War God is Back for his Mother

Chapter 8: The Cousin

Selena Sterling sat on the sofa for twenty minutes before she picked up her phone and called the one person she trusted to understand.

Her cousin Sarah Sterling picked up on the second ring.

"Selena? Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon right now? Why are you calling me?"

"We had a fight."

Sarah was quiet for a moment. "Already? It's been one day."

"I know."

Sarah Sterling had never liked Alex Crown. From the very first dinner three years ago when Selena brought him home to meet the family, Sarah had sized him up in under ten minutes. No background. No status. No connections. No money. A man who showed up with nothing but a nice face and a quiet voice and somehow convinced her brilliant cousin to fall head over heels. Sarah had pulled Selena aside that night and told her she was making a mistake. Selena had ignored her completely.

But regardless of her personal feelings, Sarah was not about to let her cousin become a laughingstock. The Sterling family name carried weight in this city. A bride and groom fighting on the second day of their marriage would be a scandal that every socialite and gossip columnist would feast on for months.

"Okay," Sarah said carefully. "Tell me what happened."

Selena let out a shaky breath. "He wants a divorce."

"He what?"

"Alex is talking about divorce. On the second day of our marriage. He's lost his mind, Sarah. He's completely lost it."

"Wait. Slow down. Alex Crown wants to divorce you? The same Alex Crown who looks at you like you hung the moon? The same man who waited outside your office in the rain for three hours last year because you forgot your umbrella? That Alex Crown?"

"Yes. That one."

Sarah paused. Selena could almost hear her cousin's brain working through the phone.

"Was there some kind of misunderstanding?" Sarah asked.

"There's no misunderstanding. He's jealous. He's paranoid. He's convinced that Dennis is some kind of threat to our marriage and he's blowing everything completely out of proportion."

"Dennis? Your assistant Dennis?"

"Yes."

"What happened with Dennis?"

Selena rubbed her temples. She did not want to tell the full story, but she needed someone on her side. So she told it. The hospital call on the wedding night. Staying overnight. Coming home to find Alex cold and angry. The argument. The accusations. The divorce threat. She told it all, but she told it her way. Every sentence carried the same message: Alex was overreacting, and she had done nothing wrong.

"He accused me of choosing Dennis over him," Selena said bitterly. "He compared me to a dog. He told me to go marry Dennis. He said the most disgusting, humiliating things I've ever heard come out of his mouth. All because I went to check on a sick employee."

Sarah was quiet for a long time.

"Have you considered cutting ties with Dennis?" she finally asked.

"No."

"Selena."

"No. Absolutely not. I am not going to fire a man who has done nothing wrong just because my husband can't handle his own jealousy. That's insane. I won't do it."

"It's not insane if your marriage is at stake."

"My marriage is at stake because Alex is making it that way. Not because of Dennis. Dennis has never crossed a line with me. He's my employee. He's my friend. And I refuse to let Alex dictate who I'm allowed to have in my life."

Sarah chose her next words very carefully.

"Selena, can I ask you something honestly?"

"What?"

"Is the reason you won't cut ties with Dennis because you think it's unfair? Or is it because you can't bear to?"

The line went silent.

Selena opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She closed it again. Her expression shifted. Something uncertain moved behind her eyes. Her confidence cracked for just a fraction of a second, and in that crack, something she did not want to look at flickered to life.

"That's ridiculous," she said. But her voice was different now. Quieter. Less sure. "Dennis is my subordinate. That's all."

Sarah heard the hesitation. She heard the half second delay before the denial. She heard the slight waver in a voice that had been rock solid five seconds ago. And she filed it away without pushing further.

"Look," Sarah said. "I'm not telling you what to do. But I'm asking you to seriously consider what Alex said. Even if you think he's wrong. Even if you think he's being dramatic. Something is breaking between you two, and it's only been one day. At least do something to fix it. Meet him halfway. Show him he matters."

"He does matter."

"Then show him. Words aren't enough right now, Selena."

Selena pressed her lips together. Her jaw was tight. She wanted to argue more, but she was too tired and too angry and too confused to keep going.

"I'll think about it," she said flatly.

"Please do."

The call ended. Selena dropped her phone on the sofa cushion and stared at the ceiling.

She did not feel better. She felt worse. Sarah's question was still rattling around inside her head like a stone in an empty jar. Can't bear to. Those three words made her skin crawl because she could not explain why they bothered her so much.

She sat there for another ten minutes. Then she stood up, changed her clothes, grabbed her car keys, and drove to the office.

Sterling Corporation's headquarters was quiet when she arrived. It was supposed to be. She was supposed to be on her honeymoon for the next two weeks. Nobody expected her.

The employees noticed her the moment she walked through the glass doors. Heads turned. Eyes widened. Whispers started and died just as quickly. Her face was cold enough to freeze the air around her. Nobody dared to ask why she was here. Nobody dared to even look at her for too long. They all kept their heads down and pretended to work.

Selena walked into her private office and shut the door. She sat behind her desk and pulled up her email. She stared at the screen without reading a single word.

She thought about calling Alex. Her hand even reached for her phone twice. But each time, she pulled it back.

He was the one who said those terrible things. He was the one who compared her to a dog. He was the one who brought up divorce. If anyone needed to apologize, it was him. She was not going to crawl back to a man who had humiliated her in her own living room.

Her resentment sat heavy in her stomach like a rock.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Except it was not really a knock. The door simply opened, and Dennis Doom walked in. He was pale, moving slowly, one hand resting against his stomach. He looked like he had dragged himself out of his hospital bed with sheer willpower.

"Dennis?" Selena straightened up in her chair. Her eyes went wide. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the hospital. Why are you at the office?"