A year later
I laid sunbathing on the pool deck. As often as I'd been here, the serenity and beauty of this part of the house still calmed me.
The past few days things had been more quiet than I anticipated. I liked it, but there was this gnawing at the back of my mind, forcing me to stay alert. And I'd been. But today, I just wanted to relax and think about nothing.
My phone chimed. I pushed it aside at first. Then the memory from a week ago reminded me that not checking it now could lead to another problem. Very quickly, I pushed myself up, perusing through what now looked like a spam message. I sighed, realizing that I still allowed fear control me. It was another minute before my phone chimed again. This time I hesitated.
Sluggishly, I picked it up, removing the dark shade from my face. My eyes almost popped out of its sockets when I saw that it was an email from my younger sister.
Faye?
I quickly sat up, opening its content.
I hadn't heard from my family in one year. I'd tried to find them. Even before Christian and I got hitched. Not because I missed my family or needed my dad to give me away on my big day. They were more strangers than family members to me. And after the stunt they pulled, I considered myself an orphan with no one to rely on.
I'd given up on finding them. I made peace with the fact that no matter the explanation they gave for leaving me behind, I would never be able to forgive them still.
Afterallthistime, whywerethey reaching out?
I scoffed when I saw that the email had been titled, 'I'm sorry'.
Reading through the content of her mail, I almost lost it when I read the part about Christian being involved in their disappearance.
…We couldn't say no. And I know it's not an excuse for stealing your stuff and leaving you behind with our debts to pay, but my parents couldn't refuse the offer Christian Gulf made them…
She had to be lying. Christian had nothing to do with this. This was all Leah's doing. She sent them far away and made them leave me. She hated me that much.
I continued to stare at my phone, not sure of what or who to believe.
My heart raced, my mind scampered through the little information that the PI Christian had hired gave me.
Christian. It was his PI.
Wait! Hold on. I shouldn't accuse him of something I wasn't so sure of.
He tried to convince you to be his wife and you refused his offer multiple times. And then all of a sudden your family abandons you.
My brain was on overdrive. Analyzing every scenario, every piece of information, and it seemed to be bringing the puzzle together, but I couldn't bring myself to believe the big picture that was in front of me.
He couldn't have. I would have believed it if she had told me this a year ago. But after being married to Christian Gulf for a year, I knew him better.
Or you knew the side he chose to show you?
The small voice in my head was getting louder.
I grabbed my robe, rushing into the mansion I called my home.
I locked the door behind me when I entered Christian's room. The security cameras must have caught me entering his room, I could always make excuses for coming in. Luckily, there were no cameras inside any of the rooms.
Setting my sights on the small wooden desk drawer just opposite his door, I raced to it, pulling open the drawers. I ransacked through each one, very meticulously even though I was in a hurry. Christian's room was very spacious, which meant I had a lot of grounds to cover before he came home.
If I knew what I was looking for my work would have be so much easier.
Maybe this wasn't the way to go.
After a year of being Mrs Christian Gulf, I'd become one of the richest women in the country. I had almost as much power as Christian because people regarded me in the same power light as my husband.
It still wasn't enough though. Not enough to destroy Leah who'd found herself a very powerful husband six months ago. And it definitely wasn't enough to destroy Christian.
Despite the fact that I was struggling to accept this information as truth, I was reminded of my original goal.
Revenge.
I wondered if I would be able to get to the bottom of this without getting on Christian's radar.
Maybe Gabriel can help?
After putting Christian's things back in place, and making sure I didn't leave any trace that I had been here, I grabbed a shirt from his wardrobe and walked out of his room.
***
"… have you tried calling her? Or replying to her email? You could have asked her all of this, you know?"
As if I didn't think about that.
She could be lying on Leah's orders for all I know. They were sisters for eighteen years, I had seen their bond which Leah so aggressively flaunted in my face. Asking her would only confuse me more.
"You've been acting really weird, Alora."
"What do you mean?"
"This. You know Christian Gulf is more than capable of doing this. Yet you're doubting. And last week, you pulled the plug on something we've been working on for so long."
Was he really capable of hurting me like this? Of playing me? Of using me?
I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.
He wasn't the monster everyone thought he was. At least not to me. With me he was kinder. More gentle. And he laughed genuinely. We enjoyed each other's company.
Remember the goal. Remember who he was before he married you. He'd hurt you too. He is simply being decent with you because the contract is making him do so .
"I know." I didn't believe the words I was saying to Gabriel. I still needed to say them. "But what if this is Leah's game. You know she has it in for me."
Leah and I still crossed paths. In fact, we often saw each other because she lived just three houses down from my own.
After Christian humiliated her and the Callisto's, she'd vowed her revenge against me. She and her mother. I saw immense resemblance between the two that day.
Leah's engagement to the former prime minister had been announced two months after. And four months later, she became the step mother to his three teenage children. She made her husband buy a house around our vicinity and had been a thorn in my flesh since.
"You confronted Leah a year ago. She said she had nothing to do with it."
"How could I believe her? She's evil incarnate." I said surly. "I get that you hate Christian, and I'm not defending him, but this has Leah written all over it."
"I have to go." There was something about the way Gabriel sounded. It made my stomach churn.
… "Is something wrong?"
He sighed. He stayed quiet for a few seconds before he spoke. "I don't think we should continue this partnership."
His tone sent chills down my spine. A new kind of fear had gripped me.
"What do you mean?" I questioned, hiding what I felt.
"Your feelings," he said 'feelings' like the word disgusted him, "have changed and it no longer aligns with the agenda."
"How dare you? Who gave you information that helped get your hotel back from the Gulf's? Who was it that kept feeding you information about the Gulf's and their businesses. It was me." I yelled, my tone no longer friendly.
I'd met Gabriel when he had recently lost his hotel to Christian. He was at the brink of bankruptcy, and Christian had made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He'd been stupid enough to sign a contract without his lawyers present. He also failed to read the contract he was signing thoroughly because of how desperate he was to prove to his family that he had not failed. That day, he lost more than they'd originally agreed and vowed to make Christian pay…
"Now that you have your precious hotel back and some shares in The Gulf enterprise you think you can dump me with a silly excuse like our motives no longer align? Don't you fucking dare. I own your fucking ass."
I shook with rage, ending the call before he had a chance to reply to me.
Fear took the place of rage immediately I turned around and saw Christian standing by the door in my room. He leaned on it.
"So you did take me up on my offer." He was smiling, and the contrast between his words and demeanor only made me more afraid.