Page 72 of Mr. Kelly

I'm not surprised to see her in a high-end boutique. It's always been her style. Helena comes from a well-off family, but mine is in a different tax bracket. I'm not selfish, but I'm glad shegot just as little from me as I got from her. Helena barely gave love and I barely lost money.

“Theo?” she finally says as her eyes flicker back over to River. “I was going to ask you what you’re doing here, but I guess…” Her judgmental eyes fall on River’s belly. “You went through with making the homeless bartender your incubator.”

“Bitch, I was never homeless,” River nearly growls, ready to choke the shit out of Helena.

I understand. There were too many times towards the end of our marriage when I felt the same way, she was gifted at pulling the crazy out of someone.

River puts down the dress as she realizes that she doesn't want to shop anywhere Helena would frequent. No outfit worth seeing someone you despise.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” I start as I work my way to my wife. “I’m out shopping with my wife.”

Helena tucks her clutch under her arm and tilts her head in that haughty, uppity way of hers.

“Good. Maybe she’ll look less dirty…” Her words stop and her eyes snap back to me when her brain processes the rest of my sentence. “Wife?”

Her eyes drop down to my left hand, pausing on my all-black wedding band. She’s not wearing pearls, but her hand goes to her necklace as she fights to hide her surprise.

“Wife,” she repeats slowly, and I know she’s calculating. Helena may not want to be a mother, but I’m sure she can tell that River is much more pregnant than she should be. The involuntary flinch preludes her statement. “I knew your love was a lie. You…” She looks around to see if anyone else is nearby. “Cheater!”

The fact that I made the love of my life a mistress even for a second is the only thing that bothers me about this interaction.

"You can see it that way, but I know you never loved me the way I loved you.Yourlove was the lie. I told you we were over at the cabin, and I meant it.Youdelayed the divorce even after choosing to lie to me all six years of my marriage."

I tell her for the sake of getting it off my chest. I've learned long ago that Helena sets into an opinion and nothing will change it.

The emotions in her eyes are still blank. I had a feeling that she had a diminished capacity to care about someone who isn't doing anything for her, but her lack of a reaction brings my suspicion back around. My ex might be a narcissist, the clinical kind.

She'll go to her grave with the delusion that I was the subpar spouse and I have no desire to change it.

Helena scoffs like I'm the confused one and folds the clothes she picked over her arm. She's not scared of dying since she was in the boutique before River and I entered. She technically hasn't broken any of Andrea’s rules—her self-preservation is too high for that.

"I'm not the one expecting a baby that's too old to be createdafterthe end of our marriage…"

River walks away, and I follow her. The conversation with Helena is pointless since the only thing we'll accomplish is her pissing us off.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but Helena reacts to being dismissed before her brain could remind her that messing with me could get her killed. River is out of the store and is entering the SUV, when Helena grabs my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

I give her a sharp look before I pull my arm away. She moves back, realizing that she touched me. Helena folds her arms as she starts to complain.

"How dare you? I am accomplished and look good on your arm. I'm a star. Ifitinto your world. You didn't even try to getsomeone like me." She shakes her head like I'm pathetic. "The child of a whore will continue your lineage…"

A red, no, black mist takes over and has me in her space quickly. Her once familiar scent only aggravates me further. Helena notices the change and tries to back away, but she cannot escape me.

She stumbles back into the storage door, and I put one hand on the side of her to keep her from getting away.

I've yelled in the past and have even wrapped my hand around her neck, but she hasn't learned to shut the fuck up. Her eyes register the fear she shows for Andrea. I may have not said a word, but the coldness in my eyes and the cold fury feeding my blood must warn her.

Grabbing her jaw, I get near her ear and deliver the last threat she'll ever hear.

"Don't worry about Andrea; say one more thing about my wife or child, and I'll beat you to death like you’re a man." She looks terrified as her lower lip trembles and tears collect in her eyes. "Then I'll chop up your corpse so you can't dance in the afterlife. No one will mourn you because they won't know that you're gone."

Her eyes blink rapidly when I lightly smack her jaw.

"Final warning."

I’ve already ownedthe things that were in my control. While I would love to make it seem like I didn’t have faults, I know that is not true. We’re all flawed, but it’s the frequency and the intention behind those flaws that make us show people who we are. I didn’t need a medical degree to understand now that Helena is broken in ways I cannot choke out of her.

Good luck getting a narcissist to admit that they have any kind of problem. I could have worked harder to stay faithful until the paperwork was done, but I didn’t need it to know that we were over. Paperwork was just a formality. Helena can try to twist it if she wants, but she has no one to talk to about it other than me and I’m done listening.

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