Chapter5: THE BILLIONAIRE LIED TO ME
1158 Words
Days later, I refused to stay a minute longer in the mansion, only returning when I knew Xavier was not present in the same space as me.
Of course, I was not expecting him to fall down to his knees and confess his undying love towards me but for him to have someone else somewhere and have his way with me is wrong.
And he had called himself a principled man.
What a damn liar!
I stared at my swollen eyes in the mirror in my room at the mansion. I knew I could not move out because I did not want to be sued because I disrupted the contract agreement and had to pay a ridiculous amount of money.
After making sure that Xavier had left for the day as I always did, I walked out of the room into the hallway towards his office.
Suddenly, I heard a hushed voice. My eyes furrowed out of confusion and concentration.
I thought he had left.
Apparently, he had not.
And he was still present.
He was on a call in his office. With this knowledge, I pasted my ears against the hard door and strained my hearing.
“ I know what I am doing. I know why I chose her. She has absolutely no idea. Stop your chastisements. I do not need it”. He said angrily to the other person in the call and instantly my feet bounced back when he opened the door and walked out of his office. I gulped loudly as I stared at him.
“ Ariel”. He started with surprise and stared at me with eyes dripping with intensity.
“ We need to talk about what happened. You have been avoiding me”. He continued, his hands dipped into the pockets of his suit pants trousers.
I bit my bottom lips as I tried to avoid his gaze and intimidating stance. “ There is nothing to say”. I turned to walk away from him.
He did not let me– his hands digged into my wrist possessively and he dragged me with force and I landed on his chest.
I pushed him away. “ We can cohabit in this house without having to talk, Xavier. We should try that”. I replied nonchalantly, avoiding his intense stare on my lips.
“ I do not like that”. He uttered, his voice dropping by an octave. So low, so deep.
“ Well, that is not my fault, is it? Don't worry about it. I understand you bought me so I am not entitled to your life but dignity is always free, you should know”. I challenged him openly.
He took a deep breath in and gave up. “ Be prepared this evening. You will be escorting me to a dinner party”.
I nodded and walked away from him again and this time he allowed me and my heart stuck to my throat in disappointment.
Why am I so pained when this was basically what I was paid to do?
I was not paid to interfere with life. So why does his secretiveness bother me?
Watching from the tall glass window in the living room, I saw Xavier walk into his expensive car with a driver at the front and drive off.
Finally, I can go about my plan. No matter how dangerous it sounded. I was not going to back out.
I was going to break into Xavier's office and find out what or who he was hiding.
I hurried to the front of his office, brought out my spare key which I had stolen and opened the door of the office.
Sparing no second to waste, I walked over to the storage unit and glanced through every file and a couple of hours passed and I still came up with nothing.
Until, I saw that there was a secluded locker opposite where I stood. I walked to it and surprisingly it was open. I grabbed the knob and pulled it out.
A photo was laid upside down and I held it back up. In the picture was a very widely smiling Xavier. He was practically glowing with happiness and looked more youthful, his hands held on to a woman whose face was scratched out from the picture.
Is that Laura?
What are the chances that this woman whom he seemed to be so happy with might be Laura?
Did Xavier scratch out the woman's face on purpose?
And why?
Questions welled up in my heart as I stood there confused and heartbroken. Xavier had me fooled all along.
I needed to know his secret and how it was connected to me.
And I need to know it now.
The door of the office burst open unexpectedly and the frame fell from my hand, landing on the floor with a loud thud, the glass shattered and another single photo fell out.
I lifted my eyes up to the man who walked in. The man with eyes that held secrets from me. The man who had refused to show any weakness but had no idea that he was slowly becoming my weakness.
“ What the hell are you doing in my office, Ariel?!”. He jumped at me angrily.
He glanced at the photo that fell out, his eyes widened and blood visibly drained from his face and then he moved to hurriedly carry it.
Is that what he is hiding from me?
I stepped in front of him and dropped my leg on the photo as I glared at him with glossy eyes, preventing him from having access to it.
“ That frame. Is that Laura?”. I asked intently. His eyes held fear and I knew at that moment that I had gotten him red-handed.
“ Remove your leg from that photo, Ariel. It has nothing to do with you”.
“ Do you think I am foolish, Xavier. I overheard your conversation and I remember all the times when you said some words like ‘ I can not afford to lose you. Not again’. What were you talking about?!”. I screamed at him.
“ It could have been anyone. Why do you want that person to be you so badly?!”.
I rolled my eyes. “ I do not want to be anyone else other than who I am, Xavier”.
I pushed him with all my strength and quickly bent down to carry the photo. Before he could realign himself, I was already holding the picture.
“ You do not want to do that, Ariel!”.
I ignored him and turned to the face of the photo and my heart stuck to my throat, my hands shook and my eyes teared up.
I
n the photo was Xavier, with his hands tightened against a woman whose face looked exactly like mine.
- Writer
