Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Willow
“I feel like a princess in an ivory tower. Only the prince who was meant to save me is the one who has me entrapped.” I laugh bitterly into the phone as I chat with Katherine. I feel a bit like a record on repeat, but I can’t help myself.
“You want me and Brielle to rescue you? We can be your knights in shining armor. We can drive up right now.”
“Yeah,” I say, playing along. “I can let my hair down like Rapunzel and you can climb up. We can fight the evil dragon together with my sword.” I squeeze the phone in my right hand tightly.
“Though my hair is not yet long enough, nor strong enough, to get either of you up.” I half sob and half laugh at my words.
“Willow, you sound like you’re losing it.” Katherine’s voice is concerned. “Brielle and I are coming up. I don’t care what you say.”
“No, there’s no point—”
“Share your location with me. Mandy’s working at the hotel tonight, and she can deal with the guests.” She laughs loudly. “Of which we have none right now.”
“Katherine, I don’t want you and Brielle coming. I don’t want you wasting your time. I’m fine.”
“We’re coming, and you can’t stop us. We are best friends. Your family. And frankly, I’m mad at myself I didn’t come sooner.”
My heart soars at her words. I so badly want to see them both.
“You shouldn’t be mad at yourself,” I say. “We didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“I know. But I just wish I hadn’t let you be there by yourself for a couple of weeks without even trying.”
“There’s something I need to tell you.” I scratch my arm absentmindedly. I can feel nerves in my stomach. I suddenly feel lightheaded like I’m going to faint.
“Tell me? What is it? Oh my gosh, has something really bad happened? Please, Willow—”
“No,” I interrupt. “It’s just... when Sebastian made me sign the contract, he threatened he would ruin your life, your parents’ lives, Brielle’s life, and her parents’ lives.
I just don’t want anything to happen to you.
I don’t want anything to happen to them—their jobs, their businesses, their homes. ”
Katherine laughs loudly. “Girl, he was only saying that because he knows how much you care for us. We’re coming.”
“There’s something else,” I whisper. “I think Sergio was lying.”
“What? We know he was lying, girl.”
“No. I think he was lying out of his ass. I don’t think Sergio is Clark Kent. In fact, I know he’s not.”
She screeches. “What are you saying?”
“Look, I don’t know what Sebastian thinks he knows, or what Sergio told him, but I’m absolutely disgusted at what is going on. I saw Sergio’s photo online and he’s not Clark Kent. He’s not the man that I met.” My mind is reeling and I want to scream.
“So wait....what? This isn’t a case of Clark Kent lying about you?”
“No. This is a case of some random man lying about me and saying he gave me money. It makes absolutely no sense.”
“Oh my gosh. This is scary. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I’m going to figure out why Sergio did what he did. But the fact of the matter is, Sebastian is the one who knows me—and I’m disgusted with him. I only wish I could break him in the way that he’s broken me.”
“Have you thought of any ideas?”
“No. I don’t know. The only time I feel like we ever really connected was when we were... together sexually...” I let my voice trail off.
“I get it, girl. He’s an asshole.”
“I know. And he’s not even worthy of my time, nor my heartbreak. I don’t even want to think about it. Get here, and I’ll see how I can sneak out. I just want to leave. I’m done with this bullshit.”
“We’re on the way. We should leave in about ten minutes, okay?”
“Drive safely. I’m sharing my location now.” I press the button, and we hang up.
I should get ready. I also need to figure out a way to get out of here, how to get the door open. I wonder if I speak to Janice, if she’ll help me. We’ve become friendly the past couple of days.
As I sit there thinking, my door opens and Sebastian walks in. His eyes are bloodshot. He stares at me and it’s like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I almost feel sorry for him.
“Willow,” he says softly. “Oh, Willow.” His voice sounds broken, and I notice he has a bouquet of flowers in his hands. “These are for you.”
I eye the flowers but don’t take them. “I don’t want your flowers.”
