C.A.K.E novel Chapter 9

Melinda Danae Carven-Stone ... The woman whose voice is ripping shreds in the usual harmonious fabric of the Stone household. Elliott's first wife and Arden's sworn enemy.

Ardi is adamant that part of the reason Melinda married Eli was for the clever effect created by the pairing of his last name and her maiden name, Carven-Stone. She's just that superficial and tacky.

“Get your ass down here, Elliott!”

Melinda's blur of blonde strands whips across the screen, as she shouts obscenities at the camera. The anger dancing in her blue eyes transcends the barrier of the screen and freezes Elliott to his core. He feels his heart rate slowing down to a pitiful crawl.

“I know you and that bitch can hear me ... Where the fuck are my goddamned kids?”

“That bitch,” Arden repeats, rolling her eyes so hard they could pop right out of her head.

Elliott looks from the indignant mug of his wife, then back to the raving face of his ex.

“This is not happening to me.” Eli drags his hand down his face.

“What is she even doing here?”

“I don't know.” He shakes his head. “I thought she'd at least call first.”

“I know they're here, Elliott. They bought the fucking plane tickets with my credit card.”

“That's what she's upset about,” Arden smirks. “The money, as usual.”

Eli strokes the stubble on his chin and shakes his head again. He squints at the screen. The small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepen with every second of Mel's ranting.

“She could have phoned that in. I would have gladly sent her the money.” He glares at the blonde woman harassing the concierge. “Melinda doesn't inconvenience herself unless it benefits her in some way. She came here for a reason.”

“What else could she possibly want from us?”

Arden kneels on the bed behind Eli and wraps her arms around his torso. He grasps her hands in his, as she rests her chin in the crook of his neck.

“I don't know.” He licks his lips. “I don't know.”

Dread fights his wife's warmth, wrapping its frigid arms around Elliott, and letting its chilly breath choke his spine one vertebrae at a time. His breathing has reduced itself to sporadic sputters, like a car savoring its last whiffs of gasoline before chugging to an exhausted stop.

It's never good to see Melinda. The sight of the first woman to bear his last name issues a biological response from him that's akin to a massive heart attack or stroke. It's a wonder he survived being married to her.

She likes to show up on occasion, wielding an ax just above Elliott's neck. Laughing the entire time, as she watches him squirm.

“The longer I have to wait, the worse things are going to get.”

Arden and Elliott observe with their mouths dropped, while Melinda plucks a small vase from the concierge's desk and hurls it at the stone wall. Edward ducks as the vessel sails past his head, just missing his ear. The porcelain screams against the solid surface and shatters into a million opaque shards.

“I'm getting very impatient,” she screams.

Melinda picks up a potted plant and sends it flying across the lobby.

“Oh, she is gone,” Ardi remarks.

“I'd better get down there before she starts ripping up the foundation.”

Elliott retrieves his shirt from the floor and slips it over his head. Arden finds her bra and does up its hooks, before thrusting her legs back into her jeans. She pulls on her shirt and starts brushing her hair up into a ponytail.

The noise of another piece of expensive artwork crashing into the polished walls of the lobby gets their attention.

“Shit,” Elliott mutters.

Eli watches Edward rise from the cover of the expansive marble desk, peeking over its edge to make sure Melinda hasn't found another object to transform into a missile. He informs her that if she doesn't calm down he'll be forced to call the authorities.

“Do whatever you want, hobbit.” She snatches the poor man forward by his collar. “I'm not leaving here without my damn kids. So I suggest you find Dr. and Mrs. Stone for me.”

Melinda addresses the camera again. “You hear that, Elliott? ... I'll be here all night if that's what it takes. Now get your ass down here.”

She releases Edward, shoving him backward. The young man stumbles over a chair and almost hits the concrete floor.

“Ma'am, I've alerted Dr. Stone. Please, just calm down.”

As the melee continues in the lobby, Elliott notices that Arden has redressed and is sitting on the edge of the bed with a pair of Nikes at her side.

“Wait a minute. Where are you going?”

“I'm going with you.” She glances at him, as she finishes doing up the buttons on her blouse.

“No, you're not.”

“You are not going down there alone.”

“Arden, you know how she is. Seeing you will unleash the Kraken for sure.”

“Then call me Perseus.” She shrugs and stares him square in the eyes. “You're not going by yourself.”

Ardi speaks like the subject is closed, so he might as well stop arguing with her. She slips her feet into her sneakers and springs from the bed. Elliott catches her arm, as she walks past him.

He pulls her back toward the bed. “Arden, please. Stay here.”

“No,” she states, her response unyielding.

“Please, just let me handle this.”

“Elliott, no. You'll go down there and roll over for her like you always do.” She shakes her head. “And it's not happening tonight. I'm not letting her take our kids.”

“We don't have a choice.” His voice sounds a little gruffer than he intended.

Arden doesn't notice that Eli is almost yelling. Her tone has climbed to the same stressed pitch.

“We may not.” She gestures from his chest, then back to hers. “But I do.”

Arden pushes past Elliott and out the bedroom door. He runs after her. Eli hooks his arm around her waist, lifting her off the ground.

