"I don't know where it is!" Kenna cries out. I do. "If you'll just stop screaming at me and-"

"What?!" Antoine yells down at her, making her flinch. "You lost seventy-thousand euros worth of jewellery! And not just that bloody ring, but you gave that Valois brat the gift I gave you!"

Kenna scowls. "It was ugly anyway. They both were. You don't really know me," she snaps, leaving her position.

"Know you?! I'm married to you, you stupid bitch," Antoine replies, grabbing her wrist so she can't walk away. "Look at me!"

"What?!" She cries out in frustration. "Will you hit me again? Go on then! Do it!"

They're in the kitchen. The kitchen has a lot of dangerous items around and right now, she's cooking dinner with knives on the chopping board. Her mind strays to do evil but she won't. She's been brought up to be a good Catholic and harming others is not something she will do or ever do. Unlike others.

"I should," Antoine spits into her face, making her flinch. "But I can't stand the sight of you."

"Good," she goads him. "Then go!"

She jumps when his hand moves to her neck instead and she shrugs, eyes intently staring at his. Then her lips are warm and he kisses her hard, shoving his tongue into her mouth when he pinches her, receiving a gasp.

Then she's spun around and forced into the counter, her dress being unzipped and yanked from her body.

"Antoine, get the fuck off me-"

"I missed you today," Antoine says softly, kissing her back softly. He's suddenly switched, she rolls her eyes. "So much."

Then his hand yanks onto her hair and she swallows hard.

"I was too tired last night," he tells her. "To notice that you stank of him. Armani. I wear Hugo Boss."

"We hugged," Kenna says indifferently.

"No... You did more than that," Antoine whispers into her ear. "I did some investigating you see. Your phone said you were at his house."

"You're tracking me?" She asks, mortified.

Antoine scoffs. "After you wouldn't send me a picture, I had to use other measures. I knew I shouldn't have allowed you to have it. What were you doing, huh? Sipping on wine? Undressing him? Going down on him and giving him-"

"Keep him out of this," she snaps.

"Oh, touched a nerve," Antoine says. "Did I, wife?"

Kenna rolls her eyes. "Yeah," she says, grinning. She's fed up, might as well end things now. "He touched me. I loved it. So, I begged him to do it again and eventually, he ended up in me. Dear God, he was better than you. Just like old times!"

His hand chokes her and she struggles, trying to pull his hand away but then he lets go.

"Say you're lying."

Kenna swallows deeply, shaking her head as she bows it. "Four times," she whispers. "I wore his favourite colour, he poured my favourite wine. Oh, it was like old times. In our bed, in our bathroom, the bed again. Oh, we even tried the floor. God, I missed that floor... I missed that house."

Antoine leaves her side then and he covers his face, a sob escaping his lips. "Why do you do this?"

Kenna looks at him in indifference. "Do what, Antoine?"

"Hurt me? You always hurt me, Kenna," he croaks out. "I love you, can't you see that? What does he have?! Tell me! Tell me so I can give it to you!"

"Antoine-"

"I heard he took you on shopping sprees, I could do that," he says. "He used to buy your jewellery, right? I can call my contact in China and-"

"Antoine," she whispers. "No. I'm done."

She cries out when he yanks onto her shoulders, forcing her body to his. He shakes her, screaming in her face that she's ruined everything. That she's stupid, evil, poison. She destroys him and stands back to watch the destruction she has caused.

"I wish I could just squeeze the life out of you," he sobs out. "To show you how much I love you. You will never know! You fucking whore!"

"Let me go," she begs him.

Then he stops. He turns to the knife she's left on the chopping board and then back at her.

"Antoine, no-"

He grabs it and she runs, heading upstairs to lock herself in the bedroom. She screams when he starts slamming and cursing at the door before he calms down and gently tries to coax her out. But that is shortlived and his anger picks up again.

"I'll kill you, you cheater! You whore! Putain!"

