The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 40: Age Gap.

Ruthlyn was Mignon’s best friend and manager, who was right beside her all through the scandal four years ago. Up until the time Mignon disappeared, anyone would have thought they were sisters from the same father and mother.

Though the fact that her brother worked for Ethan DeLoach while she worked for Mignon DeLoach had given her enough liberty in DeLoach family, they had still been grateful for the sacrifice she made for Mignon when she was going through rough times. To show their gratitude, they had met with her parents and arranged for her to marry Enoch DeLoach.

She agreed then because she was out of her mind, she presumed, even when Enoch had vehemently disagreed. And now she was regretting it.

"Stop daydreaming, Enoch. I’m 28 and you are 24, though you’ll be 25 soon...and will be old enough to break the engagement,"

Enoch stepped backwards, moving slightly away from her. He thought they were past this already, her seeing him as a kid because she was four years older than him. Just four years!

"We are still talking about our age difference?" Enoch asked, his voice a lower pitch than earlier.

"It wouldn’t matter if you were the least bit mature, Enoch. And if my family’s status was on par with your family’s, just like Miss Anderson’s," noticing how Enoch looked hurt and offended by her words, she turned and walked away from there.

She commended herself for the self control and bravery she had expended to tell Enoch all those harsh words.

★★★

"Dead?" Ethan asked, staring far ahead at the deep blue sea as if he was looking at a specific thing.

"Yes," Raymond answered his question, before asking his own, "What excuse do we give the military, Sir?"

"Nothing. They were going to kill her anyway, so they can take it that I helped them with clearing up the body," Ethan stated, in an uninterested tone as if Raymond was supposed to know the answer to the question without even asking.

"Did they leave the hospital?" He questioned immediately, referring to his parents.

"Chairman DeLoach did but Madam is still there," Raymond informed him. That was the last he had heard from Ruthlyn who had stayed behind at the hospital.

★★★

Music Rec: Dusk till Dawn by Sia and Zayn.

Shikera’s eyelashes fluttered open, closing almost immediately to block out the bright rays of light which flooded her vision. Slowly, she reopened her eyes and this time around, she didn’t feel any discomfort.

"Why does heaven looks like Ethan’s Villa?"

Shikera believed without any iota of doubt in her mind that she was now in heaven after getting poisoned. But why was no angel approaching her to take her to either heaven or hell, and why did heaven look like her room in Ethan’s villa?

She heard the creaking sound of the door opening and her brows furrowed. Wasn’t heaven supposed to have gates and not doors?

"Also," she wondered again, "Why was she not floating around and viewing the clouds? Why was she staring up at a pink, starry POP* ceiling instead?"

"Miss Anderson?"

She heard an excited voice call out to her, making her turn her head in the direction of the voice. Why was she seeing Ruthlyn?! This could only mean...

She watched as Ruthlyn ran out of the room and came back in a few minutes, followed closely by Ethan and Raymond.

Ethan came to her side and helped her to sit up, even though she had to rest against him to do that as her back was weak and sore from sleeping for over two days.

"How’re you feeling, Shikera?"

She heard Ethan ask, before finally realizing that she was not dead yet. To onlookers, she might have switched opinions fast but Shikera had gone through so many life and death situations that she would not be shocked if she woke up one day and found out that her soul had left her body. That was her life and there was nothing she could do to change it.

The only problem now was that she was trying to answer Ethan but her voice was not coming out. What was happening?!

"Shikera, I asked if you are okay," Ethan said, wondering why Shikera was not talking even when her eyes were clearly focused on him, and he could tell that she heard what he said.

"What—" He started, when she suddenly tapped him on his hand with strength he didn’t expect her to have.

"Talk to me with your mouth and not your hand. I know you can hear me," Ethan pressed, frowning at the way she continued looking at him while opening her mouth and closing it continually.

However, realization dawned on him when he saw Shikera raise one of her hands to her neck, with eyes widened in shock. Her other hand shook his arm vigorously, trying hard to communicate with him with force as it seemed like her voice was asleep.

Ethan turned to Raymond and Ruthlyn, who were also staring at Shikera with shocked expressions.

"Get Doctor Krystal here. Tell her there’s an emergency," he instructed Raymond who hurriedly called the doctor, while still standing in the same room.

The call was picked and dropped within two minutes making Shikera wonder what her doctor had said. She tapped Ethan, who in turn asked Raymond what was the outcome of his call.

"Uhm... She said, "If you are calling because Shikera can’t speak, then I won’t come because what else do you expect? That she would be poisoned, and no damage will be done to any part of her body? Just tell Shikera that she will be okay soon," that’s what she said," Raymond recited, the exact same way Krystal had done.

"What?!" Ethan asked, and Shikera gave him a thumbs up at that because that was what she would have said if she had her voice. But then, they would not be having this discussion if she was not...dumb.

Looking around the room for something she could use to communicate with them, she couldn’t find any so she turned to Ethan and raised her hand to her ears as if she was making a call, trying to ask him where her phone was.

"Your phone?" Ethan asked and seeing her nod, he turned to Ruthlyn. The latter walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later, with Shikera’s phone in hand. She handed the phone to Shikera who hurriedly collected it and began typing.

Ethan’s phone pinged and he brought it out to see Shikera had messaged him.

"What do I do?! Aren’t I as good as dead?!" was the message she sent to him, the exclamation mark at the end of each question reflecting her agitation.

"You are better than dead," 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Before he was done answering the question, his phone pinged again and he looked down to see Shikera had created a WhatsApp group and added him, Raymond and Ruthlyn to the group. This woman sure adapted fast to the situation.

"How am I better than dead?! Ever heard of a dumb reporter or announcer?" She had only just sent that before another series of messages came in.

"Of course, there are but I don’t want to be one. My voice is the only thing keeping me sane!"

The other three in the room were not able to answer as they kept reading her messages as it popped in one after the other. Ethan, who always delighted in having his phone quiet, knew that he had been deprived of that freedom.

Thinking of how to stop his phone from pinging nonstop, he said the first thing that came to his mind,

"Am I allowed to kiss you?"