"You have already rotten in h.e.l.l and yet you are still making me look like a G.o.ddam fool!" Salsa rushed to grab another vase to break it but even before she could completely crush it into the floor, someone grabbed it away from her with shear force.

"Who told you to come here?" Martin's raging eyes was like a fire ready to burn his wife.

"Mar….Martin?" Salsa seemed to have awaken from the emotions that were all rus.h.i.+ng to her, making her too irrational to think twice.

"I said who told you to come here!" Martin, all but shouted.

"Its…its Collet's birthday and I was trying to clean all this—"

A big slap hit against Salsa's cheeks. It was so given with full force that Salsa immediately fell in the floor, breaking her feet from the stilettoes that she was wearing.

"Martin!" Salsa patted her red cheeks that was burning in pain. "I didn't mean to intrude here, you need not to harm—"

For the second time, Salsa was not able to finish her words because Martin, grabbed her hair and dragged her out of the room.

"Martin! Martin, I'm hurt!" Salsa begged from her husband's a.s.sault. "What are you trying to do?"

Martin did not heed Salsa's words as she screamed all over the second floor. All the maids and service workers out there heard her scream and soon, they saw how she was dragged by Martin through that fabricated stairs, down to the first floor and pushed her mercilessly into the floor.

"The next time you'll stepped into these stairs again, you'll get more than that from me!" Martin threatened at Salsa's messed up face. It was not enough that Martin had a.s.saulted her, Martin even managed to make everyone see his hostility toward his wife that Salsa could not anymore lift her head up to face all the servants who were around. She was shamefully rubbed of her dignity and pride as the madam of the Chans.

"What did I even do to deserve this…" Salsa resentfully cried, "I did nothing but help you with all your troubles and for G.o.d sake Martin! For G.o.d's sake! I give you a child. I give you the child that Aviona refused to give you!"

"What else do you want!" Martin mocked at her. "Wasn't allowing you to remain as my wife not enough? Wasn't all the money I showered in you not enough? What else do you want?"

"I want your respect!" Salsa bravely met his eyes, "I deserve that from all that I did for you!"

Martin laughed at Salsa's crying face as if a clear indication that what Salsa was asking was all nothing but foolishness. Martin's mocking laugh turned something devious in a minute until he had gone himself tired of it and turned to smirk at Salsa before he turned his back from her and eased himself back into the fabricated stairs, back to the second floor.

Salsa's nerves shook with shame and anger. Even with the t.i.tle as Madam of the Chans, she cannot still impose her significance and existence into others. Until now, no matter how much she bathed and cover herself with gold, she remained invisible and irrelevant to everyone. How many years and lives does she needed to give to become someone everyone will bow on to. When will she stand on the same pedestal that Aviona Leigh once stood on?

She had successfully gotten rid of her but she, until now, failed to outs.h.i.+ne her.

Something roses inside Salsa apart from the anger and insecurity she had with Aviona. Her longing for significance made her thirsty for something bigger, something more scandalous and more sinister than just getting rid of Aviona.

***

Martin looked at the mess that Salsa made in the master bedroom. He stared at the broken pieces of Aviona's favorite vases, her torn apart dresses and all the things that reminded him of his first wife that Salsa successfully damaged. He was shaking tremendously as tension grew in his face and limbs, his mind replaying the times that Aviona stood on the same room, with a peaceful and loving smile on her pretty face.

He didn't get over her, not yet and never will. His love and addiction over Aviona didn't fade through time, it only intensified to the point of making him lost all his sanity over it.

Martin moved deeper into the room like there's a hurricane inside him. He sat at the edge of their old bed where Aviona used to sit with him. He carefully pulled the cover and smelt it, hoping he could at least smell her even after twenty long years had pa.s.sed.

Previously Martin's devastation led him to a state of despair, worsening his mental condition. If not for Collet and Salsa's comfort and play pretend, he would have not survived it. Their selfish actions had given Martin back his sound mind, but then last few months ago, when he saw the statute of Aviona brought by his old employee, his sick obsession toward her came back like a raging fire, more rapid and intense than before.

After searching the whole Dugmoch household of anything that would lead him to Aviona, Martin paid many private investigators to search for his first wife. He was led to believe she was alive and that he must have her back whatever it takes. Martin had mounted a nation-wide private search of Aviona and made sure all the borders, legal and illegal ones were all sealed, making sure Aviona cannot make any attempts to leave the country and vanished untraceable again. Martin wanted her. He needed her. She was his to begin with and he will go through h.e.l.l just to make sure he can have her again.

"Aviona my love…Aviona darling… don't worry I'll have this room cleaned up by the maids so you can stay here comfortably when you come back," Martin whispered through the bed covers as if he was talking to someone. "Don't worry my darling, it's just a matter of time, we can be together again. You and me again,"

Martin smiled the whole time and broke into a cry few minutes after. Right then, his once long-gone mental illness came back, triggered by the thought that Aviona might possibly be alive.