Wealth (free and completed)

Chapter 13 - Independent Woman

Valerie

Kissing Janus and making him show me just exactly what he felt about me was a victory. He did not know how big a deal it was for me to dig deep into my feelings and see how I would react to any intimacy.

I thought my r****t had taken my right to feel. I was wrong. I was glad that I was wrong. Janus did not feel like a threat at all. He made me feel warm and safe. However, it did not mean that I would give myself to him yet. He had to seek me out first.

After what happened last Saturday night, I avoided him. I stayed inside my room, preparing my asynchronous lessons for the following day. The teacher would not be online the next day. I had other plans.

Janus did not seek me out. I silently fumed in my room all Sunday. He could have knocked and slipped himself in. Anything. He should make the next move, but he left me frustrated and confused.

I was probably wrong about him feeling anything for me. Perhaps he was just a man reacting to a woman who wanted him. My cheeks flamed at the thought. I rubbed the legs that had been useless for years and wondered if they were why he was trying his best to stay away.

Of course, it could be his sad sense of what was right and wrong. He thought that he should treat me like his sister. We did not grow up together, and we did not share blood. We could get away with it. We –

The phone rang. Nobody ever called me on this landline after dad died, except for that one person. The last one who did was that man asking about who killed dad.

My hand trembled, reaching out for the phone.

“Y-yes?”

There was silence. I heard something like humming from the background. Someone was at the end of the line, listening. I should have cut off the call, but I wanted to know more.

Instead of an answer, music played. It was familiar. As I listened more closely, I heard the familiar strains of piano music. Melancholy. The softness turned into violent fervor, increasing in speed and volume. Tears streamed down my face. Whoever was calling me knew what happened that night. It was the song playing in the background while I was being r***d.

Was it the r****t himself?

Was it him?

“Who’s there? Is it you? Leave me alone!”

There was a click. Then, I heard the dial tone. It felt too loud. I could still hear it when I tried to sleep later that night.

***

“Where are you going?” Hannah asked as she saw me heading for the gate.

It was early Monday morning, and I wanted a little adventure. I needed out of Briar Hill. I woke up still feeling shivery from last night’s call. I knew I should have called a police officer so that they could help me trace it, but what have they done for us so far?

Nothing.

How could I trust the police with something as sensitive as r**e?

It seemed that the case was close. The will’s probate had begun. For estates as large as dad’s, the process usually took a long time, but I had been hearing whispers from my siblings that it might not take that long a time after all.

What had they done? Did they pay the people in charge? Did they want answers because it seemed that things would not be how they thought they would be? Not with Janus here. Dad’s lawyer actively sought his biological son. It was like it was the plan all along.

“I’m off to town,” I said.

“How? Why didn’t you go with Janus? Or Joseph?”

“Is Joseph back at all?”

I remembered that he took off with his girlfriend during the weekend. I understood him completely. The heavy atmosphere in the mansion – along with the secrets we kept within– could sometimes be too much.

‘Yes, he was back last night,” Hannah said. “What about that nice young man you’re dating? Andrew?”

“We’re not dating, Hannah. He’s my friend.”

“Your friend? Oh, you should see how he looked at you. That young man wants to be more than friends. Coming here to see you with all your siblings could be intimidating.”

All my siblings?

Suddenly, I felt what Janus was feeling. It was the pressure of people’s perceptions. He had not been with us for long, but he was immediately considered part of the family. He was the family. After all, he and Joseph were the only ones who shared dad’s blood.

“Joseph and Janus can be intimidating,” I admitted, remembering how Janus called Andrew to his office. There was something almost threatening about it. It probably ran in the family. Joseph had always thought of himself as a leader. “Emilie could be a little offputting, and Rafael would, well -.”

“Have the good brother role down to the pat and then catch people off guard?” Hannah asked with a grin. She loved Rafael and me. We were the underdogs in this house.

I smiled back.

“Yeah. You certainly know Rafael’s game. He was observing Andrew very keenly. I’m surprised he did not come to my room to talk about what he thought.”

Of course, I could not tell Hannah that I was waiting for a different sibling in my room. Pleasure still surged through my body whenever I remembered Janus’ kisses.

“So, you have all these possibilities, yet you are going to town on your own, huh, Miss Valerie?” our housekeeper asked her hands on her hips. As much as she tried to look stern, she would always look like a darling, slightly plump with rosy cheeks and greyish curls.

“Yes. I’m an independent woman, Hannah. Oh, there’s my Uber, I think,” I said, wheeling myself to the gate and pressing a button to open it up.

“Really now? An Uber? The driver must be shocked that he got a request from this address.”

I laughed and waved goodbye. I could tell that the driver was a little flustered to see that he had to deal with me, a lady in a wheelchair. He was polite, though, and a gentleman. He helped me into the passenger’s seat, surprised that I was strong enough to hold onto him without him having to carry me. Then, he folded my little contraption.

