Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Carol was in her room reading a novel the next afternoon when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Come in.” She called out and was surprised when Sebastian poked his head around the door before coming inside the room cautiously. Since that first day when he had brought the postnuptial agreements for her to sign, he had not come into her room. She herself did not even know what the inside of his bedroom looked like, despite the fact that she had been here for over a month. This was no doubt, one of the weirdest marriages in the history of weird marriages.

“Hey.” He said, making himself comfortable on a chair in the corner.

“Hey. How are you doing?”

“Good. I hope you remember what we talked about this morning.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve packed all my stuff. Also, you don’t need to worry yourself about my performance. I’m a good actress even if I do say so myself. I’ll put up an Oscar-worthy performance that your uncle will not doubt or suspect anything.” Carol said, thinking to herself that her performance had not been in any way Oscar-worthy when she had seen the blood that Mr. Sebastian had coughed up earlier this morning. Remembering it made her shudder and her heart went out to the man.

“Well, good for you. I do not like deceiving the man, but I will do anything to make him happy.” Sebastian said, his tone indicating that she was beginning to talk too much again.

“Well, when do we leave?”

“It’s a long flight, but we are using one of my private jets so…”

“One of your private jets?” Carol breathed in awe. “That means you have more than one, huh. That is freaking awesome!”

“Are you going to let me finish or are you going to keep interrupting?” Sebastian asked drily. For a man who was asking for a favor from her, he sure wasn’t being very nice, but she was getting used to Sebastian and his brusque behavior and was also fast learning to just ignore him instead of getting pissed.

“Fine. Finish what you were saying.”

“I was saying that we’ll leave before nine, so get some sleep so that you can wake up early. You’re already used to sleeping in.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It is if you’re going to make us late because you overslept. Alright. Good night.”

“Good night,” Carol replied and watched him walk out of her room before continuing to read her novel.

***

“So, are you still interested in drinking some more? Bills are on me.” Jessica asked Victoria. She had to perform the task that she had been given, not just because that bitch Charlotte was obviously watching her, and if she flopped, there will be dire consequences. There was also the fact that she, Jessica had a bone to pick, with Sebastian, his uncle, and the girl he had married. This drunken fool here was going to prove very useful in fulfilling her purposes.

“Oh. I shouldn’t. I’m getting really tipsy.” Victoria protested half-heartedly, slurring her words.

“Nonsense. I’m right here and I will protect you. I just don’t want the night to end. I don’t have any friends here. Everyone abandoned me because of my illness. It’s not my fault, but people are really mean. Even my closest friends abandoned me and laughed at me. My closest friends!”

“Ah yes, I know all about that. I know all about backstabbing assholes who call themselves friends. I know all about them. I can tell you that I understand exactly what you mean since it happened to me too very recently.” Victoria said fiercely. She paused and leaned closer to whisper to Jessica. “Do you know the handsome billionaire Sebastian Thomas?”

Jessica stiffened but managed to keep a straight face. Did she know Sebastian? Ha! She had been engaged to him before she had been kidnapped on the orders of his evil uncle, and he had not bothered to find her. “I’ve heard of him.” She said, trying to sound nonchalant, but her heart ached.

“Okay. Well, he used to be my fiancé.” Victoria said in the same confidential whisper, watching Jessica for her reaction. Jessica could not contain her reaction this time around. She gasped aloud, her gaunt face losing all its color.

Victoria confused the gasp for awe and continued to talk, her feeling of self importance very apparent. “Yes, I was supposed to marry him and all my friends, when they hear about it, they were so jealous that they refused to be my bridesmaids or even attend the wedding. That is why I told you that I understand exactly what you said when you were talking about fake friends. But that is not the most painful aspect. My own sister, whom I trusted took advantage of my moment of weakness and snatched him from me. She’ll be sorry, I tell you.”

Jessica watched Victoria with something akin to amusement as the latter ranted on and on. At first, after her initial shock, she had thought that what Victoria was talking about was just the ramblings of a drunk girl. After all, Charlotte had not told her this part of the story. However, she was beginning to think it all had an element of truth to it. What was Sebastian thinking by marrying the first ready female he came across after keeping a ring on Jessica’s finger for months?

“That’s so awful of her. Christ! What a bitch!” Jessica said aloud, acting the good new friend.

“Yes. I feel like seeing her. I will hold her head between my palms and squash it into a pulp with the rage I’m feeling. You need to see her…driving around in exotic cars and wearing expensive clothes that by right, I should have been the one wearing. It’s so painful, I tell you.”

“I can just imagine,” Jessica replied. Actually, she should be feeling more pain by right. After all, she had dated him for over six years, before he finally popped the question, and then he had asked her to marry him a month before she was kidnapped but asked her to keep it quiet. Now, he had married a stranger not long after she disappeared. In fact, she was beginning to think that he was in on the whole thing with his uncle. They no doubt thought that she was dead like they had ordered. Charlotte had told her that Sebastian’s uncle had asked her to kidnap and torture her, after which she should kill her, but she had lied to him that she had done so, and instead kept her alive because she wanted revenge against him. The whole thing was confusing to Jessica, but one thing was crystal clear to her. This girl here would help her get her revenge for what Sebastian’s uncle had done to her.