Page 34 of Mr. Kelly

I am breathing hard by the time I’m standing in the door. It’s more from fury than exertion. Helena is now sitting at the table, typing something on her laptop. She looks up like I’m visiting for the hell of it, then back down at her computer.

“I told you I’m not signing. I’ll see you in court.”

Three strides take me across the room. Temper unchecked, I flip the table to the left, sending the laptop and everything on it flying with it. Helena flinches, but she never knew when to shut up.

“Your attempt to scar-”

My hand around her throat cuts off her words. In one swoop, the chair she’s sitting in crashes to the floor, and the wall vibrates under the force that I pin her to it by her neck. Helena's eyes are huge with panic, and she claws at the fist around her throat. We’re eye to eye and her feet flail as she struggles.

“You tied your fucking tubes, you lying bitch!”

“How,” she gasps, due to a lack of air.

“Admit it. Lie to me, and I swear I’ll snap your fucking neck.” I add a little pressure just so she knows I’m serious.

“Yes. I can still get IVF.” Tears hit my knuckles, but I don’t care. “I didn’t want an accidental pregnancy.”

“Shut the fuck up. You didn’t want any pregnancies. The moment you were old enough, you tried to get a hysterectomy.” I slam her again. “I should kill you.”

The last part comes out in a near whisper because I’m too mad to yell. I release her. Helena yelps when she lands on her hurt foot, then hits the ground. She sits up and holds her foot.

“Is this whatTrunkdoes? Make you a wife beater?”

“You are not my wife. You never were.” I grab her by the front of the silky robe she used to cover her lingerie to shake her a little. I get in her face. “I don’t give a fuck what happens to you anymore.” Helena looks up, surprised, when I push her back down.

“Fuck, I’ve been waiting to hear you say that for so long it made my dick hard,” Andrea says from the door. “He doesn’t have to beat you; I’m here now.” He has found his shirt, but it’s open. He looks back to the men behind him. “Go wait for the nurse. Tell her she can come back tomorrow. He hands one a few hundred-dollar bills. “Tip her for her troubles.” Helena balks at the sight of him and tries to scoot away. “Don’t move again. If you were that scared of me, you would not have fucked over someone I care about so much.”

“Please,” she cries when he grabs her by her hair and bends until they are face to face.

“Do I look like I take requests?” She cries harder when he pulls out a gun. He starts at her temple and runs it along the side of her face. “I’ve wanted to kill you for so long it’s almost a fantasy.” He closes his eyes and exhales like he’s remembering something euphoric. Andrea looks over his shoulder. “Gentlemen? The chair and table, please.”

Once the guys set up the chair and table, Andrea stands with a fist full of Helena’s hair. She’s crying from fear and the pain of him making her stand on her foot. He pushes her in the chair.

“Sit,” Andrea orders. Helena throws me a beseeching look, but I glare back at her. I’m not helping her. “The paper?” I reach for the agreement I left, but he shakes his head. “That’s too cute, but no.” One of his men drops a paper in front of Helena. The fact that I’m not surprised that Andrea would have his own divorce agreement drafted is amazing to me. He walks around to the other side of the table and leans in her face. “Theodore tried to do it the nice way, but you don’t know how to respond to that. So we're doing it my way. Let me explain the agreement to you. You get the house and the car like Theodore wanted. You’re only getting five million. Four of which will go into a trust for expenses for the house and car only. I suggest you be frugal with the one million cash. I personally wouldn’t give you shit, but it’s less suspicious this way. This other paper is an NDA. If anyone asks you about the marriage, you’ll say it was an amicable split, as you both wanted different things. If you’re asked about the limited part of his trust that you’re getting, you will say it was your idea. Outside of that, you don’t talk about us; don’t fucking think about us. If you break it in any way, don’t worry about court. I’ll kill you slowly.” Andrea cocks the gun and places it on her forehead. “This is a thirty second offer. Sign it or die.”

She picks up the pen with a shaky hand and starts signing everywhere he points. She could be signing up to join the military and wouldn’t even know it.

“Here,” she says in a shaky voice once she’s done.

“Okay. Here’s a copy for you.” He slides a stack to Helena. “A copy for you.” He hands me my documents. “And my copy.” One of his men takes it and steps back. Andrea puts the safety back on and slides his gun back in the holster. Crouching, he folds his arms on the table and drops his chin on them so he can look Helena in the eyes. “See? That wasn’t hard, right? I expect to see your maiden name on everything soon now that you’re divorced. And please note that your popularity in town is the only reason why you’re breathing. I just didn’t feel like covering up a notable death today.” Standing, he smacks his hand on the table, causing Helena to jump because she doesn’t know the speed in which Andrea can go from hot to cold. “It doesn’t mean that I won’t kill you if you get out of line. Do you understand?” Helena nods as she sobs. “I want to fucking hear it. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND!”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

Andrea looks at me with surprised eyes. “Look at that. The twat does know how to be respectful.”

Andrea and his men disappear without any more interaction. I gather the ripped document and the one I left behind; I’ll shred them later.

“Theo,” she says, weakly. “I really did love you.”

My anger deflated when Andrea arrived. It’s almost like he chooses to be my outlet so I don’t have to go back to the guy I was. The hurt is all that’s left.

“Yeah? Well, if you’d acted like you loved me, we’d still be together. Instead, you treated me and my desires like shit. If you weren’t trying to be greedy, you’d have thirty million dollars right now. Your selfishness got you next to nothing. I’ll send a team to pack up my stuff. Goodbye, Helena.”

Andrea is waiting for me outside of the house. “A crew is coming to fix the door. There will be no signs of distress or forced entry.”

“Thank you.” He knows I’m not talking about the door as I pull him into a hug. “I was about to kill her.”

It’s scary where my mind went since I used to love her so much. I knew Andrea wasn't going to kill her based on how he entered the room. There’s a stillness inside of him, a vacancy in his eyes when he’s about to murder someone. Today, his eyes sparkled with the excitement of finally getting rid of her. Even with everything she's done, it wasn't easy to see her in pain and fearing for her life, but I was ready to plan a beautiful funeral. Ending it for good was necessary.

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