“Where to, miss?” he asked.

“Tristan James,” I smiled. “Would you be able to pick me up in, say, two hours?”

He looked a little confused and wary. I knew he what he was thinking.

“I’ll pay you double or triple if I have to. I’ll pay for your two hours, too. It doesn’t matter. As you can see, I just can’t drive. If your service is great, I will see if I can ask for you next time.”

“That’s not how it works, miss,” he said, starting the engine. “You do have to request someone else to pick you up when you’re done at Tristan James. The nearest Uber will be sent on your way.”

“Oh, well,” I sighed. I was learning new things today.

“I would have wanted to, you know, given how generous the offer is.”

I would be wreaking a little havoc today.

***

“Good morning!” I greeted Andrew at his cubicle, startling him.

I used the perks of being a Sangster ward that morning, being allowed up in the Tristan James building with no problems.

“Hey, Val! What a pleasant surprise! How did you get here? I saw Janus much earlier,” his voice trailed off.

“I came on my own,” I declared proudly, chin up.

“Well, I’m working. Are you alright with watching from this side? I must admit I get very self-conscious when someone’s watching. I try to do a lot before Janus walks around to check us.”

“Oh, he does that, too?”

“Yes. Apparently, he likes it. He says that he is grateful for the mansion’s indoor gym that he gets some exercise, but it seems it’s not enough for him. He likes being hands-on.”

“You like him as a boss? You can tell me the truth. I won’t tell.”

“Are you sure about that?” he laughed. “I feel like you’re a good little sister, and you will eventually tell.”

Good little sister.

I could not keep correcting him without alerting him to what was happening inside me. I noticed that his cubicle was more organized than the last time I was here. The little notes pinned to the corkboard were gone. It meant that he had moved the photos, as well. The warmth of disappointment and the chill of what it could mean mixed wildly in my chest. Why did he suddenly take some of his stuff off? I would not do that if it were me. If I had brought a few photos to my workplace, they would be the most important ones. Andrew brought that old photo to work. Then, he decided to take it off.

Who was that woman? Why did she look like me? It was no secret that Andrew had been interested in me even before meeting me. He had seen me on magazines and television with my billionaire foster dad. What did he want from me?

Looking at his face, though, I could see an openness. Friendliness. I even saw the puppy dog look that Hannah was referring to.

“How long have you known about me, Andrew?” I asked. I wondered what would happen if I took things in the open. Not everything, of course.

He did not flinch.

“A long time. From when you had an accident. I am not much older than you. So, the event had made quite an impression on me that time.”

Oh. I did not know if I should be pleased or creeped out.

“So, it was my accident that drew you to me?”

“…and the fact that you were like some Cinderella for some people, but I knew you were not. Not really.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, you were -,” Andrew hesitated.

“Oh, so you know I was an actress’s child?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I wondered how much he knew about my mother.

“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, Andrew. If Janus comes, I can always say that it was my idea to come here, and it’s my fault for, you know, whatever.”

He chuckled.

“I need to get back to work, though.”

“I’ll get around, you know. It’s just my first stop. I need to get away from Briar Hill from time to time. I’ll look for something to munch. You want something from the vending machine?”

“A candy bar, I guess,” he said, looking a little sheepish.

“There’s no shame in candy bars, Andrew Simon. I eat a lot of them. Well, I try not to too much to keep healthy,” I said.

“You don’t look like someone who eats a lot of candy bars.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I could not help but giggle. “I’m heading off!”

It was easy to talk to Andrew, but he still seemed to be hiding something.

On the way to the vending machine, I passed by the front of Janus’s office. The door was slightly ajar. I could hear voices rising from inside the room.

“Gabriella, I don’t know what you want from me!” Janus sounded angry – the angriest I had ever heard him.

“I want you back, Janus. We will make it work this time,” a woman’s voice begged.

Gabriella? I remembered she was Janus’s ex.

“This time? You left me for another man. Now, you’re here for what? The money?”

“Money? No, Janus. I love you.”

I saw a stunning woman with wavy black hair standing in front of Janus’s desk, peering through the crack. Her hands were pressed on the table, likely giving Janus a good view of her cleavage. She wore a tight mini dress and four-inch heels. I could not comment on the heels, shoes I would probably never know the feeling of under my feet.

My temper rose at this outright display of shamelessness. I wheeled my chair and pushed the door with it.

“Hey, Janus. What’s going on?”

Janus paled when he saw me. His eyes locked with mine, almost begging me to go but also wavering. How could someone’s eyes push and pull at you at the same time? My eyes darted to his visitor. Gabriella turned to look at me, too. Then, she looked back at Janus, some realization coursing through her body.

“So, is it what I think it is? Are you diddling your sister, Janus?”

The vulgarity in her words stung me.