A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 67: A Vengeful Man
Mike was asleep when he felt someone walk into the room.
His eyes snapped open, and there was a pang of fear in his spine as he sat up.
Has Curtis sent someone to kill him in his sleep because of that confrontation they had?
He was about to switch on the lamp on his bed side table when light flooded the room.
A wave of relief slammed into him at the sight of the intruder.
Turns out Curtis did not send assassins to get rid of him. He had, however, released Tolu from the police cell.
Mike ran a hand down his face.
"Hey. When did you get back?" he asked as he stood up, walking towards her.
He was relieved, and even somewhat happy to see her. Mike held his arms out for a hug, but Tolu wasn’t sharing his sentiment.
The moment he got into her arms, Tolu slapped him.
Hard.
Mike’s jaw fell open.
"What the hell?" he gasped, his skin burning slightly from the pressure of her attack.
"How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?" she yelled in his face, her anger blazing with the force of a tornado.
"What the fuck is your problem? Did you come back to pick a fight with me?" Mike asked, still stunned by her sudden and unexpected reaction.
Tolu took several steps until she was standing directly before him. Then she started to poke him in the chest.
"Two months! I was in jail for two months. Sixty fucking days. And you did not bother to come and visit, hell, you didn’t even do as much as place a phone call. And yet you have the nerve to sleep peacefully like nothing happened? You have the fucking guts to raise you arms towards me for an embrace?"
There was a hard edge in her voice, and she looked enraged.
Mike was starting to get angry too, especially at the fact that she had slapped him.
So he took several steps away from her.
"I tried, Tolu. It took me days to even figure out where they took you. And when I got there, I was turned away. They wouldn’t let me in, and I was not going to get beaten up by insisting. There was nothing I could have done. Nothing!"
She scoffed at his words, and it was obvious that she didn’t believe him.
Mike’s frustration grew, but before he could say anything to that effect, Tolu started to speak.
"You are a liar. And a coward. You did nothing! Nothing! I am your wife and I was in jail and you did absolutely nothing! How could you do that to me? You deserted me when I needed you the most!"
Mike threw his hands in the air.
"I did not ask you to get arrested! You went ahead and brought that down upon yourself. I did not ask you to do anything!" he yelled back at her.
Tolu’s eyes widened.
"How...how could you say that? I did what I did for us! I did it for me and you and you know it."
Now it was Mike’s turn to scoff.
"You offered to sleep with Curtis for my sake? Are you even listening to yourself?"
Tolu closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"I already told you, that is not what you think it is! I was just messing with him. You know what I was talking about. I joined hands with Curtis’s mother to get rid of Lara because that’s what you want. That is what I want. What everyone wants!"
"YOU ALMOST KILLED HER! WHAT IF SHE HAD DIED?" Mike roared.
"THAT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT! We poisoned her because we wanted to fucking kill her. Why are you acting like it’s such a big deal?"
Mike was having trouble believing his ears. Tolu was standing before him, speaking about murder in such a casual manner.
Unable to stop himself, Mike wondered how he got to that point.
How had he gotten himself into this mess?
For a brief moment, his mind went to Lara. His ex wife would never have done something as horrible as this.
"Why?" he asked her quietly.
She raised angry eyebrows at him. Mike went on regardless.
"Why do you have to go this far? I know we both...hate...Lara. But she doesn’t have to die. She is out of our lives now. We could live happily. Forget about her. She doesn’t matter anymore, Tolu. You’re beginning to take things a little bit too far," he stated, and there was a lesser edge of anger in his voice.
He was trying to calm her down, to make her see reason.
But most importantly, Mike didn’t want Lara to be dead. It didn’t matter that he hated her for leaving him for someone better.
Tolu stared at him for a long while. She walked towards him and stood directly in his face. Her gaze was determined, unwavering.
"Answer this question, Mike. Are you telling me that because you’re scared that your beloved ex wife almost got killed or because you truly don’t want me to get in trouble again?" she asked.
Mike swallowed past a lump in his throat.
"Of course it’s because I care about you. Curtis is a... vengeful man. I don’t want to see you hurt. Please, please let’s give up on this fight. Let’s just be happy together."
Mike was able to project enough sincerity in his voice that his words actually sounded believable to Tolu.
She sighed, and all the anger seemed to leave her body at once. She wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his chest.
"Look at us, fighting because of that woman. She’s gone and yet her annoying presence still lingers," she whispered.
Mike said nothing. He returned her hug, patting her gently on the back.
His heart hammered in his chest. The storm seemed to have passed, and Lara was still alive.
He was grateful for that.
But what he didn’t want to think about was the fact that deep down, he was worried that Tolu was going to do something else.
And that this time, Lara might not be as lucky.
A sudden wave of regret slammed into Mike. If only he could turn back time and stop himself from getting involved with Tolu.
Maybe if he hadn’t been such a jerk from the start, maybe all of these would not have happened.
But he said nothing, making sure to keep his thoughts away from his face.
If Tolu found out that he was starting to regret ever getting tangled with her, who knew what she was going to do to him?
