Chapter 49

~Eliana~

I alighted from my car, putting on my sunglasses. The sun was high up in the sky, and even though I had already arrived at my destination, I still felt the need to put it on. It was a Sunday, and since I was as jobless as I always was after completing a script, I had decided to make good use of my time by visiting my boyfriend, Alistair Duke.

Deciding not to go to his house empty-handed, I had forced my mother to make some butter cookies, which I now held in a box in my hands, as I walked to his front door to ring the bell. He was surely going to be surprised when he saw me, and he would take me in his arms, since he had probably missed me as I had missed him these last few days.

Things had quite changed between us, and he no longer called me. I assumed it was because he was busy with the preparations of his company’s 57th anniversary, and I wasn’t going to be the insensitive girlfriend that complained about needing attention when it was glaring that more important things needed to be done other than calling me every now and then.

It was quite disturbing that even when I texted him, he replied after so many hours had passed, and when he even did reply, it was just a short sentence, consisting of words that were not more than five.

I tied the rope on my dress at the back, as it had gotten loose. It was a yellow flowery dress, which was flare, and above my knees. The flare nature made it appear shorter, and the upper part of the dress hugged my body tightly, revealing my cleavage. Yes, my goal was to seduce Alistair today and make up for all the time we had lost.

I had been unable to find his mother’s necklace, and if I really wanted him to forgive me for that, I needed to be on my best behaviour and treat him nicely, in order for him to look past my wrongs just this once and welcome me into his life with open arms.

After stepping onto his porch, I removed the glasses from my eyes, and placed them on my hair instead, making it seem like the perfect headband for my hair which had been styled into a wavy hairstyle, and had been let down just in the manner Alistair liked. I sincerely hoped that all the time and effort I had put into looking exceptionally beautiful for him wasn’t wasted, and his love for me remained the same even when I disclosed to him that I had misplaced his family’s heirloom in just a matter of days.

For sure, he was going to see me as a careless lady, but hopefully, he was going to consider that as my flaw. After all, he hadn’t detected any bad character in me before now, and should understand that like every other person, I was not perfect and was prone to making mistakes.

I was going to apologise to him and tell him how sorry I was. I only hoped that he didn’t feel too bad about it and was willing to forgive me. I’ll tell him that I was going to keep searching for the necklace till I found it. Damn! That necklace was very expensive and if it had actually been passed down from generation to generation, saying sorry wasn’t going to cut it.

However, like the poet, Virgil, had said: Love conquers all. I was in no way taking advantage of the love Alistair had for me, but I had no doubt whatsoever that he was going to understand me and forgive me because he loved me. He would be able to see past my mistakes, and that, I was extremely sure of.

I stood for a moment, pushing back a strand of hair that was in my face, after ringing his doorbell. I hadn’t even told him that I was coming, and I would feel really pained if he was not at home. If he wasn’t at work, he was at home, and I had guessed he would be home since it was a Sunday, and he rested at home on Sundays.

“Who’s there?” I heard his voice ask, as his footsteps drew nearer.

A smile crept up to my face as I waited for his handsome face to show up at the door, without saying a word, in order to get him really surprised. I hadn’t forgotten this time around that he was a werewolf and could know who was at the door by catching my scent, thereby ruining my surprise.

Therefore, I had masked my scent with baking soda, and I had worn a different kind of fragrance today. Elvira had brought it to me as a gift the day before yesterday, after coming back from her trip to Paris, where she had a fashion house, without the knowledge of our parents. I was the only one who knew that Elvira's true passion lied in turning fabrics into clothing, and our parents would have kicked against the idea of her purchasing a store in Paris three years ago. I was the only one in the family that was aware of her business, and while they all thought she had a boyfriend she went to see in Paris all the time, she actually went to Anavira's Fashion House to check on how her business was, and luckily for her, her business was booming and flourishing.

