Chapter Two

When the two of them turned into their street, Lena could already see her husband's Porsche standing in front of their noble home. Instantly, her heart skipped a beat and she felt as if a huge brick had fallen into her stomach. Without noticing, she squeezed Samantha's little hand in hers. She seemed not to care about that, due to her feeling hungry and tired and annoyed and completely grumpy.

Lena straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath and accelerated her pace. How hot tempered could he be, he was away for more than a week. Normally, this keeps him in bearable mood for at least two days. On special days, it almost felt like being back in high school. He would then make her a gift. Not something he found nice or sexy or impressive on her, but something he thought that she would like. Lena opened the gate with her RFID card, softly pushed Samantha in front of her and made sure the gate closed behind them. They quickly made the short way through the well-tended garden and Lena opened the front door by using her keycard again. She sent another quick prayer, hoping Tom would be in acceptable mood today, then opened the door and entered the hallway. In fact, he was not.

"Hello Darling, where are you? Here we are!", Lena sang into the unpleasantly silent house. No response. Her stomach cramped again. She felt sick. Although she did her best to not worry Samantha, her hands were shivering as she took the young man's jacket off of her shoulders. She totally forgot about that, what would Tom say if she saw her with another man's jacket? Blood surged through her veins and she was about to panic. She needed a place to hide it, right away. Although there was no sound noticeable in the whole house, even Samantha did not dare mocking about anything, Tom had to be very close. Lena randomly opened the shoe cabinet, realized that she could definitely not screw the jacket up for making it fit into and let the cabinet door fall back under noise. She shrank back and almost dropped the jacket.

"Mommy, what's wrong with you? Is daddy going to tell you bad names because we are too late?", Samantha asked with such an overwhelming sadness in her voice, that it broke Lena's heart. She felt tears coming up in her eyes, but at the same time, she was not able to turn around and face her little daughter. "Don't worry about that, honey, everything is going to be fine!", Lena assured as she hung the jacket at the wardrobe, making sure many other coats were hiding it. She noticed a movement from the corner of her eye, turned around and saw Tom standing in the kitchen's door case.

He stared right into her eyes with the most frightening expression. Lena desperately tried to calm him with a faked smile while bending down next to Samantha for helping her with her shoes. She thereby managed to bring her little daughter between herself and her husband – he would never touch her in front of Samantha. At least in the past, he did not. She felt guilty for using her as a shield against him.

"Hey Darling, you frightened me! How do you always manage to move that silently?", Lena tried again, trying to appear as relaxed and joking as possible. He ignored her attempt.

"Where have you been?", he hissed through clenched jaws and looked daggers at her.

"We just went to the park… I am sorry, I did not expect you that early… Really, I'm sorry!"

"I told you I wanted you to be here when I come home like what? A thousand times? Are you even too dump to understand that?"

"Sweety, what about going upstairs and play with your barbies? Be a good girl and close the door behind you please", Lena told Samantha with a weak smile, trying to hide how hurt she was. Samantha's face became dark and far too old for her age. She turned around and silently climbed the stairs up to her room without looking at her father once.

"Listen, Tom, I am so sorry. It was all my fault, I lost track of time!", she kept apologizing while staring at her shoes. He slowly came closer until she could feel his warm, alcoholic breath in her face. She winced when he took her chin locked in his hand and forced her to look right into her eyes.

"Why do you always force me saying things again and again? I am not asking for too much, am I?", he whispered dangerously.

"No", she answered, scarcely audible.

"I deserve so much better than you…" That made its way right into her heart. Tears finally flow from her eyes. He tightened the grip on her face.

"I want you to prepare a business dinner for tomorrow evening. I managed to land a very big contract and invited my team for celebrating it. It will only be men so I want you to look stunning, you got that? You better try hard, otherwise I might be extremely disappointed. And I want you to book a catering service. Your cooking is unacceptable. I ask you only once, did you understand that properly? No mistakes tomorrow!" Lena nodded. Tom finally looked pleased and his facial features softened a bit. He let go of her chin, turned around and left through the door to the living room.

Lena was unable to breath. There was a weight on her chest that let her gasp for air. Tears went down her face and she could not prevent sobbing. It took her a few seconds until gaining self-control back.

She turned to the wardrobe again, took the other man's jacket again and went upstairs. She stopped in front of Samantha's room and eavesdropped for any unusual noise. She heard Samantha playing her favorite audio book and singing with it. Lena instantly had to smile, tears still glittering on her cheek.

She turned to the master bedroom, went straight through it and opened the bathroom door. Since the sun laid on the bathroom the whole day, it was very warm and comforting to her. She could still smell a hint of her sweet shower gel she had used this morning.

She turned to the sink, washed her hands, arms and face with ice-cold water. As soon as it touched her skin, she could feel live coming back to her. She already felt much calmer. When drying her hands, she glanced at the black jacket hanging on the edge of the bathtub. That guy in the park really left a lasting impression to her. She wondered what his name was and after hesitating a second, she reached for the suit coat and searched for the embroidery on the inside.

It was highly visible under the designer's name, revealing that his name was Jonathan Brown and that he actually did not live that far away on the other side of the park. Lena could not resist the desire for finding out what he smelt like. She immediately blushed, even though she was all alone in the room. A weird, unknown feeling came up in her stomach, she felt her pulse quickening when she lifted the coat to her face and took a deep breath. His perfume was still easily perceivable. It was a young, fresh scent, offering both woody and fruity facets. She would probably recognize it, since it was a rather unusual scent. She inadvertently thought about him wearing this coat, how the collar touches is neck, gently mixing the applied perfume with the individual smell of his skin. Lena shivered, shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. She turned around and entered the bedroom again. There, she hid the jacket at the bottom of the basket she prepared for the laundry service. She made sure that all other clothes in there would perfectly hide it, then went back to the bathroom again.

Lena changed into Tom's favorite negligee and had just finished brushing her teeth when Tom appeared behind her. Lena did not dare turning around, but stared at his face in the mirror. He was a very handsome business man, one of those who always get what they desire. If Lena did not know his dark side, she would probably find him sexy and appealing.

He closed the door behind him without making any noise. Slowly and without meeting her eyes in the reflection, he came closer until he pushed his body against her back. Lena felt fear emerging in her, mixed with the strange feeling of being thankful, because he still longed for her. Tom hid his nose in her long blond hair. Lena could feel his breath in her neck, making her skin crawl. With tight grip, he reached for her leg and Lena got lost in her own eyes staring back at her turning cold and empty.

Hey there,

I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapters. Please, feel free to review it, I really like to hear what you think about it!

Since English is not my native language, I will be very thankful if you point out any mistakes!