Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Willow
“This is your room right here. This is the best guestroom in the home. You’ll find towels in the bathroom.” Janice beams with pride as she gestures toward the bed. “The sheets are a thousand-thread-count Indian cotton.”
I give her a polite smile. “Very nice. Thank you.”
The suite is huge. It must be over 300 square feet. Sebastian is rich rich.
“I have my own bathroom?” I ask.
Janice nods and points to a door. “Right through there. Feel free to explore. If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be in the kitchen making some hand pies. Would you like a beverage?”
“No thank you.”
“Well, let me know if I can help you with anything.” She pauses as if she wants to say something else but then thinks better of it.
“I will. Thank you.”
Janice heads out of the room, then stops. She looks over at me, a kind smile on her face. “He’s not all bad, you know.”
“Sorry, what?” I ask her, my heart racing.
“Sebastian. I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, and it’s not my place to say anything, but… he’s not all bad.” I try not to roll my eyes at her words. Poor Janice most probably has no clue how fucked up her boss is and I’m not going to be the one to tell her.
“I’ll take your word for it,” I say, and watch as she closes the door.
What would she do if I told her the whole fucked-up story? She probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.
I stand there for a few moments, not really knowing what to do.
I’m in a suite, and it’s beautiful. There’s a queen-size bed on one side of the room with expensive “Indian cotton” sheets and big, fluffy pillows.
I admire the antique dresser and the TV.
There’s even a green velvet loveseat on one side and a writing bureau leaned up against the wall.
No detail has been left out and if I were here under any other circumstances, I would be quite happy with a room like this one.
I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and peek out at the skyscrapers that make up the city.
I feel like a princess in a tower, only I’m more like a prisoner.
Then I check out the bathroom. There’s a large spa bathtub and a walk-in shower.
It’s amazing. It’s the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in and yet I feel like a bird in a gilded gold cage.
I don’t want to be in this golden cage. I just want to be in my room. As simple as it is.
I finally understand what it is to appreciate what you have, even if you don’t think it’s much.
I still don’t really understand why I’m here.
I have no idea what Sebastian wants from me.
What his revenge is going to be? I feel like once I understand his plan, I can figure out the best way to deal with it.
Maybe I’ll exact my own retribution on him. I’d love to beat him at his own game.
I decide to call Katherine, because I need to speak to a friend before I spiral into oblivion.
“Oh my gosh, Willow, is everything okay?” Katherine says as soon as she answers. “Brielle and I have been so worried.”
“I’m okay, I guess.” My throat chokes up in emotion.
I can’t tell her how broken I am right now.
I can’t let her worry. I don’t want either one of them to do anything drastic because I don’t want to get them involved.
I don’t know what Sebastian would do to them.
And I know my friends. They are my fierce protectors.
If they knew the extent of his cruelty and the words he’d threatened me with, they would be after his blood.
“Where are you? I tried calling the hotel in Vegas. I was going to try and send the police there, but they said you’d checked out. I had no idea where you’d gone. I wasn’t sure what he’d done to you.”
My chest tightens. I miss her—miss both of them. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, yet here we are.
“We’re in Manhattan,” I say. “Do you think you and Brielle can look after the hotel for a little bit without me there?”
“Of course. What’s going on? When are you going to be back in Whispering Haven?”
“I don’t know. Which is crazy, right? But, I just don’t know.
” I decide not to tell her about his threats to ruin her and Brielle’s lives or his threats to ruin their parents lives as well.
It will only make her more worried and this isn’t their fault nor problem.
I have to figure it out. Sebastian was playing on my weaknesses.
“Are you okay? Do you want to call the police?”
“I’m okay. And no, I don’t know what I would tell the police. I mean, it’s not like he made me marry him. I married him of my own free will.”
“But didn’t you say he married you for revenge?”
“That’s what he said. But, I mean, what are the police going to say to that? It sounds like it’s made up.” If only it were easy to explain how loving and kind he’d been in the beginning and how he’d fooled me.
“I know. So, what are you going to do? Have you tried to tell him he’s wrong? Have you reasoned with him?”
There’s no reasoning with a man like Sebastian.
