Chapter 18 Marfil
The morning after the “incident” in the barn, I refused to let Sebastian see how much I’d been affected by the way he’d treated me the night before.
So I covered my red eyes, pink cheeks, and swollen lips in a magical layer of makeup that left me looking like new.
The Dior foundation I’d bought a while back and had hardly ever used worked miracles on my skin.
I went down to the kitchen at noon, radiant, at least on the outside.
Inside, all I could think about was how humiliated I was.
I had never imagined Sebastian capable of doing something like that to me.
Yes, it was true that I had blackmailed him, but it was obvious I wasn’t going to actually go through with it.
Can you imagine me telling my father that I’d hooked up with my bodyguard?
Not a chance. Sebastian knew I wasn’t being serious, and although it was wrong to threaten him, I didn’t plan on just accepting the way he’d treated me. There was no excuse for it.
We spent the day avoiding each other. The house was large enough that we didn’t have to cross paths, but if I left, he’d go wherever I went, so I spent several hours in my bedroom.
Everything would be much easier when my sister arrived.
She would be a good distraction for me, and if they let us, we might even be able to go into town.
As I was waiting for Gabriella to arrive, I saw Sebastian walking out of my father’s office with Logan. They both looked more serious than ever, and I wondered what they’d been discussing that made them avoid my gaze and turn away from me so abruptly.
But I didn’t have time to ask, because just then, the front door opened and Gabi appeared with a big smile on her pretty pink lips.
“I’m home!” she shouted, dropping her backpack and running over to me.
I hugged her tightly, genuinely happy to see her, and realized she’d had a major growth spurt in the past few months.
“You’re as tall as me!” I said, taking a closer look at her.
My sister was beautiful, a fifteen-year-old young woman who looked closer to being eighteen.
She had light brown hair that brushed her shoulders and our father’s eyes: light brown framed by thick eyelashes.
She had the body of a model—tall and thin, with gentle curves that deepened a little more with each year that passed—her twiggy legs on full display in those shorts she had on.
Although that had more to do with her age than anything else.
I was so happy to have her there, even though we were only going to be together a few days.
Wilson came up behind her, carrying her luggage, effectively putting an end to our embrace. Then our father emerged from his office to welcome my sister, who had always been closer to our father than I was. Living with her mother half the time had helped reduce the tense moments.
My father hugged Gabriella, looked at me over his shoulder, and then asked us to sit with him in the living room.
“Well, girls, now that you’re both here, there are some things we need to make clear,” he said as he brought a glass of brandy to his lips.
Gabriella looked at me, and her smile faded. Our father always knew how to spoil our good time.
“Gabriella, your sister was kidnapped and left at the hospital,” my father said.
Gabriella already knew that, but I guess he wanted to remind us of everything that had happened.
“For some reason that I still don’t fully understand, someone wants to harm her, and they could easily try the same with you.
So I’m going to ask you both to keep your eyes open, and most of all, to listen to your bodyguards.
Gabriella, you’re safe when you’re at school, but you, Marfil, need to continue to do everything Sebastian says. Do you hear me?”
Everything Sebastian says…
My gaze drifted to Sebastian, who had just appeared in the doorway.
Wilson was standing beside Gabi, looking at us with a serious expression on his face.
We both agreed, and Gabriella tried to lighten the mood by talking to us about boarding school.
Then my father sent her to bed, and I took the opportunity to ask him if there were any new developments.
“There’s not much I can tell you, Marfil,” he said impatiently.
He’d always hated spending more time with me than strictly necessary.
“I don’t know who’s behind this, although I have a vague idea…
Listen, the world I move in, when a deal goes sour or someone loses money, things can get very ugly.
People will do anything for even just a few thousand dollars, and I move in the millions, do you understand? ”
Of course I understood, but why the hell did I have to suffer for his sins?
“I don’t think I can take living like this much longer,” I said, looking sidelong at Sebastian, who stood at the other end of the room with Wilson and Logan, but I knew they had an ear to our conversation.
“It’s the way things are,” my father said, standing up and heading back to his office.
The way things are… What an answer.