He hangs his head. “Please, take them.”
I grab them and throw them to the ground. “I don’t want your flowers. Why are you here?”
“I need to…” He pauses. “Fuck, Willow. I’ve been…”
“If you think you’re here so we can sleep together again…” I shake my head. “It’s not going to happen.”
He grabs his phone, his face bleak. “I need to make a call.”
I stare at him in confusion as he presses some numbers, then steps back beside me.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
He shakes his head in response and points at the phone. A guy answers and pops up on the screen. Immediately I recognize Sergio’s face. Sebastian looks over at me as if searching for my reaction.
Sergio is grinning on the screen. “Hey, bro, what’s going on? What are you doing?”
He’s sitting in a café somewhere. I can see a bottle of wine on the table and a baguette with brie and strawberries. My stomach growls at the sight. I’m hungry.
“Sergio, I have a question for you,” Sebastian says tightly. “I need you to focus, okay?”
“What’s going on?” Sergio pops a grape into his mouth and turns to someone next to him. My eyes narrow. Was that Louisa? Didn’t I just see her a few days ago?
“I want you to tell me something.” Sebastian puts the phone in front of my face and leaves it there. I remain frozen, unsure what this is all leading up to.
Sergio starts laughing. “Who’s that? Dude, your new female friend? Hey, what’s up? My name’s Sergio—Sebastian’s brother.” He grins. “You dating my brother? Sebastian never introduces me to the women he’s sleeping with.”
Will Sebastian believe me now?
“Hi,” I say slowly, face blanching. When I look over at Sebastian, he looks like he’s been slapped.
“So what’s her name, dude? Are you gonna introduce me to her, or you just wanted to show me you got a hot-ass girlfriend?” Sergio continues and I notice Louisa has disappeared from the screen. I wonder if Sebastian noticed her.
Sebastian closes his eyes for a few seconds. “Sergio, this is Willow.”
“Oh, really? Cool. Nice to meet you, Willow. You know, I was dating a girl named Willow too. What are the chances of that?” Sebastian presses his lips together and I can tell from his expression that he’s furious.
“Where are you right now? You don’t look like you’re in Thailand.”
“I’m in France,” Sergio says, lifting a wine glass. “Viva la France! It’s fucking cool here.”
Sebastian scowls at the phone. “Are you with anyone I know?”
Sergio takes a sip of wine and nods. “Yeah, but I gotta go. Miss ya, bro.” And then he hangs up. Sebastian and I just stand there. Silence fills the room. It’s tense. He knows the truth. And yet, it doesn’t make me feel better. It doesn’t make me feel exonerated. It only makes me madder.
We have a silent standoff. I refuse to say anything. I will not let him off easily. I’ll never forgive him for what he’s done, no matter what he says. No matter what he does. No matter that he still looks handsome.
And he also looks as broken as I feel, causing a sense of twisted satisfaction to fill me.
“I’m sorry,” he utters, voice hoarse with emotion. He reaches for my hand, and I step back. I don’t want to feel his hand on mine. Don’t want to feel his warmth or provide him with any of my own. Let his frozen heart keep him cold as ice.
“I have nothing to say to you, Sebastian.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Now you do,” I say, shrugging. “I’m glad you figured it out.”
“Can you forgive me?” His voice breaks. He looks like a broken man, with his shoulders slumped and his hair messed up.
“How can I forgive you, Sebastian?” I shake my head. “How can I forgive you for what you’ve put me through—for what you’ve done to me—and for nothing? You never listened to me. I tried to tell you over and over again.”
“I had proof,” he says weakly. “I had proof.” He shakes his head. “I should have listened to you. I should have listened to my heart.”
I start laughing bitterly. “You don’t have a heart, Sebastian Laurence.
I loved you. I thought this was real. I thought we had something special—something written in the stars.
When you swept into my life, I thought, ‘Wow, how did I get so lucky to meet a man like this?’ But I wasn’t lucky.
