Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

I heard that familiar voice that was here to taunt me again, a voice that I could recognise in just a split second.

Whipping my head around, my eyes fell on the pair of ice blue eyes once again and recognition flashed past my face. My brows naturally knitted together to form a tiny frown before I turned back to glare at my mother, a betrayed look swimming in my eyes.

"What is he doing here?" I questioned, my tone carrying a slight edge to it, clearly displeased with his sudden appearance. "Why is he here?"

Blake let out a chuckle, a smirk playing on his lips as we locked eyes. "Why couldn’t I be here?" He retorted, his eyes gleaming with defiance.

My mother immediately chimed in this time. "I called him here."

I let out a breath. "Why would you do that?"

She pressed her lips thin into a straight line and kept her gaze steady before she blurted out the next few words. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yeah, I do, actually," I replied within the next second, the sharpness in my response shocking her for a moment before she masked it with a nonchalant expression.

"Well, you need to learn to apologise to him for once!" Her shrill voice pierced through the air as tension lingered between us. "You can’t just try to ruin someone’s career and expect zero consequences," she spat the words out like they were poison in her mouth.

My eyes glanced over to see the smirk on Blake’s face grow wider as he folded his arms over his chest. I could sense the arrogance that was radiating from every inch of his skin, knowing that my mother had his back.

My gaze flickered back to meet my mother’s cold stare and I let a cold chuckle emerge from my parted lips.

"Are you serious?" I asked with a raised brow, my voice breaking the silence that settled among us. "He doesn’t deserve the apology from me," I declared coldly with a distant look etched onto my face.

He scoffed loudly before my mother could utter another word in his defence.

"Who are you to say that I don’t deserve your apology? Even your own mother thinks I do, you are the only one being stubborn here. Have you not seen what you have done to me and Stella? When will you learn?" He snarled with a disdainful scorn as he narrowed his eyes at me.

There was a brief pause before he continued with just as much malice in his voice.

"I think an apology is the least you can do."

Another humourless chuckle left my lips. "I’m starting to doubt she’s my real mother..." I muttered softly to myself under my breath. A mother wouldn’t do this to her own child.

"What did you say?"

I exhaled deeply this time, straightening my posture as we locked eyes, pretending as if I didn’t say a word.

"Nothing," I said with a pause. "I just want to say that I don’t think I owe you any apology. If anything, you are the one who should apologise to me," I retorted, my voice was filled with certainty as it remained unwavering.

"Nonsense!" My mother’s voice sliced through the tension that was thickening in the air. "How could you say such a thing? Why would he apologise to you? What should he even be apologising for?"

"Why not?" I fought back as I gritted my teeth. "I think that’s the least he could do. He should know it himself," I snarled, echoing his words from earlier.

"Why not?" She repeated, tossing the words right back at me with an incredulous look plastered across her face. "He did everything he could for you when you two were together. He provided for you all these years and he didn’t utter a single word of complaint. What’s more? He didn’t even say a word when you chose to marry another man the day after your divorce, so why would you come here demanding an apology?"

"Yeah right," I sneered, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I let out a snicker. "Did you forget that he brought home another woman on our second anniversary? And that was why I wanted a divorce? Did you also forget that he tried to attack me? So why is he demanding an apology from me?!"

"Do you have to be so calculative?" She snapped back in frustration as soon as the words left my mouth, it was as though she was annoyed at me for bringing up my concerns. "Wasn’t she just his best friend? And you are fine now, you aren’t even injured. Can’t you let it go? Do you really need to hold a grudge for that long?" She glared at me, contempt swimming in her eyes.

Blake placed his hands on my mother’s shoulders, a smile appeared on his face as he relished in self-satisfaction.

"Exactly," he chimed in and I watched as my mother relaxed her shoulders and her lips curled upwards into a slight smile. "Thank you for understanding, Mrs Holt. I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t just simply move on from it," he said, his voice laced with arrogance and satisfaction.

"I don’t understand her either..." she mumbled under her breath. "I don’t know where she gets her stubbornness and this nasty attitude from!" She hissed with a disdainful scorn.

He then turned to me and our eyes met, a smirk appeared on his lips. "Why couldn’t you be more understanding, Aurelia? Hasn’t it already been a couple of months since we separated?"

I forced my lips to curve upwards into a smile. "Have I not been understanding enough already? I gave you and Stella my blessings and chose to divorce you without demanding anything else from you. Isn’t that what you wanted?" I questioned as I arched my brow at him.

"You —"

I interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Besides..." I drawled. "Didn’t you already get the job back? So why are you still here talking to me?"

He scoffed loudly. "Yeah and I did because of Stella. She helped me."

"What makes you think she was the one who helped you? How sure are you?" I questioned and I watched as a moment of hesitation washed over him as he started contemplating my words.

He let out a laugh this time. "Are you trying to say that you were the one who helped me?" He asked, his voice filled with sarcasm as the words rolled off the tip of his tongue. "If anything, you were the one who tried to destroy my life out of spite!" He spat.

I couldn’t hold back the laughter that left my lips. I stepped forward to close the gap between us. I raised my brow at him as our faces were now only inches apart.

"So what if I did?"

"I knew it. You finally admitted it!" He leaned in even closer to me but I didn’t budge as I remained unmoving. "You just hate to see me succeed, don’t you?" He sneered, as he narrowed his eyes at me.

I could hear my mother scoff behind him and our gaze matched.

"I can’t believe you still tried to deny it the whole time! Clearly, you were jealous that he was moving on with someone else and is doing well, so you had to think of ways to try and ruin his career and life." She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Why do you have to act so childish and immature, Aurelia?"

I let out a breath. "If I said I didn’t, you wouldn’t believe me either," I stated, my voice cold. "So don’t try to say that I’m acting childish and immature," I said, my voice remained firm as I kept my gaze steady.

She could only let out another scoff. "You already admitted it," she snarled. "How could you want me to believe you after how you acted? Just apologise. It’s not that difficult is it?"

"How exactly did I act, huh?"

"You know what she means, Aurelia," Blake interjected this time, a frown crept onto his face, resting between his brows. "Why do you have to act innocent, when you really are not?"

"I don’t need to explain anything to you," I deadpanned, a serious expression etched onto my face.

"I’m not asking for an explanation, I’m just asking for an apology."

"I told you, I’m not apologising!" I yelled, my voice cracking toward the end of the sentence.

I turned to leave when I felt someone grab me by my arm. "Who says you could leave?" The voice taunted.

I turned around to stare into my mother’s eyes. "You can’t stop me," I said coldly as I yanked my arm out of her tight grasp.

"When will you grow up? Apologise to him!" My mother’s shrill reached my ears as she gritted her teeth and glared at me with contempt. "Now!" She stressed on the last word.

It was at this moment when a familiar deep voice sliced through the tension that was brewing in the air.

"She is not apologising to anyone."