It was almost dusk when I entered the hallway from my bedroom in the Varela household. I wanted a glass of water before I went down to dinner, so I headed down the hall. As I approached Kaleb’s office, I saw that the light was still on and the glass door was ajar. Then, quietly, voices began to filter out towards me.
“Do you really think she’s ready?” Kaleb asked, to which a feminine hum of consideration followed.
“I do… I think if we organised the wedding, she would work with us. She seems dedicated to make this work. Why? What are you thinking?”
My heart skipped a beat. A wedding? Clearly they were talking about me and Marco, but was she being serious? Did they really expect me to marry this guy so soon? And for it to go off without a hitch on my end? Not a chance…
There was a long pause, where the only audible sound was my own breath. “We need this alliance,” Rachel pressed.
“The Bellucci’s could wipe us out without a second thought, I feel nervous about keeping them waiting. The sooner she’s married into them, the sooner our assets are merged. You know this, Kaleb.” I was surprised at Rachel’s insistence on this. I had thought, out of either of them, that it’d be Kaleb pushing for the marriage.
A sour taste built in my mouth at the thought of truly being forced to marry Marco. It seemed so unbelievable that I’d barely considered it as a real option. I’d just figured if I couldn’t get myself out of the situation fast enough, that Nikolai would come true on his bargain. He would always be my knight in shining armor, ready to swoop in and save me whenever I needed him.
I suppressed a sigh of longing. Nikolai. The other night with him had been out of this world, and I’d definitely used the memory in my personal time, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to go back to him.
“It’s not about if she’s ready to be married off,” Kaleb began again suddenly. “It’s about if she’s ready to be trusted. She came back to us out of the blue. She has ties, however tenuous, to that King family in Boston. What if she’s been lying to us this entire time? Using us for her own gain? Or worse, fortheirown gain?”
That time I couldn’t hold back my gasp of surprise. My hand covered my mouth as I pushed myself further into the shadows. I’d had no idea Kaleb had been so suspicious of me… this whole time.
“What does she stand to gain but a husband who has wealth of his own?” Rachel countered. “She was taken from us, yes, but she came back to us with nothing. Kaleb, she’s still our daughter.”
Hmph. That’s what she thinks…
“You’re right. I still don’t know if I trust her, but we need this deal, just like we needed it all those years ago. Maybe with some more time…” Kaleb relented, with the resignation of a man who had had this particular conversation a number of times. “Have you contacted the wedding planner, yet?”
As Rachel made a sound of agreement, I decided I wasn’t so thirsty after all. If nothing else, I could wait until dinner tonight. I made my way back to my room, internally seething.
How could this be happening? After everything, I’d been through, why was this happening? I felt like I just really couldn’t catch a break.
They were questioning me, unsure if I was ready. And from the sounds for it, my loyalties as well. Their conversation struck me so hard because once again it just resonated that, at the end of the day, they just wanted to use me for their personal gain. I’d thought we’d been bonding, that we’d started forming a connection. Maybe that was just me growing weak, letting my guard down.
Well… fine!Fuck it.
They had their agenda and I had mine. I had to remember that, keep it fresh in my mind.
I knew I needed to act fast, but how? What could I do when all I had was a letter from nearly twenty years ago and some matching handwriting? I needed a plan.
Everything I’d gone through, these past few weeks had been a flurry of anxiety and regret. Countless times a day I had found myself going over my decision to seek the Varelas out…and then, to risk coming here. I always ended up at the same conclusion; what the fuck had I been thinking? But this was even worse than my uncertainty.
I needed to find a way to stall them for time.
Then I had to remind myself that I was there for a reason, a true purpose. I needed answers, but the more time I spent there the more I had started to think that maybe it was a wasted trip. I feared I wouldn’t like the domino effect my questions would bring, so I had been impatiently biding my time until I could make my subtle escape.
But to hear them talk about whether I was ready to do their bidding, like they hadn’t a care for me as a person? I was their daughter, and they still didn’t trust me. Hearing their suspicions like they cared more about what I was worth to them than what they were forcing me into? Damn…
The whole situation had me in a pretty permanent foul mood. I wanted to spend time with Nikolai, to just see his face, hear his voice. I hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer before I saw him again. That night we fucked in the alley, that was great but like, I wanted more. Needed more. I ached for him.
Any other time and I’d work myself out of my funk physically but not today. Unfortunately it was almost time for dinner and my family were expecting me to dine with them.
When I passed Kaleb’s office, the door was firmly closed and the lights were off. I tested the handle and found it locked, as I had suspected it would be. I hoped that I would find a way in there, in private, sooner or later but I didn’t think I had the time to learn how to pick a lock.
Rosetta was clattering in the kitchen as I made my way down the stairs. I peeked through the doorway of the kitchen before walking across the hallway to the dining room. I had learned that Rosetta did all of the cooking and most of the housework. I’d noticed that she only worked here five days a week, the other two days were usually takeaways or meals out. Rachel and Kaleb hadn’t seemed too keen on cooking. She had been surprisingly easy to talk to, and chatty. She’d told me all about her small apartment in the city, her children were grown and moved out, so it was just her and her husband, Maurizio.
As I walked into the dining room I could’ve groaned immediately at the sight of Kaleb already sitting at the table. He looked up as I approached, the only indication that he’d actually noticed me and then went back to inspecting the rim of his empty wine glass. Rachel came up from behind me with an unopened bottle of wine in her hand.
“I got us a bottle of pinot noir from the cellar, Kaleb. You’ll like it too, Ana,” she said turning towards me. “It goes lovely with tomato-based sauces and, from what I can smell I think Rosetta is making her famous chicken parm.”
“Mmm, whatever it is it smells great.” I nodded, taking a seat opposite Kaleb. Kaleb sat at the head, Rachel at the opposite end, leaving Ambrose and I to stare bloody murder at each other all throughout dinner. During mealtimes, he usually tried his hardest to ignore me. Most of the time I had extended him the same courtesy.
