street. The knot in his stomach began to loosen as he reassured himself that she was safe at home, but he knew he wouldn't truly relax until he saw her in person.

As soon as he dashed into the house and her father led him to her room, his heart was pounding hard, and his breath was hysterical. She lay on the bed, her foot carefully wrapped in a bandage. A low blow on the belt. Another percentile increase in the guilt rampage. And she was quivering and muttering something. He longed to run to her, hug her, and pour out his remorse, vowing never to inflict pain upon her again.

"You gotta be kidding me. Did you run in those clothes? With barefoot?" His voice sent shivers down her spine. She gasped when she saw him. Two tear drops strolled down to his chiseled jawline. He walked further and sat on one knee, slightly grazing her feet. She flinched at his touch.

"If you wanted to come here, you should have just asked me. Why did you go through this trouble? Did you run all the way?" He said, sounding hurt. Asteria didn't answer. Was this a new game? A new game to manipulate her and torment her? He raised his hand, and Asteria unconditionally covered her face, expecting a tingy slap. He sighed and looked around. There were tons of books and papers on the table.

But three red rounds on the spiral blue calendar piqued his interest. He hastily reached the calendar, and the dates marked were 12, 13, 14. The circle around the 14th made him feel uneasy. It was the wedding day. He looked at her. She was still covering her face. He moved close to her and asked in the gentlest voice he could,

"Asteria. Please, please answer me this. Why did you mark these dates, or who marked them?" Asteria's face clouded with confusion, and looked at the dates he had shown.

"Uh... I think I have an exam. Yes, I had a lab practical exam for the three days. I always round up the exam dates in red." She answered, but his gears were still running. So she had the exam on the wedding day, and she had no phone, but there was an iPad, he thought. He quickly disconnected her iPad, which was only at 15% battery, and passed it to her.

"Unlock this one." Asteria immediately unlocked her iPad. Henry sat beside her and went through the apps.

"There are no social apps. How do you connect with your friends?" He questioned her. Ria immediately opened the mail and said,

"Well, papa doesn't like those things. He always checks my iPad. I use email to chat with my friends." The moment Henry opened the inbox, there were at least 400 messages.

"Wow!" He raised an eyebrow.

"I only have three friends, but they tend to send one message at a time," she said meekly. Henry was lost in his thoughts again. There was no possible way Ria helped her, not even one logical way. She was busy preparing for the exam and using Wifi only iPad with no other social app except mail, and then planning an escape route was nowhere sensible. He put the iPad on the bed, skimmed through the calendar, and saw markings on five alternate days.

"And these dates?" He pointed them to Ria.

"Oh, these are year-end exams, uh, final exams. Oh, I forgot about them. Within two weeks?" She yelled but quickly calmed down and said, "Oh!".

"Well, we will pack the books you need. Looks like you have less time." He said with a little smile. Asteria gulped in fear. What was he playing at? She looked at him with tears streaming down. She had no energy to play these mind games.

"Are you luring me to come to that house?" She asked him, looking straight in the eye.

There, another blow to the belt. Henry flashed an agonized smirk, feeling his heart shatter even more.

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Hellooooo my book fairiesssssss!!!! Hope you're alll doing well! I was so happy when I saw those votes and comments. It encouraged too intensely aanddd, Voila✨!!!New Chapter in one day🍾. That's the power of your love and support 💟🫂. And for the picture I used, credit goes to the og owners.

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