Divine Hell

my baby, say it to me

Maxwell’s whole body was trembling as he opened Estella’s lake house. After he heard the whole conversation between Scarlett and her dear friends, he rushed to come here to confirm everything.

“But why here, sir?” Alex paused, staring around the empty property, which was dark and felt so eerie since the owner had died several days ago. “This property is empty and probably didn’t hold something so important.”

“No.” He replied. “No.”

“Sir?”

“She told me that she had everything important stored in her secluded property, and among her other properties, this lake house is the most secluded place.”

Alex frowns, and deep down, he feels that something isn’t right with his boss. He has served Maxwell since he was a first-year student in college, and that made him know everything about his life, including how Estella Partridge bullied him back then and how deep his anger grew inside him.

He never cared about any woman except his mother and Scarlett Williams — his savior. But then, why does he look so conflicted and panicked now, and not so happy as before when he had succeeded in killing Estella on her wedding day?

Maxwell had never looked more stressed than today, until his whole body was trembling, right now, as he tried to barge into the empty property that belonged to someone he hated the most in this world. Most importantly, he rejected several calls from Scarlett. That was new, as usually he was always at her beck and call, like a good dog.

“Boss, has something happened?” Alex asked carefully. “You are acting weird, and Lady Williams has been calling you nonstop for an hour.”

Maxwell was overwhelmed with his thoughts; his head was filled with what—ifs and everything that he couldn’t quite place yet — his head was a mess, and it was slowly killing him. “Shut the f**k up!” He yelled, his body still trembling as he held the keys in his hand — failed several times just to open the f*****g front doors. “Shut down your f*****g phone, or throw them to the lake for all I care! I don’t need that b***h to bother my life.”

Alex’s eyes widened, seeing his boss scream and his whole body shaking. That was when he realized that something had happened between them, no, to him. He just realized that before they came here, Maxwell called and asked for his assistance to drive, as he couldn’t do it himself.

“Allow me to open the doors for you, sir.” He saw how Maxwell’s body fell to the wooden floor after he gave the keys to him, as if he lost his power to stand tall on the ground. “I’ll get in first to check everything.”

He walked ahead of his boss, turning on the lights in the living room and slowly, carefully moving to scan the entire space. The lake house was empty, except for the furniture and the untouched things that had been stored there. Nothing looked suspicious, and everything looked normal to him.

“Search for a safe.” Maxwell’s sudden voice startled him as he entered Estella’s bedroom. “She has it in here, I knew it.”

But even after several hours searching her bedroom, they found nothing except jewelry and the company work papers. But Maxwell just doesn’t want to give up yet, even late at night, with the storm having stopped and the moon soaring high, his body still moving to search for what he needs the most relentlessly.

“I can order our men to search for what you need the most, sir,” Alex tells him carefully. “Just name it and everything will be done once you wake up tomorrow morning.”

“No,” Maxwell replied almost instantly. “No, I need it now — I need to see it with my own eyes.” I don’t want to be fooled anymore. No, not anymore. I will do this research by myself.”

Seeing his boss act differently made him wonder what had happened to him?

But as much as Maxwell forced himself, his body was giving up as he was exhausted; body and soul. Nothing made him feel like this before, but Estella. His heart was aching, and there was a lump in his throat that couldn’t make him utter any words regarding Estella to his right—hand man.

“Search for the foundation that paid my tuition,” Max ordered. “Is it Estella’s name that comes out as their fundraiser or not?”

Alex was stunned for a moment upon hearing that from his boss.

“I beg your finest pardon, sir?”

“You heard me.”

“But I thought that was Lady Williams—”

“No,” Max cut him. “It had never been her. Never.”

There is a long pause; both of them stare at the walls blankly. Their heads filled with thoughts, and it overwhelmed them both. Until then, Alex noticed something weird in the bedroom. The length of the room was weird; it’s as if there was a hidden room behind the bed.

“Boss.” He moved to the bedside, “I think there is something behind that wall.”

“It is, there is space behind this,” Max replied as he stood instantly, and his eyes were wildly searching for something that could open the door. “But there is no door.”

