Liar Liar Billionaires

21. A chat with Lucille

As someone who took pride in her amazing strength, Chloe hated the fact that she was barely healing from her illness. And since she refused to go to the hospital, Amir and Gabriel ensured she was on absolute bed rest after their in-house doctor came around. This restraint of her movements made her detest the illness even more.

With slow blinks, while she felt hot air blaring from her nostrils, Chloe slowly helped herself up, her mind travelling to Nathaniel at the same time. After Gabriel’s little… confession (or maybe declaration was a better word), she hadn’t seen him around.

She was the type of individual who barely cared for human relationships, so her little sorrow that Nathaniel hadn’t checked on her appalled her.

Perhaps she was being too expectant, she reasoned.

She was letting two dates, a few encounters in the house and a kiss lead her mind into overthinking.

So, Chloe shook away thoughts about that man and focused on her gratitude to Amir and Gabriel, who were doing all they could to make her comfortable. During their careful efforts, she often found herself wondering if the men were truly involved in dirty, bloody business. They truly didn’t act like they were.

But as some say, you can never know a person just by looking at them.

With a smack of her lips, Chloe shut down her thoughts and looked out of her open window from where she was. The evening was setting and the air felt suitable for a good walk.

That gave her an idea.

So, she moved her feet off the bed and gathered strength for the little walk she thought would be nice to have. While thinking that the walk would also help with her sanity, a knock came from the other side.

"Come in." Chloe's voice was rusty, so she reached for the water jug on top of the side dresser.

"You are not planning on leaving, are you?" Lucille's voice entered before she showed herself.

"Lucille. It’s good to see you," Chloe said. Following the incident at the club, she had many questions for her.

Amir had a feeling you would be attempting to escape, so he asked me- in his words- to stop you at all costs." Her smile was nice, very much better than her bitchy look.

"He acts like I am supposed to be on life support."

She chuckled, her hands playing with the twined ropes adorning her long, pretty, flowery chiffon gown. "So uh… Do you need something?"

"Yes, a walk." Lucille gritted her teeth. Chloe understood. Nurse Gabriel and Nurse Amir would do anything to stop her from leaving the room. So, she said with a small smile, “A walk to my balcony would do me some good."

"That would be better. Amir is serious about your healing.” Lucille hurried over to help Chloe out of the bed.

That support proved necessary as Chloe’s legs weakened when she stood upright. But they soon got the hang of the situation, and Lucille helped Chloe to the balcony, where the amazing breeze welcomed her.

"You know, I would have never imagined that I would see you being this nice to me."

"I was a b***h, yeah?" Lucille asked with distant-looking eyes. Chloe nodded to her question. "It was all part of the act."

"Even when you threatened me to stay away from Nathaniel?"

"Well," she drew her breath. "That part was not fake."

"Oh." That was not surprising to Chloe.

"But, I can't like him." She glanced in Chloe's direction. "He only has eyes for you."

Chloe frowned and looked away. A few seconds of silence passed before she said, "If you had told me nicely to back down, I would have yielded."

"Nah. Sometimes acting like a b***h has its magic."

Chloe's head tended to the left a bit as she pondered over the statement for some seconds. Then she replied, "I guess it does.” And after a little pause, she called, "Lucille?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you planning to do?"

Lucille leaned over the railing and stared ahead. "I still want justice. So I will be around for a while."

Her mind seemed made up.

Chloe respected that.

Taking a calming breath to gain composure, Chloe asked again, "Do you remember anything? From that night?"

Chloe did not want to refer to the incident, but she desired to know why Lucille looked worryingly different in the past weeks.

"All I remember was waking up and feeling different. Whatever that person did keeps making me feel terrible. Very terrible.” Her voice lowered, like a whisper. “I even have nightmares.”

“That’s why you haven’t been yourself for a while.”

Lucille chuckled softly. "The dirty feeling has been haunting me.” Her dark eyes speared into Chloe's. "Why do you think I want justice so bad? I’m tired of suffering because of something a sicko did."

Before continuing, Lucille bit into her lower lip, her hands clenched, her eyes furiously batting to keep the tears lacing her eyelids away. “The fact that I don’t know who the heck the culprit is makes things worse. It makes me blame myself. For going out that night. For drinking that wine. For… I just…”

Gently, Chloe hugged her closer. "Please, don't do this." Lucille sniffled. "Blaming yourself will worsen your pain. Please, try not to do it. Wanting to have a fun night is not a crime. We need a break once in a while. Blame the demented fool who molested you. Even if you don’t know who he is yet, curse him, insult him, hate him, but never ever blame yourself.”

"I like how you call that person a demented fool." They shared a gentle smile, and Lucille surprisingly leaned closer into the side hug. “I hope we find that demented fool."

Chloe looked out at the city ahead and decided the rest of her questions could be put on hold. "Me too."

And, both of them stayed that way, forging a friendship in silence- a friendship Chloe never saw coming.

At this point, it was proper to think that her mission certainly had a knack for surprising her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now late into the night, but Chloe was finding it hard to sleep. Her fever had come back stronger, as though determined to eliminate her.

Within this battle, she began wondering if it was finally time for her to settle her little feud with hospitals. At the same time, she hoped that someone in the house possessed telepathic power to read her situation.

Then, she shivered and decided that she was beginning to think nonsense.

To avoid more discomfort, she pulled her blanket around her and prepared herself to leave the bed. All she had to do was simple: get out of bed, then out of her room and knock on someone’s door.

It really was a simple plan.

However, the instant she lifted her upper body, a force pinned her back down.

But she did not give up. She gathered more strength and forced herself up despite the piercing chill that pricked her body.

A sitting position now attained, she was left with the most difficult task: walking to the door.

Now that she knew moving would be painful, Chloe gave herself a little mental pep talk before she dragged herself up, her blanket still not shielding her from her cold.

She had already taken three very distressed steps when her door swung open. Her eyes, which were blurred with tears, looked up from the carpet. She could not see who came in, but she was able to extend an arm to beg for support.

“Chloe.” Her head lit up. “Are you okay?” It was Nathaniel. “Chloe?” She did not hesitate to sink into his arms, which firmly held her. “Chloe?”

In her head, she planned to reply with, 'I am glad you are here.'

But perhaps as a result of the fever, she whispered, "Hospital..." And passed out.