She's shaking, her dress lies on the kitchen floor so she runs into the walk-in wardrobe and puts some leggings on along with a gym top and a hoodie. The banging doesn't stop, making her heartbeat loud every time she forgets for that brief second as she puts socks on and ties her trainers on.

She starts searching for her phone. He locks it away somewhere and she scours the walls, underneath the mirror and paintings. She finds a safe and attempts to get into it but she can't and she curses, sobs escaping her desperate lips.

"Kenna! Baby girl, I'm sorry. I'm calm now! I promise," he calls out.

The banging has stopped. "Go away," she tells him.

"Kenna-"

"Go away!" She screams. "Just go. Leave!"

"You little..." The door handle jiggles. "Let me in. Now!"

Kenna shakes her head, backing up against the wall. "No! You will hurt me!" She cries out, sobbing.

"I promise I won't," he says.

"Y-You have a fucking knife-"

"I won't use it. I was just... It was in the heat of the moment, baby," he tells her, some clanking being heard. "You hear that? I dropped it, baby girl."

Kenna closes her eyes. "Antoine, I'm fucking scared of you. You scare me, you hear that? L-Look at us right now... I can't do this anymore, I don't want this. I don't want you."

"Open the door and we can talk properly."

"I-"

"Please," he begs her gently. "I've calmed down and we can talk about this like adults. I'll meet you downstairs. Okay? I'll go downstairs."

Then there's silence. Kenna peeks through the keyhole and sees that he's truly gone downstairs. She opens the door and leaves it, keeping the key in the door just in case. She bends down and takes the knife, putting it in the pocket of her hoodie.

Kenna heads downstairs and sees that he's poured two glasses of wine and she picks up her discarded dress, chucking it up the stairs.

"Sorry about that, baby girl," he breathes out, coming over to kiss her.

She leans away and he glares at her. "You hurt me."

"I know," he whispers. "I will get help. We can be happy. I mean, we're going to have a baby and-"

"I don't want a baby with you. Not when we're like this," she tells him.

Antoine pales. "Don't say that."

"I'd rather die than have your baby," she says quietly.

Antoine sighs and bows his head. "Tomorrow, you'll feel differently about everything. Today is just... let's forget today ever happened, hmm? I'll forget what you and he did and you forget about the knife."

Kenna slips her hand into her pocket, feeling the handle of the knife. "Yeah," she replies, kissing him.

Antoine smiles into the kiss. "My darling wife."

It sounds wrong from his lips. Kenna always loved hearing it from Bash's lips. He says it in French, more romantic and sexier and his green eyes make everything better and Kenna blinks in surprise.

"I want a divorce," she tells Antoine.

"But we just-"

"I made a mistake," Kenna says to him. "A mistake that could... destroy my life. But I don't want to make mistakes anymore. I'm done with you. I want to leave you and be happy. I can't be happy with you. Not whilst you beat me black and blue. For what? That is not love, Antoine!"

Antoine closes his eyes. "My dad used to beat my mother," he says, picking up a wine glass and sipping it. "My siblings and I would hide. I never knew better. I always thought Jeanne was to blame for our marriage breaking down but... she took my son away, baby girl. Told me she didn't want him to end up like me but I showed her. Guess none of us has him in our custody now."

Kenna doesn't know what to do so she steps closer to him, taking the glass from his hand and placing it down. She presses her lips against his and feels him respond.

"I'm sorry that you will never get to know your son," Kenna says, cupping his cheeks. "That you're just like your father. A shitty excuse for a man and you and I are over."

She doesn't even react when he grips onto her hips.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," she says with a smile.

"I don't think so."

"Well, I do," Kenna says, leaving his grip but he pushes her to the floor.

Just as he's about to punch her, she aims the knife up at him, daring him to touch her. She watches as he scoffs and shakes his head, going back to finish his drink.

"I'm going to get up and you're not going to touch me," she says. "I'll grab some things and leave."

Kenna slowly rises to her feet, walking backwards to the stairs. Her body shakes as she walks and she watches Antoine watch her every move.

Then something switches and the next thing she knows, he's running towards her.