I had given her half of the money she had used in starting up her business as I made more than enough from writing novels and scripts anonymously, and so, I was a shareholder. Just like she was the only one in my family who knew what I did on my laptop and computer all the time, I was the only one who knew about the business as well. I had never collected a dime from her since the business opened, and I kept on telling her that as long as the name of the Fashion House was coined from my first name as well as hers, it was okay, and that when I needed the money, I’ll let her know.

Of course, I had no interest in getting back the money I had invested in her business, I just told her that I’d collect the money, as well as my profit when the time was right, in order to pacify her and get her to calm down.

The door opened, and Alistair appeared stunned upon seeing my face.

“Hello, handsome,” I said, and without any hesitation, I pulled him towards me by holding his hand, and tip-toed, pressing my lips to his, kissing him like it was the first time, and it was in that moment, I knew that I hadn’t just missed him. I had missed him greatly.

He kissed me back, hungrily, as his hands slid down to my ass, groping them and massaging them with reckless abandon, as our tongues simultaneously found their way into each other’s mouths, rubbing them against each other. When I pulled my tongue out of his mouth, his remained in mine, and he took me in his arms, then carried me inside, closing the door behind us.

He pushed me against the wall, held my hair up, and found his way to my neck, biting it gently as his other hand slid up my dress slowly finding its way to my breasts, and when he took my left boob in his hand, I moaned, feeling a sinking sensation in my stomach.

He looked at my face, and I saw a look I had never seen in his eyes before. He looked regretful, and while I was still wondering what that look was for, his hand left my boob, and the other dropped my hair, and slowly, he walked away from me, running his hand through his hair, like he was in deep thoughts.

I adjusted my dress, and walked over to him, filled with a thousand questions in my head. Rather than asking him what I had done wrong, I placed my hand on his shoulder, and when he turned around, I squeezed it gently.

“Are you fine?” I asked, feeling really concerned about him.

He nodded his head, in the affirmative. “Yes, I am very fine,” He replied.

“You don’t seem fine,” I said.

“Well, you can’t just waltz into my house after ignoring my calls all through Tuesday night, and expect me to be fine,” He said.

“Is that what this is all about?” I asked, drawing close to him.

“Maybe,” He responded.

“I’m sorry about that. I was having dinner at Sam's place. The admission he got into the University of California, Berkeley, was honoured by the school management, and I just went there to celebrate with him. I figured that you may get annoyed if I told you I was with Sam, and I didn’t want him to know we quarrelled over him,” I said.

“Dinner?” He asked, looking really doubtful.

“Yes, dinner. Davies drove me there, his grandmother was upstairs, and the Cook was making Spaghetti Bolognese, which I didn’t eat by the way because I was craving vanilla flavoured ice cream for some reason,” I said.

He looked really confused, and was at a loss for words.

I was well aware that he had called me just once, but he had accused me of ignoring his calls, which meant that he had called me more than once. Perhaps, Sam had switched off my phone while I was sleeping, but the phone had been on while I was asleep. However, I had not seen any calls from Alistair, not even the one I had ignored on purpose before getting dizzy and collapsing.

For some reason, I suspected foul play and I was definitely going to uncover the truth about what had happened that night. The first step was to ask my doctor what was wrong for me, and the other step was to confront Sam and ask him why he had deleted Alistair’s calls from my phone. Of course, I could not tell Alistair that Sam had probably deleted his calls, because it would only arouse his suspicion and make him wonder what I was doing when that was happening. I doubted that he was going to believe my story of collapsing, and so, I kept it away from him.

“I’m sorry, okay?” I told Alistair, wrapping my arms around him.

He hesitated before holding me close to him, stroking my hair. “It’s fine. I never should have reacted that way simply because you failed to pick up my calls,” He said, lovingly.

Something I heard on the news caught my attention. I withdrew from his embrace, and focused my attention on the television.

“Babe, can you turn up the volume, please?” I requested.

“Sure,” He replied, went to get the remote control which was resting on the table, and turned on the volume.

