Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Willow
Warm water washes over my naked body as I lie in the bathtub. I try not to dwell on the fact that I’d allowed Sebastian to sleep with me again. I couldn’t believe I’d been so weak, so desperate, and so easy.
Stop talking down to yourself, Willow, I lecture myself as I run my fingers through the water. I’m fed up with feeling bad for the decisions I’ve been making. But not only that—I’m also tired. Exhausted. I feel like I haven’t slept in years. I don’t even know what it is to feel peace anymore.
My phone rings. When I reach over and see Charlotte’s name on the screen, I sigh. She’s the last person I want to talk to right now, but still, I answer. “Hello?”
“Where are you, Willow?” Her voice is loud, and I can tell she’s out somewhere.
“I am…” I pause. I don’t want to tell her. “Where are you?”
“I’m drinking champagne and loving my life,” she says, giggling. I’m surprised by the tone in her voice. I’ve never heard her sound so happy before.
“But you didn’t answer my question. Are you at the hotel? How’s it doing?”
“It’s going fine. Yeah.” She pauses for a beat. “I’m about to become a very rich woman, Willow.” A cackle rattles my ears. “I’m about to become so rich you’re going to wish you were me.”
What’s gotten into her?
“I don’t know about that,” I say. “Is there a reason you’re calling me?”
“No. I just wanted to say that I am loving life. France is amazing. I am amazing. Goodbye. Or should I say, au revoir.” She hangs up then, and I put the phone back down. That had been such an odd call, but I’m not even going to question it.
I take a deep breath and rub my forehead. I’m grateful that Sebastian said I can go to the Magnolia Club to work, even if his chauffeur is going to take me. After a quick check of the time on my phone, I realize I need to get out of the bath get ready for work.
I put on my clothes quickly and hurry to the front of the apartment. Janice is near the door talking to a tall man in a dark suit.
“Victor, this is Willow. Willow, this is Victor. He’ll take you to the Magnolia Club.”
“Great, thanks,” I say dutifully, and he just nods at me.
Janice opens the door, and I follow behind him as we leave the building. We get to the lobby, and he opens the door to a limo. For a moment, I think I could just run and leave right now. But I know Sebastian would find me if I did.
I get into the back of the limo, and Victor drives me to the Magnolia Club. As soon as I walk in through the employee entrance, I notice Norman lurking. He eyes me, scowls and makes a face, and then turns around.
Great, I think to myself. Just great.
I head toward the coat stand, and when I turn around, he’s inches from me.
“Hello, Miss Monty. I see you’ve decided to come back.”
“It’s Ms. Montgomery,” I say. “And I was never not coming back. I just—well, it doesn’t matter.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he says. “I hope you’re going to be more professional today.”
I bite down on my lower lip. This is the last thing I need. “Yes, Norman.”
“I’m going to get a drink of water. You look after the front.”
I nod slowly and watch as he walks away. I stand at the front for about twenty minutes before my heart sinks. Jack walks in with a few other men I vaguely remember from the first night I worked here.
“Hi, Willow. Good to see you,” Jack says, his keen eyes observing me. He has a pleasant smile and an absolutely gorgeous face. His aquamarine-turquoise eyes seem to see right into my soul.
“Hi, Jack—or Mr. Heathcliff.”
“You can call me Jack,” he says. “This is Levi, Santiago, and Nate. I don’t know if you remember them.”
“Vaguely,” I say. “Good evening. Hi.”
They nod at me and hand me their jackets. They’re not really paying attention to me, and I don’t care. I don’t know what they know about me or about Sebastian, but I don’t want to talk about it. Jack steps closer as the others walk away.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” I answer in a polite tone. “How are you?”
“Busy with work and other things,” he says. He grabs his phone and brings up the screen. There’s a photograph of a young, handsome man on it. “Do you recognize this man?”
“Sorry, what?” I ask, staring at the screen.
“I said, do you recognize this man?”
“Not really.” I shake my head, then gasp as I look to the right. Norman is talking with a slinky, sultry woman who looks familiar. As she turns her face toward me, I see it’s Louisa. The woman who works for Sebastian.
Jack follows my eyes. “You know her?”
“Not really. She works for Sebastian. I just didn’t expect to see her here.”
“Oh, yeah. She comes to the club quite often. I guess she has friends here.” He shrugs. “She knows a lot of people who work here.”
“Must be nice,” I say. “She seems to know everyone.”
He nods slowly, a light coming into his eyes. “You’re right. She really does seem to know everyone. Always at the root of everything.”
“Sorry, what do you mean?”