...

Bash is falling asleep as his father drones on about this huge PR mess that's risen. Catherine's scrolling through her iPad, trying to come up with ideas as Francis listens to his father's every word.

It's about eight o'clock now, the sky dark and everyone mostly on their way home or there already. Only Bash, Catherine, Francis, Henry and Narcisse are left, the first four as senior directors.

"What if we spin the narrative?" Catherine asks her husband. "Say that the idea we pitched is the worst-case scenario and then turn it around with an even better option. Present it as their rival's idea."

Henry sighs. "Could work. Francis, wake your brother up."

"I'm up," Bash mumbles, his eyes still closed. "I'm up."

"Did you not get any sleep last night?" His father asks, writing down Catherine's idea.

Bash opens his eyes to roll them. "No. Because things like this evening happen too much lately. You know how hard I work."

"I do. But I'd prefer it if your eyes were open," his father tells him.

"Fine," Bash snaps, presenting his father with his idea. "I thought of this the second we were all seated here but as nobody was willing to listen, I didn't want to waste my time."

Francis looks over his father's shoulder. "This is perfect."

"Like my ideas always are," Bash mutters, getting up. "I need a drink because I've just helped you guys get home on time to kiss your children 'goodnight'. Adieu."

He leaves, not bothering to get his iPad back as he goes upstairs to his office and starts turning the lights off as he grabs his things. He sees Francis through the windows and sighs.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Bash says.

"Kenna looked like she couldn't wait to leave," Francis states.

Bash glares at him. "What do you want?"

"You've been prickly since she left. Even Mother is keeping quiet about everything," Francis tells him. "Talk to me."

Catherine comes out of the lift and heads to them, opening the door. "I know your little ex-wife dumped your arse for the hundredth time, but do not put our company in the middle of it. We still need her skills for this damn floor."

Bash is about to speak but his phone rings and he answers it, not recognising the caller ID. "Sebastian de Poitiers, who is this?"

"Bash?"

Bash freezes. "Kenna?" He asks, watching as Francis and Catherine step closer to him. "Uh, what happened to your phone?"

"H-He, uh, locked it away," she mumbles tearfully. "Can I come over?"

Bash sighs, rubbing his stubble. "Kenna, I thought you said that you'll sue me if I ever involved myself in your life again."

"Amour, please?"

Bash sighs shakily. She always knew how to make him submit. "Okay, fine. I'm leaving work right now."

"I'm sorry about earlier," she tells him calmly. "I was just... Nevermind, I'll tell you when I get there."

"Okay," Bash replies. "See you soon." He hangs up, looking up at Catherine and Francis. "He controls when she has her phone. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess he's hurt her again."

"Do you want me there?" Catherine asks softly.

"Why would-"

"I know what she's going through," Catherine says.

Francis turns to her. "Maman?"

"Your grandfather wasn't the best of fathers, darling," Catherine says. "What your little ex-wife is going through is terrible and she needs all the support she can get."

"What if she doesn't want help?" Bash asks her.

Catherine shrugs. "We still wait."

"I think I've got it for now. But thanks," Bash tells her, preparing his things to leave. "If she really needs more help, I'll call you."

"I will leave my phone on loud just for her," Catherine replies. "Good luck."

...

Her hand creeps down your chest and you stop her, looking down at her inquisitively. She looks like a mess, she's also giving you puppy dog eyes and you roll your eyes but smile, pressing a long kiss on her forehead. It's nice and comfortable, she just needed to get away and you notice the fresh bruises on her body.

"He came at me with a knife," Kenna finally confesses.

Bash jolts right up, checking her body. "What the fu-"

"He didn't hurt me with it," she whispers, shooing his hands away. "I told him I wanted to leave him and I ended up with the knife and-"

"Did you-"

"No! He stopped and told me to get out so I did," she tells him, cupping his cheeks. "I told him about us."

"Kenna, why would you do that? He could have hurt you!"