“Right now, we are going to show you a video clip which was uploaded by an anonymous citizen to verify the claims that Daniel Griffin, heir to Iris Furniture and Company, involves himself in domestic violence,” The reporter said.

“That...that’s my sister’s husband,” I said, getting really tensed.

The video clip that came on the television showed Daniel and Eleanora in Daniel’s mansion, where he was obviously yelling at her. The video was mute, and I could not hear what he was angry about. The next thing that happened was that he gave her a resounding slap on the face, which sent her landing heavily on the ground with a thud, as tears started streaming down her eyes. Daniel didn’t even look remorseful, and instead, kicked her countless times on the stomach, dealing her with blows in an aggressive manner.

I sat on the chair, breathing heavily, as I could hardly believe what was right in front of my eyes.

“This video has been verified by experts, and there is no trace of foul play. Daniel Griffin, who was once expelled in high school for bullying, and apprehended by the police for a hit-and-run accident, has proven the adage that says: a dog always goes back to his vomit. Daniel and his wife, Eleanora Venator, have both suspended their social media accounts following the outbreak of these news, and Eleanora’s parents are currently facing backlash by angry citizens. According to a source, they are presently aware of Daniel’s brutality towards their daughter, but compel her to stay in her marriage, because they hope to keep benefitting from Iris Furniture and Company,” The reporter said, as she moved on to reading other news.

I shook my head, in disbelief, as my mind kept on recounting all what the reporter had said. Alistair sat beside me, taking me in his arms, as I sobbed quietly.

“Alistair, my parents would never let Eleanora go through something like that, I swear. We all know Daniel speaks like a fool, but trust me, none of us knew he was violent. These people don’t know what they’re saying,” I said, gasping for air, as it was getting hard for me to breathe.

“Shush. It’s okay,” He said, patting my head.

“Eleanora must be going through a lot. I didn’t know. I should have been nicer,” I said, as tears rolled down my eyes, feeling hurt, guilty and heartbroken.

“It’s not your fault. You need to relax, please,” He said.

I pulled myself away from his arms. “No, Alistair. You can’t be asking me to relax when all these years, my sister has been nothing but a punching bag for a monster who can’t control his anger,” I yelled, with tears blurring my vision.

“He’ll pay for his actions, I promise you,” Alistair said.

“You were right. My sister is beautiful, she deserves so much better. She should not have stayed in a home like that. If my parents had cautioned Daniel about saying those awful things he said, it would never have graduated into this. The reporter was right. It truly is my parents fault,” I said, wiping my tears as I stood up.

I could have sworn I saw a smirk appear on Alistair’s face, but when his eyes met mine, he looked concerned, so, all I did was just brush aside what I had been so sure that I had seen.

“Where are you going to now?” He asked.

“I’m going to give my parents a piece of my mind,” I said, turning around, and heading for the door.

“Eliana,” He called.

“What?” I yelled, turning to face him. “If you want to discourage me from...”

He came closer to me, shutting me up, as his lips pressed against mine, in the most affectionate manner, seizing my breath in the process. When he released my lips from his, I realised my nerves had calmed down a bit and a smile appeared on my face.

“Eliana, when you’re giving them a piece of your mind, don’t hold back,” He told me, touching my lips.

I smiled broadly at him, “I won’t, I promise,” I said.

“Good girl. I take it that the box you dropped while we were kissing on my porch is filled with homemade butter cookies, made specially for me,” He said, returning my smile.

“Oh. I completely forgot about that. Yes, it’s yours,” I confirmed.

He decided to see me off to my car, picking up the box which was still intact on our way out. Alistair didn’t know it, but he had a way to make everything better. Life had been so complex before I had met him, and I didn’t know if I could actually live again without him by my side.

When I got home, my parents were going to hate themselves for bringing all that hurt, shame and embarrassment on Eleanora, and it didn’t matter if they called me insensitive, as long as Alistair was on my side.