Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

Instinctively, she pulled her arm away from me and hid it behind her back once again. Averting her gaze, she looked down at the ground, refusing to look me in my eyes.

"It’s not a big deal," she quickly muttered under her breath. "I was trying to cut some fruits for my kids and I accidentally cut myself," she continued to explain.

My eyes flickered over to the counter top at the corner of the room and sure enough, she wasn’t lying, there were indeed some chopped apples resting on the chopping board while both her daughters were hiding behind a chair. The whole situation seemed bizarre.

My mind was buzzing with thoughts and questions were swirling inside of my head like a damn hurricane. I couldn’t seem to understand or make sense of what was happening at that exact moment but all I knew was that my heart was pounding loudly against my chest.

"Serena," her name left my lips, my voice laced with concern as a worried expression masked my features. "Look at me, tell me honestly... what’s going on right now?" I demanded out of concern, forcing her to meet my eyes. There was something that she was hiding from me, something that she didn’t want me to know.

She gulped inaudibly as she slowly lifted her as she blinked a couple of times, opening and closing her mouth like she wanted to say something but no words came out of her mouth. Instead, silence enveloped us both for what felt like an eternity.

"I was careless, I cut myself," she insisted once again.

I sucked in a deep breath. "This won’t do. I’m taking you to the hospital. You need to get this check out."

"I don’t think –"

"You are going to get this bandaged up. You are bleeding, Serena. Come on, let’s go."

***

"How’s Serena and the kids?" Xavier asked with a concerned expression resting on his face as he sat from across the table.

I lowered my head and let out a soft sigh, a sense of helplessness washed over me.

"What’s wrong?" He questioned this time, his deep voice laced with a hint of worry as he kept his eyes on me.

"I..." my voice trailed off. "I know she is hiding something from me, but she wouldn’t tell me what’s going on and I’m worried for her. I went to see her earlier this morning and I noticed this huge cut on her arm and she was bleeding. She told me she accidentally cut herself but I can’t help to think that it wasn’t just an accident. I think she is lying to me for some reason."

He reached over to hold my hand, letting the warmth of his palms seep into mine as the corners of his lips curled upwards into a slight smile. "Don’t worry about it, she’s a grown woman, I’m sure she is fine. Maybe she just didn’t want you to worry about her," he explained and it seemed to make sense yet my gut feeling was telling me that something was wrong.

"I don’t know, Xavier... It feels different this time. I had to force her to go to the hospital to get her wound checked out," I said, my voice filled with worry. "Something is off," I muttered more to myself.

He squeezed my hands softly as reassurance. "If you are still worried, maybe you should give her a call, just to check on her."

I inhaled deeply. "You are right. I’m going to call her."

Just as I was about to reach for my phone, the screen lit up and my eyes flickered down to see that it was Serena who was calling me. I immediately answered. "Hey Serena," I greeted. "How are you feeling? Is your arm better?" I asked, my tone sounded more urgent than usual.

"Yeah, much better, thank you," she answered.

"Don’t thank me. I just brought you to the hospital, that’s all."

There was a brief pause as silence stretched between us for a while. Even though we were miles apart, somehow I could feel the tension that lingered between us before she spoke up, her words cutting through it.

"Anyway," she began, seemingly casual but I could hear that she was breathing heavily and her voice was trembling ever so slightly. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over for some drinks and watch a movie with me after dinner?"

Surprise crossed my face for a fleeting moment, I had not expected an invite from her but I agreed anyway.

"Yeah, sure of course. I will be right there," I paused for a while before I continued. "Serena, is everything okay? You sound... flustered. Is there something wrong? You can tell me, you know that right?" I pointed out with concern as the frown on my face deepened.

There was a moment of hesitation before she spoke up. "Ye..ah..." she stammered as though there was a lump stuck in her throat. "I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I will see you later."

Before I could utter another word, I was greeted with the single beeping tone that indicated the end of the call. She had hung up on me.

The next thing I knew, I was standing right where I was this morning, knocking on the hotel door with my free hand and a sense of deja vu rushed over me.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Serena, I’m here! I brought some snacks with me too!" I announced excitedly as I stood there with a smile etched onto my face as I waited for the door to swing open. Deep down inside the hollow of my heart, I was hoping and praying that she was okay and I was just overthinking it.

But the smile that was plastered across my face quickly disappeared within the next second when the door flew open. It wasn’t Serena who had greeted me, instead I found myself looking into a pair of familiar eyes that were twinkling with a knowing look.

"Hey Aurelia, nice seeing you again. Didn’t expect to see, did you?"