She shrugs. "I don't care, I don't love him. I never did, he was only meant to be a brief fling but then he became controlling and he'd..." She sighs, bowing her head. "I don't know... He'd be really good most days and then something will happen and he'd take it out on me."

"We're going to get your stuff tomorrow and you're coming home," Bash tells her, kissing her softly.

She smiles into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him tightly before his phone beeps and he pulls away to check it. Her lips attack his neck and he shifts away, trying to see what's come up on his phone.

"Kenna, wait," he tells her gently.

Kenna tuts and sits back down properly, watching what's on the TV. She watches as Bash bites his lip nervously before deleting a conversation and turning his phone off.

"Now, now, who was she?"

Bash looks at her. "Rowan."

"Your new personal assistant?" She asks, putting her feet up on his lap.

"Secretary," he corrects her. "Yeah."

"Why did she text you?"

He sighs. "I was annoyed with you, so I... I kissed her. She's trying to see if there's something more, but obviously not because I've got a queen right beside me."

Kenna smirks. "A married queen," she mumbles. "Oh, God. How am I going to get a divorce? He won't let me, he won't ever set me free."

"Don't worry about it," Bash tells her. "I'll call my family's lawyers, see what they can do about it."

She smiles, taking his hand. "Thank you."

Just as he's about to kiss her, 'her' phone beeps and she sighs, grabbing Antoine's phone from her handbag.

"It's him," she says, showing Bash the text from her phone. "I don't know how he got my password but... he's sorry."

"It's always going to be a repeating cycle," Bash tells her. "Ignore it."

"I can't," she says. "He's my husband."

"Wasn't I, your husband once?" Bash asks. "Whenever I called you, how many times did you reject it?"

Kenna grins. "Because I was always coming home to you. You'd always call me when I was driving or when I was practically at the door. You worried over nothing."

"Sometimes I just needed to hear your voice," Bash says quietly.

"I know," she says, her smile leaving her face. "I'm sorry I rejected your calls. I was just being petty. Upset that you were anywhere but by my side."

He massages her thighs. "I wanted to be by your side. I was just focused on trying to build a future for us that didn't mean we were dependent on my family. As you said before, you were straight out of university when we got married, mortgaged a house and started our lives... If you had waited, we could have been..."

"What?"

"On our second kid," he says, shrugging. "The company was facing liquidation."

"What?!" Kenna cries out. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"My family wanted us to keep it to ourselves," he says. "We couldn't tell our employees that we couldn't pay them so Francis and I gave up our paychecks in favour of everyone else."

Kenna shakes her head in disbelief. "I could have supported you."

"I didn't want to worry you," Bash tells her softly. "You were my wife, I couldn't... I didn't want you to see me differently or to pay for our way of living. I know it's old-fashioned but I was supposed to be looking after you, not the other way around."

"And there I was, choosing gold detailing and diamond door nobs when you couldn't even afford it," she whispers sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She sniffles. "And then I didn't fight for you when you ended things."

"I just wanted to protect you," he breathes out. "The last thing I wanted was a divorce, Kenna. I wanted to separate for a bit, to get my bearings straight and quickly build up our wealth again, but one thing led to another..."

Kenna kneels between his legs and kisses him. "If I wasn't such a stupid, naive woman back then I would have seen that you were perfect," she tells him. "Rich or poor, I would have gone through it with you. We could have still had it all. Be a team like we used to be before we got married."

He slips her hair behind her ears. "You mean everything to me. Everything I did was for you. I love you."

"I love you too," she whispers, taking his top off and working on hers.

She gasps when his lips gently brush over the red marks around her neck and he tuts, shaking his head in anger and disbelief but she quickly moves things along, hoping he'd ignore that for now and just make love with her.

"God, I missed your body," he breathes out against her skin. "Yesterday wasn't enough."

She grins. "It wasn't?"

"No."

"Insatiable."

"Mhm," he hums, biting her earlobe.

The phone rings again and her eyes cast over to it as he works on her neck, making her moan. Her hand grabs it and she sees her phone calling.