You showed me everything I believed was worth nothing.
You showed me that my emotions...” My voice cracks. “Well, they don’t matter.”
“I understand, Willow, but I just—” He steps forward, then stops. “I do truly have feelings for you.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it. I may one day learn to forgive you, but I will never forget.”
He looks at me, broken inside. I can see it in his eyes—the guilt, the ruin, the sliver of hope. And then I know what I have to do. How I’ll put the nail in his coffin. I step forward, place my hand on the side of his face, and run my finger across his bottom lip.
“Remember when we danced?” I ask.
He nods as his eyes fill with memories of a time I’d thought were so special.
“Dance with me again. Hum a song for me.” I urge, trying not to get caught up in that time where we were happy.
He starts humming a Nat King Cole song I vaguely remember, and we dance around the room.
He holds me askance at first, then brings me closer.
I run my fingers down his back and along his side.
I look up into his eyes and see hope there growing—the same hope I once had.
The hope that I’d had a life full of joy and love. The hope that he’d been the one.
“Do you forgive me?” he asks. “Can you ever forgive me?”
A gamut of emotions run through me as he holds me close to his hard hot body.
I say nothing. Instead, I grab his hand and lead him to the bed.
I push him down. He looks up at me, a question in his eyes.
I press my lips to his cheek, then undo his shirt and take it off.
I kiss down his chest until I reach the top of his pants, unbuckle them, and pull them down, along with his boxers.
He’s naked on the bed, staring up at me with such light and excitement. Like an ember waiting to burst into a flame. “You’re a better woman than I ever could have asked for, Willow,” he says. “Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for understanding.”
Still, I say nothing.
I pull off my clothes slowly. His eyes widen as he reaches for me, but I shake my head. “I’m going to do this my way.”
When I finally climb onto the bed, he kisses me deeply.
The rest unfolds in silence as we breathe into each and touch gently and then more passionately.
Neither one of us can stop the flame from getting higher.
His fingers play with my breasts, I kiss the side of his neck.
His mouth is on my stomach. I dig my nails into his back.
His tongue slides across my clit. My ankle wraps around his neck.
His cock thrusts into me. Screams escape my throat.
His eyes bore into mine, intense and dark.
I memorize every line on his face. Every feel of him inside of me.
Poetically, we orgasm together. As one. Bodies tired.
Brains overworked. Feelings electrified.
When he finally pulls out of me, he whispers into my ear, “I love you, Willow. I’m determined to spend the rest of my life making this up to you. Thank you for being the woman that you are.”
This is my moment. Poetic justice. I turn onto my side and look at him coldly. I push him away to create distance.
He frowns. “Wait—why are you looking at me like that?”
“I hate you, Sebastian.” The words slice through the quiet of the room. “I hate you.”
His face crumbles at the realization of my words.
“This was not real. I will never get over this. I will never give you another chance. I just want to go home.”
“But you just made love to me.”
“I wanted to give you, for one moment, the same hope you gave me—and I wanted to take it away. I wanted to hurt you, because you left me vacant. You didn’t listen to me. So why should I listen to you?”
He presses his lips together, nodding slowly. “I understand. But please, at least give me a chance to show you—”
“Katherine and Brielle are on their way up to the city. I want to go home with them. You have to let me leave. You can’t keep me here anymore.”
“But you’re my wife.”
“Not really. In no sense of the word am I your wife.” I sit up, glaring at him. “When I made those vows, it was to a man I thought I knew—a man I loved. I know nothing about you. And I don’t want to. Let me leave, Sebastian. This is over.”
He stares at me for a few seconds.
“I guess I can’t keep you here,” he says finally. “I have to let you go.”
“Unless you really want to be a cruel asshole,” I say. “Unless you truly are the villain of this story.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not. I’ll let you go. I’ll set you free. I’ll let you go so you can heal.”
I only wish it was going to be that easy.