7 Home
1/3
He silently cursed at whoever was calling before he snatched his phone from the nightstand but Madison already knew who it was before he saw the name flashed on his screen.
A wave of annoyance hit her. Even though she wasn’t fully on board with having sex with Ethan this way, that didn’t mean she was happy about the intrusion especially if it’s from Maya.
Ethan cleared his throat before he said. “Hey, why are you still up?”
“I miss you babe.” Maya squealed from over the phone. “It’s so lonely on this big bed all alone.”
“I miss you too. I would’ve come tonight but something came up but I’ll be there tomorrow.” He said.
Madison could feel the anger swirling within her. She was angry about how gentle Ethan spoke to Maya and the audacity he had to even speak to her when she was just right beside him, especially when they almost slept together.
“Tomorrow’s so far Ethan. I really wish you were here tonight. Are you sure you can’t come?” Maya
sighed.
“I’m sorry babe but I can’t. It’s quite late. Just go to bed and I’ll be there first thing tomorrow
morning.”
Madison couldn’t take any more of their lovey dovey banter anymore.
“Babe,” she called out. “Who is that? Tell the person to call back tomorrow and come back to bed!” She said it loud enough for Maya to hear. Ethan glared at Madison.
The silence that followed was deafening and Ethan looked at Madison with a pointed glare.
A moment passed before Ethan cleared his throat and spoke.
“Babe, why don’t you go to bed and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
There was no reply, it was suddenly silent over the line. Ethan looked at his phone, checking if she had cut the phone but she hadn’t.
“Maya, are you there?”
Moments later someone came rushing to the phone screaming frantically.
“You have to help! Ms. Maya is trying to hurt herself. She has a knife!”
They could hear muffled sounds of someone crying in the background.
Ethan quickly jumped out of bed; he ran around the room looking for his things but Madison didn’t
move. She knew it was a setup and Maya probably ordered her maid to do that.
It was the oldest trick in the book, playing the damsel in distress.
Ethan without even sparing her a glance ran out of the room.
7 Home
2/3
Olivia had heard all the noise and came out of her room. She saw Ethan looking around frantically for something.
“Ethan what are you doing?”
“I need my car keys, mum. Where are they?”
“Your car keys? Where are you going? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Something came up, I have to leave.” Ethan knew better than to tell his mum he was going to Maya’s house. She didn’t like her and had been looking for every little chance to remove her from his life.
“What could be so important that you’re rushing out in the middle of the night?”
“We’re going to the hospital,” Madison said from behind her. “My stomach is hurting.”
Madison slowly came down the stairs, her hand on her stomach.
“Oh my God. Are you okay? Was it something that you ate? Was it the milk?” Olivia asked
“The milk?” Madison and Ethan said in unison
“Mom, did you put something in the milk?” Ethan asked, his eyes narrowing. He had suspected
something was wrong because the milk had tasted weird but he ignored it because he was hungry.
Olivia’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “Of course not! Why would I ever do something like that? You know I would never intentionally hurt you. Are you feeling alright, honey?” she asked, turning to Madison.
Ethan could see his mum was avoiding his gaze and he knew that she had probably spiked the drink.
That was the only explanation for why he had acted that way with Madison.
“I… I don’t know. I just don’t feel well. I think it’s the milk. Maybe it went bad.” Madison said, playing along. She looked at Ethan, hoping he would catch on.
“Yeah maybe it did. So, I’m just going to take her to the hospital. We’ll come see you next week.”
Ethan said and was about to walk away when Olivia smacked him.
“Aren’t you supposed to help her to the car you selfish brat?”
Ethan rubbed his arm, a look of anger on his face.
“Fine.” He scooped her up and carried her out of the house to his car.
“And call me when you get there!” Olivia yelled after them.
Madison dropped her act the moment they pulled out of the driveway.
“You better not be thinking of taking me to that bitch’s house, I don’t care if she wants to kill herself
or not.”
“I’ll drop you over at the house.”
7 Home
3/3
“I’m not going there. Take me to Isabella’s house.”
“Look, the house is still partly yours, I’ll steer clear of it until after the divorce and I still owe you one for helping me out tonight.”
“I didn’t help you so you could run over to your mistress and if you really want to pay me back, I’d like you to back off and let me resume my career in voice acting.”
“Fine” Ethan said after a while
“Really?” I asked surprised by his answer
“Yeah but you’re only allowed to do so under the name of Magnifique; I’m sure you know why.”
“Deal.”
He stopped in front of the house.
When Madison got out of the car, she turned to Ethan and said, “Are you sure you’re not going to be coming to the house.” If there was one thing about Ethan, it’s that he was really unpredictable and Madison just wanted to make sure he would stay by his word and leave her alone.”
“Yes Madison. So don’t worry, I’ll stay out of your way until the divorce is settled.” Ethan replied. It suddenly got awkward between them.
“Well, I’ll get going then. You’ll probably receive an email from the agency tomorrow.”
“Thank you Ethan.” Madison said and gave him a small smile.
Ethan looked at her, his expression softening before he shook it off and quickly drove off.
Once he was gone, Madison turned to walk up to the house. She had a lot to think about.
As Madison walked through the front door, she felt a wave of exhaustion wash over. She knew she needed to sort out her feelings but she was just too tired.
Evelyn was already fast asleep and she didn’t want to disturb her to make her a midnight snack so instead she headed straight to her bedroom.
The freshly washed sheets smelled of lavender, her favorite flower. She collapsed on the bed immediately and closed her eyes, trying to let the events of the night sink in.
“If only I could get this house from the divorce settlement, that’d be perfect,” she muttered to herself.
After all, she had lived in that house for two years and had picked out every hedge mad flower pot in the garden. She had made the house a home for herself. She slowly drifted off to sleep, fatigued from the night’s events.
6 The feeling of Freedom