What she didn't know was that her words set off a nuclear reaction inside Zach.
Zach gritted his teeth and asked in between the grating noise of his teeth grinding against each other.
"Then did you let him go because of me?"
"Why else would I do what I did? I know that you are trying to develop your faction in this place. Even though he was an idiot, he looked like he belonged to some powerful family of this city. If you earned the enmity of such a family because of me, your development here would have been affected. Your faction is only in the beginning stage of its inception and is vulnerable to interference from the outside agencies. Powerful families would definitely be able to lay down more hurdles in your path. I don't want you to suffer because of me."
The boiler that was close to bursting already, exploded with the intensity of a supernova. Something cracked inside Zach at that moment and he slapped the table beside him with enough force that caused it to sink inwards.
Christina was startled by the sudden outburst from Zach. She had never seen him act in such a manner. She had seen him fuming before when he interacted with Prince Kolt but even then she hadn't felt afraid.
But now she didn't even have control of her faculties anymore. The expression on his face made him look like the incarnation of some murderous demon instead of the good natured man she had come to know.
She didn't understand why he was acting like that. In her opinion, she had not done anything to elicit such an exaggerated reaction out of him.
"EVERYTHING …I have…or will build in the future…will be completely meaningless if you have to suffer such humiliation in return. You are my woman…and putting material things before your dignity and respect would make me failure of a man in my eyes. It would make me too ashamed to look myself in the mirror. If your disrespect is the price that I have to pay for my success, then I don't want to succeed in this life."
Zach fixedly stared at Christina and the bloodthirst on his face vanished. Instead there was only helplessness that was akin to someone on the brink of losing everything.
"All I have ever wanted is to provide for and give a good life to those who put their trust in me and decided to follow me. My precious family is the foremost amongst that group and you belong to it too. I can't have you holding back on my account when I WANT you to do whatever you want so I can support you just as you have supported me. If I let you suffer because of my business or career, wouldn't that skew my whole reasoning behind all this? What use would this business be if it can't even protect you? So, don't ever hold back in such situations and do whatever you feel like. You still have me to handle the consequences."
Christina's eyes welled up with tears that glistened with the sweet radiance of moonlight and made her look alluring with a touch of innocence that brightened her overall cold countenance. Her eyes revealed her surprise at Zach's words. She had never expected to hear such words for him. She had initially wanted to be thoughtful for her husband but it turned out that it only caused her husband a world of hurt.
Only now did she understand how well Zach treated her and the kind of position she held in his heart.
Seeing her cry was the last thing Zach wanted to do because he wouldn't know how to handle such a delicate situation without hurting her. Christina was normally a cold and aloof woman who was more concerned about her business than herself as could be inferred from how she practically sold herself in marriage to Zach so as to give her family an opportunity to rise in Elizabeth city. But when she cried, she looked so innocent and so timid that Zach didn't know if he could handle it.
Given that he had already made her cry, Zach felt that he needed to take responsibility for his earlier actions.
"Don't cry…please don't cry. I am sorry I was so mean earlier. I didn't mean to snub you. I just couldn't control myself when I heard that you had to go through so much because of me."
Zach looked extremely apologetic. He even seemed to be panicking on the inside as his voice was extremely affectionate and his tone soothing as if he was trying to caress her very soul.
"Please forg…" Before Zach could complete his apology, Christina covered his mouth with her hand as she didn't want him to feel sorry for her. She was willing to give up everything for him; a little bit of humiliation was nothing if it could allow her to gain Zach's affection.
"You don't ever have to apologize to me. You treat me so well. How would you be able to wrong me in first place?"
Christina inched closer to Zach and wrapped her hands around him before pulling him into a tight embrace that was akin to a koala hugging a tree.
Christina felt as if her life-long wish had been fulfilled and she could not stop herself from mumbling her thanks over and over again. Even she wasn't sure if her gratitude was directed towards Zach who accepted her or towards the god who was out there steering the situations to around to bring her to this conclusion.
Tears of a woman were the heaviest things in the world for their man. Zach was currently under the greatest burden he had ever been in his life. The woman he had always assumed to be strong and independent was sobbing her heart out in his embrace which made him feel even worse. What made him even more uneasy was that he couldn't figure out the exact reason for her tears. One second earlier, she had looked so happy but a moment later she was shedding a lake of tears wetting his chest without a warning.
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