“Arden, wait.”

“Put me down, Elliott.”

“No.”

She struggles against his grip. “Put me down.”

“Not until you listen to me.”

Her constant movement is making it difficult for him to hang on to her. He rights her but doesn't let go.

“I'm done talking.”

Arden cements her feet to the floor, grounding her weight. She bends, making him overextend his back. Eli moves right with her, tightening his grasp on her waist. He knows she's either trying to flip him or force him to break his hold on her.

His feet begin to lift off the ground until he's standing on his tiptoes. Arden has always had strength. She is a former athlete, after all. But tonight she's besting him like Hercules hopped up on Popeye's spinach with a Red Bull chaser.

“Just ... listen.” He drags out his words, as he strains to maintain his leverage.

While Elliott tries to convince Arden to leave the damage control to him, Melinda continues to harass Edward downstairs.

Her ranting can be seen and heard over the main intercom in the living room.

Mel ignores Edward's various warnings and picks up her one-sided argument with the surveillance camera again.

“And wake up the Hershey's kiss, too. I know the little bitch had something to do with this,” Melinda yells.

Arden makes a sound that's a combination of a low chuckle and a growl.

“I'm not gon' be too many more bitches, Eli.” A little bit of that hood girl who lives in every woman to some extent is coming to the forefront.

“Arden!” Melinda climbs on top of the front desk so that her pale features are in superb focus. She taps the camera lens with her decrepit index finger.

“I know your thieving ass has my damn kids. Try having some crumb snatchers of your own for a change, instead of trying to steal mine.”

“Elliott ... unless you want to be on the receiving end of the first ass-kicking of the night, I suggest you let go of me.” Arden's tone is low and controlled. Like someone who has resolved to do what must be done, consequences be damned.

He has to rein her in—and fast. She has never reached a breaking point where Melinda is concerned. But tonight could be one for the record books. It looks like his ex has finally pushed a woman with the patience of Job to her limit.

He doesn't know whether or not he can handle that. Eli knows what Melinda's bat shit crazy entails. But seeing someone as quiet as Arden lose her shit would be like watching an F5 twister decimate a town. No warning. No escape. Just destruction. The only hope for survival would be to hunker down and ride it out, as you watch in awe at its raw power.

“Arden, baby.” Elliott puts Ardi in a bear hug and places his hand over her heart. The adrenaline courses through her veins, pounding her heart against his palm at breakneck speed. It makes him tremble.

He speaks to her in a voice so soft and sweet, even the most nefarious of villains couldn't resist its charm.

“Calm down ... Ignore her.” Eli reminds her that the evil bitch downstairs feeds off anger, and she's only seeking a reaction out of them.

Arden knows this. She has become very well accustomed to Melinda's modus operandi. That woman has been the bane of Arden's existence for the last sixteen years. She knows Melinda says shit just to fuck with her.

Ardi is aware that Mel has even referred to her as a whore in front of the twins. She is also privy to the scathing "anonymous" blog Melinda has dedicated to blasting her ex-husband's second wife. She remembers convincing her father not to lodge a civil suit against Mel for defamation of character.

Ardi also recalls smiling while Melinda introduced herself as Eli's wife at a Mitchell family function. At that same gathering, Mel managed to mention the absence of any little ones who bear a resemblance to Arden to everyone in attendance at least twice.

Her exact comment was, “You have to wonder when a woman as ... striking ... as Arden hasn't given her husband any children. Must be something wrong with her plumbing, or he's found some other little slut to take care of his needs. Either way, I feel so sorry for her. A woman who can't have kids isn't really a woman at all. Elliott must be so disappointed.”

At least that's how Arden's aunt, Wilhelmina, relayed the message to her in the kitchen of her childhood home. Arden cursed the ground that Melinda slithered on, as she bore a hole in the travertine tile floor with her Valentino heels. She gritted her teeth, as Wilhelmina urged her to set the maniacal ho straight. Arden refused.

Instead, Ardi watched from the bay window while that bitch tossed her head back, cackling as she drank Dom Pérignon in the backyard of the Mitchells’ forty-acre estate. She didn't say anything. Just let Melinda's venom roll right off her back.

Of course, Melinda picked up on Arden's unwillingness to acknowledge her smear campaign and upped the ante. Yet, she still got no reaction from the current Mrs. Elliott Stone. Ardi remained mum, as she overheard Melinda make yet another reference to her perceived imperfection.

“The doctors must have misplaced something when they stitched her back together after the accident.”

Melinda stared right at Arden as she spoke, daring her to offer some challenge to the bile she was spreading all over the beautifully landscaped garden.

Arden's entire body shut down. Her hands lost their grip on the silverware she'd been holding, sending it crashing down onto the expensive china. Her brown eyes glistened, as moisture strained against her eyelids. For a second, she forgot how to breathe.

That one hurt. It was a two-for-one punch. The barb almost made her lunge across the pristine white tablecloth, and bust Melinda dead in her throat.

Even Wilhelmina was ready to light up Melinda's pasty behind for that remark. Seeing the anguish on her niece's face was all the motivation she needed to pull off her earrings and snatch a bitch.