I stood up, angry. Sebastian didn’t even look at me, which really made my blood boil.
I went to bed without even stopping into my sister’s room to talk.
The next morning, I woke up in a better mood, happy because I had something to do, a welcome distraction.
I’d always been someone who liked to go out and help.
I loved being a productive member of my community and finding any way to give back, loved feeling like I was part of something important.
So whenever I was home in Louisiana, I volunteered at a nonprofit foundation that had been originally set up to help with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
I wasn’t there when the storm hit, but the hurricane had been one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of our country, and New Orleans, one of my favorite cities in the world, had never fully recovered, something that still made me sad to think about.
Over time, the nonprofit shifted to working with unhoused people, doing the work of finding homes for families going through hard times.
The most successful initiative was the soup kitchen, which fed hundreds of families and served as a shelter to children without homes.
My father supported the organization and was one of the top contributors.
Many of our wealthy neighbors did as well after I went door to door asking for donations.
In four years, I’d managed to help raise a good deal of money for the nonprofit Stronger Together, or ST for short.
I loved the organization and the people who worked there.
It was a place where I felt valued, and even though I’d had to take a step back to focus on my studies, I always liked to lend a hand wherever possible, especially with preparations for the festival we held every year to raise money.
Before heading out, I dressed comfortably in leggings, a shirt that tied in the back to hide my tattoo, and sneakers. My sister often volunteered as well, but I wasn’t going to ask her to come with me today since she’d just gotten home from school and was likely jet-lagged.
To my surprise, I entered the kitchen and found said sister sitting on the counter, talking to Sebastian, Wilson, and Lupita, who was mixing dough.
It was strange to see Sebastian smiling and nodding along as she talked.
My sister could be very charming, and I adored her, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a pang of jealousy seeing him so relaxed around her.
His eyes flitted to me for a second, and then immediately darted away with the look of someone averting their gaze from an eyesore.
Wilson, on the other hand, let his eyes linger…
We’d spent a lot of time together, and I’d noticed the way he looked at me.
“Come in, Mar, we’re making cookies,” my sister said, gesturing to Lupe.
“You’re making cookies?” I replied sarcastically, noticing my tone had come out uncharacteristically sour. I wasn’t someone who was often in a bad mood. I could get mad, yes, but it passed quickly. Sebastian, on the other hand, frustrated me to the point that I wanted to pull out my hair.
“Well, more like we’re entertaining Lupe while she makes cookies,” Gabi answered with a smile. “But you like us talking to you, right, Lupita?” she asked.
I ignored them and walked to the fridge, where I took out a bottle of Evian water and stopped at the counter to open my backpack and put it inside. Sebastian sat up a little straighter in his seat, and Wilson watched me out of the corner of his eye.
“I’m going into town. I’ll take my car,” I announced to no one in particular.
“Can I go with you?!” my sister exclaimed, jumping off the counter.
“I’m going to ST,” I answered.
She looked disappointed. “Oh, then I’ll just stay here.”
“Very nice, Gabriella. I’m glad to see that the thought of helping others gives you so much joy,” I answered, dry as a desert.
My sister threw me a guilty look. “Well, if you want, I could—” she started to say.
“Don’t worry about it,” I cut her off. “Wil, would you mind coming with me?” I said, knowing that he was supposed to be guarding my sister.
Wilson stood up immediately. “Of course.”
“No,” said Sebastian, taking the last sip of his coffee without even looking at me as he spoke. “I’ll go with you,” he added, standing in one swift movement.
I crossed my arms and turned toward him. “I don’t want you to come with me. I want Wil,” I said coldly, refusing to look him in the eye, worried I might falter if I did.
“Wilson is your sister’s bodyguard. I’m yours,” he corrected me dryly.
“Right, but what does it matter? You’re interchangeable, aren’t you?” I said, now looking directly into his brown eyes. “It’s not that hard to follow me around—anyone could do it.”
Boom, I’d just insulted their work. I felt sorry for Wilson, but I didn’t care that I was being a bitch.
The vein in Sebastian’s neck began to twitch.