“Girl, I showed him my bank account, and then he went on about offshore accounts. That I’m hiding millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands or somewhere.
It makes no sense to me why he would think I have all this money.
He saw me working at the Magnolia Club. He saw me working at the front desk.
I mean, I freaking clean toilets at the bed and breakfast. Would I be doing that if I had millions of dollars?
” The frustration in my voice burns through me.
There was nothing about me that screamed I had millions.
Shit, there was nothing about me that screamed I even had thousands.
“I know! He’s meant to be this smart businessman, but it seems like he’s not all that smart,” she says. “I can’t believe he fooled all of us. I really thought he was sincere. I really thought he was a good guy.”
I close my eyes and let loose a ragged sigh. “I did as well.”
“I am… sorry.”
“What are you sorry about?”
“You had doubts. You were hesitant. And me and Brielle, well, we convinced you that it was all in your head. I convinced you that he loved you, that he actually wanted to be with you. You might not be in this position if it weren’t for me.
” My heart pounds at her words. I do not want her to blame herself.
“Oh my gosh, do not even say that, Katherine. Trust me when I say I was going to go ahead with it, no matter what you said. I bought into it. I wanted to buy into it. I spent all these years looking at myself as Cinderella and who saved Cinderella? The prince. And I saw him as my prince. You didn’t make me see him as that. He did.”
Boy was I wrong. He had us all fooled. A villain disguised as a hero.
“I know,” she agrees with a grumble. “I just can’t believe he turned out to be so crazy.”
“You and me both. He’s either a psychopath or some sort of serial killer.”
A crazed giggle escapes me.
“Don’t say that. You’re scaring me, Willow. Do you really think he could hurt you?”
“No. Not physically. But emotionally? Yeah. I’ve been wondering if Clark Kent was a psychopath.
He deliberately lied to Sebastian because I rejected him and maybe that’s why Sebastian is being so adamant.
I don’t know what that dude said to him.
And I know he was off, because I felt he was off when I saw him.
A lot of guys don’t take rejection well.
” I laugh bitterly. “I’m never going on another dating app again in my life.
This feels like I’m a part of a bad Lifetime movie right now. ”
Not that I’ll be able to anyway since I’m a married woman. What a joke!
“Girl, this experience has warned me off of all dating apps as well. And dating rich dudes. I’d rather be single forever than have to deal with some crazy shit like that.”
“You’re telling me. I just don’t even know what to do.”
“Can you escape?” she asks me.
“What do you mean?”
“Can you just get out of there and come back to Whispering Haven?”
“I guess. I mean, I don’t think he’s going to let me just walk out the door.”
“Is there any other way out?”
I think for a moment and look around the room. That’s when I notice a sliding door that goes out to a balcony. I peek out and contemplate. I don’t even want to know how high up we are.
“You know what, Katherine? There may actually be a way. Can I call you back?”
I didn’t say it’d be a smart or way, but it’s a way.
“Okay. Be safe.”
“I will,” I assure her. “I love you.”
“I love you too. And if you need me to call the police, let me know. Or if you need me and Brielle to come to the city, we’ll do it. Is there anyone else we can call?”
“You’re all I have. You and Brielle. You know that Charlotte wouldn’t give a fuck. In fact, she’d probably be mad at me. And my aunt, well, I don’t even know where she is right now.”
“I’ll always have your back, okay?”
“I know. I love you.”
We hang up and I sit on the edge of the bed.
I need to figure out what to do next. I can’t stay here indefinitely waiting for him to do cruel and unusual things to me.
Also, if I’m honest with myself, I don’t even understand half of what the contract said.
I didn’t go to law school. I don’t speak legalese.
But, I refuse to just sit here waiting for Sebastian to make retaliatory moves for something I never did.
The problem is, he’s powerful. I know he can ruin the livelihoods of my best friends' families, and I can’t allow that. I’ll have to think of a way out of here and still be able to protect them.
I jump up and walk over to the balcony, slide the door open, and step out. My stomach drops when I look down. We are high. There’s no way I can even think about climbing down or jumping balcony to balcony. I’m not Spiderman. I can barely walk up a hill without tripping.