"Babe, one sec," she breathes out just as her bra unlatches.

"Antoine?" He asks her.

"Yeah," she mumbles, sitting upright and answering it. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, baby girl," Antoine says quietly, his words slurring. "I shouldn't have got mad. You're right. You're right and I've called a therapist. I'm seeing him tomorrow and I'll be better. I swear, baby. I don't want this marriage to fail as well. I hate being like this. There's so much hate inside me and I... I take it out on those who don't deserve it. I'm jealous because everyone else is happy and I can't let go of the past. Kenna, I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry..." He's sobbing now and Kenna's eyes water, turning to face Bash who shakes his head.

"B-"

"No," Bash whispers.

She shakes her head, taking a shaky breath. "Tonie?"

"Yeah, baby girl?"

"Do you promise?"

Bash is on his knees now, in front of her. "Kenna, please."

"Kenna, I promise," Antoine replies softly. "Oh, God, I promise. Today with the knife... God, I shouldn't have-I feel sick just thinking about it. I'll be better. For you, for our family and for our future children. You're right, we can't have a baby when things are this way. I won't... I don't want them to end up like me or my son. Resenting his parents. Kenna, I swear to you. Come home."

"Give me an hour," she whispers before hanging up and meeting Bash's eyes.

His green eyes are heartbroken and he gets up, pacing the room in front of her. "You're fucking joking."

"Bash-"

"Go home, then. Husband's waiting," he snaps. "Probably ready to beat you black and blue again the second you walk through that door."

"Bash-"

"Get the fuck out, Kenna," Bash cries out, tears in his eyes. "Just... leave."

Kenna lets out a sob and she quickly puts her bra and top on, grabs her things and leaves.

You let out a frustrated yell, running your fingers through your hair as you breakdown on your sofa. You know that she's loyal and that annoys you because it means she will never betray her marriage for anyone. You remember that time, your marriage was threatened because of people time and time again, but you both weathered the storms, coming back stronger than ever. That damn ring on her finger will always lock her into damnation and you know it.

Your household manager enters the room, takes one look at your face and nods, going over to retrieve your favourite liquor. You watch as he pours a glass and moves to start removing anything that links to her.

"Not that one," Bash croaks out, wiping his tears.

"Are you sure, Monsieur?"

Bash glares at him. "Don't touch it."

The manager nods, bowing respectfully before leaving the room entirely. Bash heads to the said item and inspects it. He sips his drink and stares at the glass statuette carved from a still image of him and Kenna on their wedding day, a gift from Francis and Mary. It has blue and purple tints and it's one of their most prized possessions.

Bash downs his drink and drops the glass onto the floor, taking the statuette into his hands and putting it away carefully into a drawer. He sinks to the floor and sighs, closing his eyes.

...

Kenna sighs, closing her eyes. "Do you want me there?"

"If you want," Antoine says softly, resting his cheek on her shoulder as they lay in bed. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Did you mean everything you said?"

She shakes her head. "I was angry," she lies. "I only went to give him the plans for his new desk. I never slept with him."

"I know you wouldn't," Antoine says. "You'd never hurt me."

"I wouldn't," she says, turning to face him. "Hi, Tonie."

"Hi, baby girl," he whispers, kissing her deeply.

She smiles. "Can I really believe you when you say you'll change?"

"I'll do more than change," he says. "I will give you the world."

Kenna blushes, kissing him. "Promise me."

"I promise," Antoine whispers, kissing her cheek. "You're the best thing to ever happen to me. And maybe one day, I'll be able to get my son back and we'll be a family with any children that you and I have."

"Yeah. I can't wait."

"Good girl," he says before blushing. "Sorry."

Kenna giggles. "I love it," she whispers. "Let's sleep, baby."

Antoine nods and she turns back around, burying her back in his chest. Tears leak out of her eyes and she tries to stop herself from crying, taking a shaky breath and feeling Antoine's fingers massage the places he hurt on her hips.

"I'm so sorry, baby."

"I know," she whispers. "I forgive you."