Any slight mention of the day she lost her mother sends Arden into an emotional tailspin. And everyone close to her is conscious of that fact, including her best enemy. She wanted nothing more than to lay her ass out. But she wasn't going to allow herself, or her aunt, to sink to Mel's level.

“Mitchell women are ladies first,” Lillian Mitchell's gentle voice reminded her. Arden's mom would not have approved of such an outburst. Especially not in the company of most of her extended family. And she wasn't about to disappoint her mommy.

“Yes, we can,” Arden says, an air of finality in her tone.

“And then what? What do we do when she insists upon filing a missing person report?” He starts to pace. “Do we lie to the police, too? ... Let them waste resources looking for two teenagers who are holed up in our house? ... Who's going to handle that lawsuit?”

“Dad has an excellent legal team on retainer. It won't be a problem.”

Elliott chuckles. “You can't be serious.”

She stares at him, her jaw set.

He sighs. “Not even the great Warren Mitchell could get us out of kidnapping charges, and filing a false police report.”

“Don't underestimate him and the lengths he's willing to go for his family.” She releases the twins and goes to Elliott. “If we start this, he will find a way to finish it.”

“What does that even mean?” He shakes his head. “We're not the mafia.”

“No, we're politicians.” She folds her arms over her chest, resting her weight on one leg. “And that kind of clout is far more dangerous.”

A fire burns on the surface of her bronzed irises. Eli can feel the heated determination flow off her in waves. He takes an unconscious step backward.

“You see what you two have done?” He nods to Ro and Tea. “You've turned your Ammi into a member of the Cashmere Mafia. Now she's gotta wear red bottoms with everything, and get hair extensions.”

A laugh starts at the corners of Elliott's mouth. But he's the only one who finds that funny.

“Dad, seriously. What are we going to do?” Rowan asks.

“We are not spending the rest of the summer with her, and that dude.”

He sighs and leans against the back of the sofa, still avoiding everyone's eyes. Arden moves with him, following him with that exacting gaze of hers.

Elliott can never handle that look. The one that's a mixture of disappointment and burgeoning resentment. He's seen that look on his wife's face one too many times in the past year.

If he's not careful, another even more heartbreaking one could take its place. The look of a woman who no longer cares whether her husband is up to par. By that time, she's already found someone else who will meet her expectations.

If she ever does leave his heart for greener pastures, she might as well put a bullet in his chest. After losing her, he couldn't begin to know how to be.

Elliott can hear Ardi ask the kids to go back to their rooms and give them some privacy. But he doesn't notice when Ro and Tea comply with her request.

His mind is doing cartwheels between Arden, the twins, and the madwoman downstairs. The family he sacrificed so much to get needs him to protect that bond. But going against the woman who is threatening to put asunder the ties that bind them, could have the same devastating repercussions as giving in to her demands.

And that's just the way Melinda likes it. She knows anything she asks of him isn't worth as much as what he stands to lose. So she milks that knowledge for everything it's worth.

“Eli.” Arden takes both his hands in hers, linking their fingers.

He looks up at her, his eyes darting around the room. Elliott absorbs his surroundings again, having been lost in his thoughts for a moment. He touches her hands to his lips, but still doesn't focus on her.

He glances over at the scene downstairs again. Melinda is still making high-pitched threats and yelling obscenities at the camera. His heart drops to his stomach and begins to cauterize in the new acidic environment. He winces, the discomfort feeling more physical than metaphorical.

His eyes become shards of sea glass resting in a sparkling bed of sand. Arden raises his chin and looks into his glazed expression.

“Honey, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, I um.” He nods. “Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

He knows what she wants to hear, but he's not sure he can deliver. Maybe he can find some middle ground that will appease Arden, and keep Melinda's claws out of him. But there is a very slim chance of that happening.

“I'll figure something out.”

“You'll figure something out.” Arden dips her head.

Elliott can see the tears forming on the fringes of her long lashes. He reaches up to catch the tiny drops of frustration as they spill out of his wife's eyes. Each one of her tears makes him even more upset that he's essentially powerless in this situation.

“I won't let her take them tonight. I promise.”

“And then what?”

“I can't make any guarantees.”

Her voice is thick when she speaks again. “I don't want her around them at all.”

“Me either, baby ... Me either.” He puts his arms around her waist and pulls her into him. “But right now, it's her ballgame.”

His mass of blonde curls sprawls against her chest, while he buries his face in her stomach. Hugging him closer, she kisses his forehead. She rests her head against his.

“I know.” Arden sighs from somewhere deep. “It always has been.”

Elliott feels her body sink into his and that just about kills him. Melinda has them both by the neck. And the way Arden just deflated in his arms, tells him she doesn't believe he's capable of defending their family.

He lifts his head from her chest and stands up straight. Eli holds Arden by the nape of her neck and locks eyes with her.

“Do you trust me?”

Ardi starts to say something, then stops. She takes a breath. “Yes.”

He sinks his fingertips into the soft curve of her waist and kisses her. Then he takes one more look at his beautiful wife, before leaving the apartment barefoot.