286 Challenge

All through the long drive down to the hospital, Tom had tried to console his fiancee, as she kept crying and talking to herself. He knew that she saw Ella as a sister she never had, but he could also tell that she knew the reason behind Ella’s unconsciousness.

Tom was also unhappy when Denise kept blaming herself for Ella’s condition. She kept saying, ‘I should have been there for her.’

He was able to conclude his suspicion due to the way Denise had been behaving since the previous evening. It was as though someone or something had suppressed her from expressing herself.

Even when he tried to make her open up to him, she adamantly refused.

Hence, he was forced to manage her coldness and anger all through the night till the following morning.

They had just woken up and were planning on having an early breakfast when Paul called and dropped the bad news about Ella’s unconsciousness.

Instantly, Denise went hysterical, swearing to personally deal with Leon if anything happened to her best friend.

So, when they entered Ella’s ward, Tom knew that he had to stay close to Denise’s to prevent things from getting ugly.

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historical

“You, get the hell away from my friend you...you... you...”

Tears of pain rolled down Denise’s cheek as she thought of the right words to describe Leon.

“You what?” Leon slowly rose to his feet as his narrowed eyes scowled in Denise’s direction.

“Baby, please calm down!” Tom held on to Denise from behind. He knew that it wouldn’t cost her anything to jump on Leons and claw at his face.

“Stay out of this Tom if you don’t want me to unleash my anger on you.” Denise flashed Tom a fierce look. “This heartless man standing here does not deserve your sympathy”

“Tom, you better hold on to that fiancee of yours or better still take her out of this place before I do something I would regret,” Leon said in a deep low restrained tone. He was worried that if he raised his voice, it would disturb his wife’s peace.

“What would you do, you ungrateful bastard!” Denise charged forward but was swiftly caught on the waist by Tom who took great efforts to pull her back and away from Leon’s wrath.

“Did you just call me a bastard?” Leon’s darkened eyes widened like a saucer.

Tom made nonverbal apologies to Leon as he dreaded upsetting Denise further.

“I just did, Leon!” Denise returned his glares. “What would you do? Make me vaporize with your scowl? Do you think I’m afraid of you? Do you think you scare me one bit? Well, you better think again because If anything happens to my friend, then one of us would meet our maker.”

“Baby! Why would you say such? Do you plan on leaving me behind?” Tom scolded Denise and forced her to stare at him. “Leon is my best friend and you are my wife. I do not intend to lose either of you.”

“But Leon is hurting my best friend. Can’t you see? Tell him to stop. She is suffering.” Denise began to sob on Tom’s chest as he wrapped his arms around her while still pleading non-verbally to an enormously enraged Leon.

Leon on the other hand felt like walking over to Denise to snuff out the air from her lungs. Aside from his wife, no lady was permitted to talk to him the way she just did. He slowly looked at Ella’s peacefully sleeping face and a wave of calm washed over his tormented soul.

“Tom, please, my wife and I need some privacy. Take your fiancee and leave now before it gets too late. I’ve had enough of her insults.”

Instinctively, Denise pulled away from Tom’s arms and rushed to where Leon was standing, daring him to hit her.

“Go ahead, Leon Treshvire! Denise challenges him with a feisty look in her watery eyes. “Slap me! Beat me! At least, it will reawaken my senses and help me understand the man I encourage my best friend to get married to.

Leon clenched and unclenched his hand, as blood and heat rose to his face making it reddened with steamy hot danger. He gritted his teeth and glowered at his wife’s best friend, who was audaciously challenging him. He resisted the urge to grab her by the neck and strangled her.

“Do you think being my wife’s best friend gives you the bloody right to challenge me?” Leon growled at Denise’s face, making her shudder with fright.

“For goodness sake, Denise, stop this foolishness. Leon please, calm down! You don’t want to do anything stupid to my future wife.” Tom said pleadingly as he came behind Denise’s back and gently pulled her away from the awakened beast in Leon.

However, only gagging Denise could stop her from pouring out her anger and sorrow.

“If I, your wife’s best friend and only close family member here in the city can’t call you to order, then who will?” Denise cried out as Tom pulled her to the door. “How could you do this to her when you know she loves you with all her heart?

“Do what exactly?” Leon boomed fiercely, losing his cool.

“You...you...you..!” Denise found it impossible to complete her statement.

Even in her eye-blinding fury, Denise didn’t want to ruin things for Ella by calling Leon’s infidelity out. She wanted Ella to be the one to shred him for his crimes. Hence, instead of calling him a cheater and making him suspicious, she decided to accuse him from a different angle.

“If you hadn’t left her, she won’t be hurting this bad. If you hadn’t left her, she won’t be overthinking herself to the point of losing consciousness. All she yearns for is her husband’s loving touch and I can’t give that to her as much as I would love to try.”

Leon who was moving slowly towards Denise instantly stopped on his track and just glared at her, due to the way her words hit him like a rolling boulder going down a hill. He wanted to say something but instantly felt tongue-tied.

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