“Nothing.” He shakes his head and lifts his phone again, sliding to another photo of the same man. “Do you recognize him?”
“This is the same guy you just showed me. I don’t know him.”
“You’re sure?” He stares at me, observing my face intently. He slides to another photo. “Do you know him?”
“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t follow Hollywood stars or businessmen. I don’t know who that is.”
“Okay,” he says, a grim expression on his face.
Louisa comes and stands next to us. “Hello, Jack.”
“Louisa,” he says, a bite of irritation in his voice.
“You’re still working here?” Louisa looks me up and down.
“I—I am.”
“You’re Willow, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Looking for another rich one?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Nothing.” She looks at Jack. “You should be careful, Jack. You might be next on the list.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask her.
She just smirks. “I don’t know what anyone would ever see in you. You look like your best clothes come from the discount rack at a Kmart from 1999.”
My jaw drops. “Excuse me, what the hell?”
“I’m not wasting my time on this.” She turns around and walks away.
“She’s horrible,” I say to Jack. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be rude.” I’m not sure if he is friends with her.
“Oh, I don’t like her either,” he says, looking back at me. “In fact, I think she has a lot to answer for.”
“Okay.”
He turns back toward me. “I’m sorry that you’re going through this, Willow. I’m sorry that…well, I’m just sorry.”
“I mean, it’s not your fault. You don’t control your psycho friend Sebastian.”
“I don’t,” he replies, frowning. “He’s not a bad guy.”
“You can’t seriously believe that. He basically has me imprisoned. He married me under false pretenses, and now he’s trying to exact revenge on me for dating a guy I didn’t even know was his brother. You’re telling me a good guy would do that?”
He lets out a sigh, shakes his head, and takes a step back. “No. I don’t think a good guy would do that. You have a good evening, Willow.”
“Thanks, Jack. You too.”
As he walks away, I think about the man in the photo. He looked like Sebastian, but he wasn’t as good-looking. I wonder who he is and why Jack was showing me his photo. I stand there for a few moments, waiting for someone else to check in. Then, Norman comes back.
“Ms. Monty, I need to speak to you.”
“It’s Montgomery,” I say sharply.
He rolls his eyes. “I’ve just received a complaint that you were rude to one of our guests.”
“I’ve only seen a few people, and—”
“That’s strike one. We’ll have to write you up. If there’s another complaint, you’ll be dismissed.”
“But do I not get to—”
“This is an exclusive club, Ms. Monty. We cannot have trash working here.”
I gape at him. As soon as he says the word trash, I know who he’s talking about. Louisa. She’s complained about me. I don’t even know her. I don’t know why she has a problem with me.
I press my lips together. “Do you mind if I go to the restroom?”
“Go ahead.”
I head to the back, sit on the toilet seat, and just stare at the door in front of me.
I need the money, but this isn’t a place for me.
This isn’t a place I want to be. The Magnolia Club may be for the richest and most powerful people in the world, but I don’t want to be here.
I don’t want to be around anyone who’s a member or works here.
As I think about the photos Jack showed me, a thought hits my brain.
I quickly grab my phone and do a Google search: Sergio Laurence.
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. Immediately, a few photos pop up on the screen—and it’s the man Jack was showing me. A man I’ve never seen before in my life.
Sergio isn’t Clark Kent. Sergio is someone I’ve never met before.
All of a sudden, I’m nervous. Scared. Cold.
What’s going on? Why is this man pretending I dated him? What proof does he have? How did this happen to me?
It makes sense that maybe Clark Kent exaggerated a story and tried to pin it on me because I’d spurned him, but this was deeper than that. I have no clue who Sergio Laurence is. I’ve never met this man before in my life. He’s certainly never fallen in love with me or given me any money.
But I know Sebastian won’t believe me, and at this point, I’m too tired and exhausted to even try to convince him.
Still, there’s a glimmer of hope in me. Jack showed me his photograph. Maybe Jack is questioning what the truth of the matter really is.
I told him I didn’t know who Sergio was. But I don’t know if Jack believed me.
And after what had gone on with Sebastian, I know I can’t mention to him that Jack might know the truth. He’ll just think I wanted to be with Jack. That I was targeting him.
I lean back against the toilet.
Something big is going on, bigger than I could have ever imagined, and I have no idea what it is. I’m scared. And I know I have no one to turn to. No one to help.
I have no clue what to do. But all of a sudden, I feel a strength I didn’t know existed inside of me. I have done nothing wrong. I’m innocent. And I am going to make Sebastian pay for how he’d treated me. One way or another.