“There is, I’m pretty sure,” Alex replied as he moved to search for something he could press or move. Until his fingers caught the button behind the furniture. “There it is, it’s behind the vase.”

The door leading to the secret safe was opened, revealing several stacks of gold bars. “Holy shit.” Alex cursed under his breath. “That was pure gold bars, right?”

Max’s eyes widened. “It is, and everything was hidden behind that ordinary door?”

“No, it was metal — the architects probably designed wood to mask it,” Alex exclaimed as he brushed the metal door and walls. “Indeed, everything in here is metal.”

He sighed harshly after hearing that, finally, after hours spent here, they found this.

“Search for something related to the Gray Foundation.” His eyes scanned around the safe space, not even caring for the gold bars on the stacks. “Or anything related to foundations.”

It was hard to ignore the gold bars and probably billions of cash that were tucked neatly in the stacks, but Alex knew that he had more important tasks at hand — what was important to his boss was more important to him.

So he makes himself busy with black boxes that are tucked in the corner of the room. His hands moved quickly, and his eyes skimmed the words that were printed out on the papers, until he found something related to the Gray Foundation, Triton Foundation, and several finance reports from The Belgium Bank that belonged to the Cartier family.

“Sir,” Alex called him. “Here it is.”

Maxwell stopped in his tracks before he could take another box, his heart pounding faster in his chest. “What is it?”

It was a financial statement and a letter of agreement with the foundation administrators, along with Estella’s signature on the papers that she would provide the Triton Foundation anonymously, and the money would be transferred from the Belgium Bank monthly, discreetly; no one should know who the fundraiser of the Triton Foundation was.

The reason, only she knew.

But one thing he knew for sure, from the year this paper was made, it was she who funded him from high school until university, before he found out who his family was. It was her from the start, it’s always her.

“f*****g hell, baby.” His eyes burn so much. “f*****g hell.”

All Maxwell knew was that she gave large funds to the Gray Foundation continuously, so he thought that she was too focused on her family foundation to even care about other foundations. But he was so wrong all along, he was so wrong.

Estella is probably doing that to make everyone think that she was a self—centered b***h, a cold and heartless woman who wouldn’t even care about the well—being of other people who are under her and the Partridge wings. She was probably doing that to hide the fact that she was funding him as well.

Several papers showed him that she was doing research about him, about who he was and which family he belonged to — several parts were messy with her handwriting and red underlined, until the next one was when her research about him was done; she found his family.

Maxwell’s head was drumming, his ears ringing.

“Oh God.” He cries hysterically. “Oh, Estella!”

Alex panicked. “Boss?!”

“Bring me to her. "Now!” Max yelled and occasionally mumbled as he walked weakly. “Why, baby? Why hide this from me?”

His right—hand man thought his boss had requested to bring him back to Scarlett Williams, but oh, he was so wrong. Maxwell asked him to drive to Estella’s forever home, and he is currently digging her grave — disturbing her peaceful rest.

Alex’s mind was screaming that Maxwell wasn’t in his right mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop his boss from doing that. Not when his eyes caught him crying helplessly and calling Estella’s name with longing and regret.

Seeing that made Alex move to help him, crying as he offered his hands.

And there Estella is.

Her eyes closed tightly, hiding her beautiful mismatched eyes. She looked so peaceful that she looked like she was just asleep, only that she was not breathing anymore, and looked so white like the exquisite after—party dress she should have worn after she took the vows. That dress was also the one Maxwell bought for her, simply because she couldn’t choose between the pretty dresses.

The dress that turns out to be her favorite, without him knowing until now.

Maxwell moves to take her in his arms, hugging her body tightly, not even caring about anything but her. If only he had known the truth earlier, if only he hadn’t been so dumb, so trusting, and let Scarlett Williams pull his strings to hurt Estella; maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t have been taken so soon.

She would be with him, and he would never let anyone touch or even hurt her.

“Baby, please, wake up, baby.” His fingers caress her pale cheek carefully. “Please, baby.”

His whole body was trembling as he cried painfully, screamed helplessly in the late night with Estella’s corpse in his arms. “Please, tell me about everything, Estella. Please, baby, just come back to me.”